God of War
2005
- puzzle
- hack and slash/beat 'em up
- adventure
- action
- fantasy
- historical
- single player
The story
God of War is an action-adventure hack-and-slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). Initially launched for the PlayStation 2, the game stands as the first instalment in the God of War series and the third in chronological order. Loosely inspired by Greek mythology, it unfolds in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central theme. The player takes on the role of Kratos, the protagonist, a Spartan warrior devoted to the Olympian gods. Tasked by the goddess Athena, Kratos is assigned to eliminate Ares, the God of War and Kratos' former mentor. Ares had deceitfully manipulated Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. As Ares attacks Athens fueled by hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to locate Pandora's Box, the sole object capable of permanently stopping the vengeful god.
What it’s like
Blood-warm and brutal: a sun-scorched Greek world of ochre cliffs, marble temples and smoky grey sea, rendered in the dense, saturated PS2-era palette of 2005 with a hard, almost operatic contrast between the glowing orange of Kratos's fire and the bruised dark of the underworld. The camera follows him close and low through combat, with quick-time finishers that snap the view into slow, grisly close-ups, and between fights the pacing slows to long walks through colonnades and cavernous ruins under a score of driving strings and war drums. The vibe is grim, operatic and relentlessly driven, a sort of mythic rage that suits a late-night session with the sound up. Violence is frequent, graphic and gory, with dismemberment, sacrifice and blood-soaked set pieces, plus some sexual imagery and nudity in its mythological framing; it is not gentle or low-stakes. Tone is bleak and furious, with a vengeful man sinking deeper into his own grief and anger. For players who want spectacle, combat with weight, and a dark, bombastic retelling of Greek myth.
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