God of War

In this article, I'll talk about a game, published by Sony Computer Entertainment, that was quite famous a few years back but even now: God of War!

The game is inspired on the Greek mythology and we can find the most important gods (like Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, Helios), goddess (Athena, Venus, Era) and several mythological creatures (pegasus, Titans, harpies, centaur) through the game. The gameplay is in third person with a fixed camera and we incarnate Kratos, a man who has serious issues with the gods of Olympus.

The main weapons are a double blades linked by a chain

that Kratos can use in many way: from destroying his foes with a powerful combo to climbing a vertical wall.
Through the game, we encounter various opponents and we can acquire other weapons, some more powerful but slower, others faster but weaker. We also gain special abilities from some powerful opponent, like the gorgon that Kratos beheads and uses the head to petrify the enemies.
There are also device or artifact that are required to acquire to progress.
A shame is that, because of the plot, in the next game, we usually lose the powers and weapons we obtained: in GoW 2, we will not have the same weapons and abilities we had in GoW 1.

In each game, there are special chests that contain a collectible item that can increase magic or health; other chests contain orbs that refill the magic/mana (blue usually) and/or the health (red); others orbes (green) are used as money to upgrade weapons and abilities.

When fighting a boss or a special enemy, there are moment when the player is required to press or circle the joystick before time runs out to perform the move (usually the one which greatly injure the enemy) correctly; it can be either ripping an arm out, gushing an eye or even beheading and it's usually on a weakened foe. This Quick Time Event, if not performed correctly, not only is useless but even damaging, since Kratos is either pushed or punched away.

In 2005 the first GoW is released on PlayStation 2. Kratos is given a mission by Athena: recover Pandora's box, where all evils and ills are enclosed in order to defeat Ares, the war's god. This god is the reason why Kratos is considered the "Ghost of Sparta": he saved him and his army from annihilation but in return, Kratos had to become the god's slave and was then tricked in killing his own family.
After recovering the box, Kratos kills Ares and becomes the new god of war (hence the name of the game).




In God of War II, released in 2007 and, like the first, on PlayStation 2, Kratos in now the new war's god. While he's protecting his city, Sparta, using his divine powers, he's betrayed by Athena and Zeus and loses his powers. It's the Titan Gaia who saves him and orders him to find the Sisters of Fate (three women whose power is to see past, present and future). After defeating the Sisters, Kratos travel back in time and in the end manage to have Zeus at his mercy. However, Athena stop the final attack and save Zeus by sacrificing herself and before she dies, tell Kratos he's Zeus' son.
In the end, Kratos joins forces with the Titans, in order to bring down Zeus and and Olympus.







Released in 2010, with God of War III, we have the final chapter of the story. Kratos is betrayed once again, by Gaia this time, who tells him she don't need him anymore and throws him in the Underworld. Guided by the spirit of Athena, Kratos manage to find his way out and seek the Flame of Olympus, the source of Zeus' power. With the help of Pandora, who sacrifice herself to extinguish the flame, Kratos finally manages to kill his father; he, however, refuses to give Athena the power he has in himself and he chooses instead to release it and give it to mankind. Surprisingly, even after being pierced by a huge sword, he seems to have found the strength to leave, as we can see a bloody trail that leads to the cliff. Maybe Kratos has some more surprises for us in the future.






Other issues of God of War were release: one on mobile and two for PSP.

The game on mobile, God of War: Betrayal, is the only one to be in 2D and on another platform than PlayStation. Released on 2007, the story takes place between God of War: Ghost of Sparta and God of War II: Kratos is framed for murder and seek out the true assassin. However, he's consume by bloodlust and kills Ceryx, Hermes' son; this act brings on him the wrath of his fellow gods who hate him even more than before.











The first game for PSP is God of War: Chains of Olympus, which release is in 2008. The game's events are Kratos' 10 years of service to the gods. He halts a Persian invasion of the city of Attica, and learns that the world has been plunged into darkness by Morpheus, the god of sleep. Kratos investigates the abduction of the sun god Helios, and prevents the goddess Persephone to use the Titan Atlas, who held up the celestial sphere, to destroy the world.






God of War: Ghost of Sparta is the second game of GoW on PSP and was released in 2010. It is set between the events of God of War and God of War: Betrayal.
Kratos, now a god but still haunted by visions of his mortal past, embarks on a quest to discover his origins by finding Callisto, his mother. He learns that he has a brother, Deimos, who was taken and imprisoned by the God of death, Thanatos, and decides to find and save him. Although Kratos is successful, Thanatos engages the two brothers in combat and kills Deimos. Kratos manages to kill Thanatos and returns to Olympus, even more enraged than before at the gods.








Each games graphics are superb and we can only applaud the people who worked on it; the storyline is well thought out and we can feel the sadness, rage and remorse of Kratos in the cinematics. The game is easy to pick up since the playing is mostly about fighting.

Here are the notes jeuxvideo.com, gamespot.com and mine of the games:
GoW I: 18/20 - 9.3/10 - 9/10
GoW II: 18/20 - 9.2/10 - 9/10
GoW III: 19/20 - 9/10 - 9.5/10
GoW: Ascension : 13/20 - 8/10 - 7.10
GoW: Chains of Olympus: 15/20 - 8.5/10 - 8/10
GoW: Ghost of Sparta: 16/20 -  8/10 - 8.5/10

I thanks everyone who read me and I bid you "see you soon".