Developer(s): SCE Studios Santa
Monica
Publisher(s): SCEA
Release date(s): March 22, 2005 (NA)July 8, 2005
(EU)November 17, 2005 (JP)
Genre: Action adventure
Mode(s): Single player
Rating(s): ESRB: Mature (M)BBFC: 18+
Platform(s): PlayStation 2
Media: DVD-9
For mythological gods of War see Mars (god) and Ares.
God of War is a video game for the Sony PlayStation
2 console released on March 22, 2005. The game is an action-adventure
game based on Greek Mythology.
The latest offering in the 3rd-person action genre, which includes
games like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, and Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time, God of War focuses on slick,
intuitive gameplay and an advanced graphics engine. It was very-well
received by critics and fans, and talks of sequels are already
in the works. At the Spike 2005 Video Game Awards, the game also
received an award for Action Game Of The Year. David Jaffe, the
mastermind behind God Of War, also received an
award for Developer Of The Year.
Contents
· 1 Gameplay· 2 Story· 3 Sequels·
4 Movie· 5 Censored Scenes· 6 Screenshots·
7 External links
Gameplay
God of War is all about combat and puzzle-solving.
The controls are fairly simple and intuitive, and the combat is
simple at first - although the game becomes exceptionally challenging
at higher difficulty levels. The combat system is often context-based,
meaning that Kratos' actions are often determined as much by the
enemy's position around him as the button pressed. Like other
adventure games, it involves a fair amount of puzzles that require
completion to progress in the game; the puzzles are mostly mechanical
in nature and often coincide with combat to make them more challenging.
Unique to the game are specialized "takedown" or "fatality"
mini-games: when an enemy or boss has been reduced to a low enough
Health level, the player may attempt to dispatch it in a short
event that may utilize button-mashing, improvised combos displayed
on-screen, joystick rotation, or all of the above. An enemy so
dispatched may yield health-restoring green orbs or magic-restoring
blue orbs items, and pauses all other enemies while it proceeds,
making them an appealing alternative to standard combat.
Kratos' main weapons are the Blades of Chaos, a pair of ax-like
blades that are connected to chains fused to Kratos's arms. These
are swung in wide arcs, allowing Kratos to engage many enemies
simultaneously with long-range whip-like attacks. Also, during
specific cutscenes, the Gods aid Kratos by bestowing their weapons
and powers upon him. Kratos gains the ability to unleash a localized
lightning storm from Poseidon, throw long-range thunderbolts from
Zeus, command the souls of the damned from Hades, wield a giant
sword from Artemis, or even turn enemies to stone using the head
of Medusa. Kratos can power up his weapons and accquired magical
attacks at any time during the game using red orbs which are released
by defeated enemies. Initially Kratos can only perform a few different
combos with the Blades of Chaos, however powering them up gains
many new attacks, combo strings, increased blocking speed, and
powerful counterattacks. Kratos is also able to unleash a desperation
attack called Rage of the Gods, which gives him highly increased
speed and power.
Story
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The game begins with the hero of the game, Kratos, abandoned by
the gods, casting himself off the highest cliff in Greece. The
game itself then goes back three weeks prior, showing the events
leading up to his unfortunate fate as he is sent on a mission
to save the city of Athens by slaying Ares, the God of
War.
Kratos was once a Spartan warrior feared throughout the civilized
world as relentless and even invincible, infamous for his murderous
battle tactics. Countless men, women, and children alike fell
to his blade. It was said that his wife was the only person who
could stand up to his fury. When she questioned his actions, he
claimed to be fighting for the glory of Sparta. She thought differently,
feeling that he fought more for himself than any noble ideal.
Then came the day that Kratos could never have foreseen - the
day that he met his match on the battlefield. His army, which
had grown from a mere fifty men to a force of thousands, faced
off against the barbarian hordes from the northeast. In these
new enemies the Spartans found their own brutality surpassed,
and in a mere few hours, the battle seemed to be lost. Kratos
himself lay at the feet of the Barbarian leader, seconds away
from death. In desperation, he called the name of Ares, pledging
his eternal loyalty if only the God of War would
destroy his enemies.
Ares, having seen the potential of a god in this mere mortal,
answered Kratos's plea and ripped the Barbarian hordes apart in
seconds. He gave Kratos the "Blades of Chaos," phenomenal
weapons forged in the fires of Hades. They consisted of two massive
swords fastened to the end of long metal chains, which themselves
were wrapped around Kratos's arms and fused to his flesh. In the
blink of an eye, the tides had turned, and Kratos decapitated
the Barbarian leader.
True to his word, Kratos did Ares's bidding from that day forth.
His former savagery paled in comparison to his acts under the
watchful eye of the God of War. But one day he
attacked a village loyal to Athena. He won, as always, but at
the end of the day he attacked the temple to the rear, where the
aging village Oracle warned him not to proceed. She claimed that
the temple was forbidden to him, that he must not enter. Kratos
ignored her pleas and carved a path through the temple attendants
who dared to stand in his way, blinded by his bloodlust. As he
struck his final two victims, however, everything changed.
Kratos fell to his knees, the bodies of his wife and daughter
lying before him, slain by his own hand. But what were they doing
here in this obscure village? He had left them in Sparta. It wasn't
long before he realized the truth. Ares, who had once saved his
life, had elaborate designs for him. The God of War
appeared before him, and explained that the death of his wife
and child were meant to sever the last vestiges of his humanity,
to forge him into the greatest warrior the world would ever know.
Kratos renounced his allegiance to Ares, but the damage was done.
He would wander the known world for the next ten years, sailing
from port to port, but never able to quite outrun the nightmares
that haunted him.
Ares himself attacked Athens, his sister Athena's patron city,
as a testament to his superiority. By Zeus's law, the gods could
not fight amongst themselves, and so the task of stopping Ares
would have to fall to a mortal. So, the Olympians sought the aid
of Kratos - the one person they felt could possibly succeed in
killing the God of War. Promised absolution for
his crimes, he agreed.
Kratos first had find the Oracle in Athens. When he reached the
Oracle's temple, Kratos met an old man who was digging a grave.
The old man said that he has a lot of digging to do and not a
lot of time. The Oracle revealed that the only way to kill a god
was to use the legendary Pandora's Box. Athena told him how to
reach Pandora's Temple, which was built into the side of a great
mountain, which itself is chained on to the back of the last Titan,
Kronos. Kronos was ordered by Zeus to carry the mountain on his
back through the Desert of Lost Souls until the whipping sands
tore the flesh from his body.
After many trials and tribulations, Kratos claimed Pandora's Box.
However, before he could return to Athens with the box, Ares killed
him and took the box for himself. Kratos fell into Hades, defeated
but unwilling to die. He fought his way through the Underworld
and, at the end of the path, came across an anchor on a rope leading
to the sky. On the other end was the old grave-digger: "Athena
is not the only God looking out for you." (There are some
who argue that the gravedigger is in fact Zeus, through debatable
hints of calling Kratos "Son" and other facts.)
Kratos recovered Pandora's Box and engaged Ares in a final battle
that would decide the fate of Athens. As a defensive measure,
Ares trapped Kratos inside his own mind and made illusions of
Kratos' family. Kratos vowed that he would not let Ares take his
family from again, and defended them against numerous dopplegangers
of himself, representing his Agony, Remorse, and Regret. Unfortunately,
it was all for naught, and Ares dispelled the illusions easily,
taking back the Blades of Chaos while he was at it. Though deprived
of his powers, Kratos managed to break free of Ares's assault
on his consciousness, and succeeded in defeating the God
of War.
While receiving the congratulations of the Olympians, Kratos asked
Athena to remove the nightmares of his past that haunted him.
Athena explained that the Gods would only forgive him for his
sins, for no one could forget what Ares did to him. Feeling abandoned
and hopeless, Kratos threw himself off the highest peak in Greece.
But as he impacted the water below, he felt himself being pulled
back up to the top of the cliff. Athena reminded him that there
was an empty seat in the Pantheon on Mount Olympus: a seat for
the God of War.
And so Kratos finally found himself going towards Mount Olympus
and sat upon the seat of the God of War. His
own rightful place. Kratos became God of War.
Sequels
The game's creator, David Jaffe, has said on many occasions that
God of War will be a series of games and that
a number of sequels will be made. Within the game there are special
challenges that the player can take part in. If these challenges
are successfully met, three bonus features will be unlocked. Each
one tells of another story that is linked to God of War,
leading some to believe that these stories will be the three sequels,
and that one might even be a prequel. These stories are as follows.
During his childhood, Kratos had a younger brother. At that time,
it was customary to train strong children to become warriors,
while weaker children were sent into the wild to fend for themselves.
Being a particularly strong child, Kratos was brought up to be
a warrior. His brother, however, was a weakling child and so he
was forced to leave his home and live in the mountains. He died
shortly thereafter. He then came of age in the underworld, thinking
only one thing: revenge against his brother Kratos, whom he felt
had abandoned him so long ago.
Although Kratos became the new God of War, killed
Ares, and avenged his family, he was not satisifed. He never knew
his father as a child, and his mother never told him who he was.
Now as a full grown adult, Kratos went back to Sparta to ask his
mother about his father. When he arrived, his mother didn't have
much life left in her. He demanded to know who his father was.
As she was about to tell him, she was turned mysteriously into
a wicked monster. Putting his love for his mother aside, he stabbed
the beast. Before his mother passed away, she revealed his father's
identity. It was none other than Zeus, king of Olympus. He swore
revenge on Zeus for abandoning him and his mother.
What became of Kronos? Well, after a thousand years of wandering
in the desert he died, and was covered with sand, but the mountain
on his back remained. Then a thousand more years later, the mountain
with Pandora's Temple within it was discovered by men who have
come a long way since the time of ancient Greece. Upon learning
of this discovery, one man hears a strange calling to the temple.
He is not quite sure why or how or what he will discover, but
all he knows is that he must go there.
Movie
The movie rights to God of War were bought by
Universal Pictures in 2005. While not much else has been said,
David Jaffe said it will very much be like the game, and future
games, in that it will be very character and story driven while
being a big-time popcorn flick. He has also stated that he is
against the idea of letting Uwe Boll, known for mediocre movies
based on games such as House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark,
direct the film. The game developers have expressed that they
would like to see a director experienced in the action genre work
on the film. They are currently thinking about Paul Verhoeven,
Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino as possibilities. Whoever
the director, they wish to make sure that they respect the material.
Rumors have circulated that Henry Rollins could potentially play
the role of Kratos, ,but the likelihood of this has not been verified.
In lieu of recent success of wrestler-turned-actor The Rock, however,
this possibility hasn't been completely quashed. The film will
not be out for a while, but a good guess for the release date
would be Fall 2008.
Censored Scenes
In the European version, a human soldier that must be sacrificed
to open a locked door is replaced with an undead soldier enemy.
Many players are opposed to this change, because a note that gives
you a clue about what to do states "I can't do it, they used
to be human." This ironically suggests that somehow the author
of the note managed to avoid killing any undead soldier enemies
whatsoever up until that point, which is required to progress
through the game.
Also in the American and European version is a scene with two
topless women. A video on the Japanese website [1] reveals that
in the Japanese release, these women wear lacy tops instead. It
is unknown whether the Oracle of Athens wears a see-through top
as she does in the American and European release.
External links
· Official Site
· Official European Site
· Official Japanese Site
