P
laying this year’s excellent
God Of War finally piqued
my interest in the original
game in the series – also,
confusingly, titled God Of War- after more than a decade of ignoring
it. The adventures of a tattooed bald
man getting increasingly violent and
shouty? No thanks. I’ve spent enough
Saturday nights in Wetherspoons to
get my fill of that.
Playing it now, though, with the
modern semi-sequel semi-reboot in
the back of my head, is a fascinating
experience. I can see the same
cinematic ambitions, albeit a little
less convincing thanks to the blocky
polygon characters of the PS2 era, but
the sense of scale is still undeniably
impressive. The opening level has me
fighting a three-headed Hydra – and,
after killing it, climbing down its throat
like Pinocchio inside that whale.
Which brings me to the other key
element of God Of War’s spectacle: the
sheer level of violence. Kratos has a
range of bloody combos and finishers
at his disposal. They’re a little tame
by today’s standards of high-fidelity
gore, but tearing an enemy in half still
manages to elicit a shocked giggle from
me. The first time, at least.
Repetition is where the game shows
its age. There is a limited number of kill
animations, which means they quickly
stop feeling special and become tedious.
The same goes for who I’m fighting. The
use of Greek mythology means there’s
a whole pantheon of gods and monsters
to murder, but it’s hard to feel awed by
Medusas and Minotaurs the 30th time I
encounter them.
So while the adventures of Kratos
and Atreus left me wanting to dig into
God Of War’s history, it turns out the
original is more historical curiosity than
stone-cold classic – and occasionally
feels outright ancient.WHO?
Alex Spencer is
neither godly nor
particularly warlike.
But he is a Greek
mythology nerd,
which means he’s
puzzling over why
Poseidon, king of the
sea, gives Kratos
electric powers.Don’t like it. Never tried it. Every month we force
one of our team to play their most feared game
INFO
PUBSONY
DEVSANTA MONICA
STUDIO
RELEASED2005, PS2
GET IT NOWPS NOW
£12.99 PER MONTHQKratos’ Rage meter fills up as he fights, until he can unleash all his frustration in impressive feats
of violence. Unlike in real life, where a stubbed toe kicking a filing cabinet does the trick.GOD OF WAR
TEARING AN
ENEMY IN HALF STILL
ELICITS A SHOCKED
GIGGLE FROM ME.WHAT?
Hack and slash your
way through the myths
of Ancient Greece
as Kratos, a Spartan
warrior given magical
murdering powers –
and tricked into killing
his own family – by the
gods of Olympus.DON’T MAKE ME PLAY!
109retrostation