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Copy Clerk Posts: 112 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 | |
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Paperboy  Posts: 24 Joined: 19 Mar 2008 | A well written review, but I have to say that I'm leaning somewhere towards the "You're mad", verdict. How can you consider a game that is "about tedium", where the combat becomes boring "after no longer than half an hour", to be worthy of a score of 9.5. Just add to the confusion, you dismiss your complaints as "minor quibbles", despite having stated a strong dislike for the combat, QTE and mild annoyance with the obtuse method of health regeneration. Frankly I just don't get it; you specify you "hate this game and everything it represents", (unless that's sarcasm) yet state it is worthy of "AT LEAST 9.5", (sorry, unsure how to apply bold). Care to clarify? |
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Copy Clerk Posts: 112 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 | Now your leading me to the your mad verdict...my saying its worthy of a 9.5 is surely the most obvious sarcasm? if i had to score the game i would give it a 7 by videogame scoring standards, and a 2 by general art scoring standards. |
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Paperboy Posts: 24 Joined: 19 Mar 2008 | Please allow me to don the forgiveness hat and apologise for my misinterpretation; as you may have guessed, sarcasm isn't always evident through text. I have to admit, this truly was an example of me being an idiot of somewhat epic proportions, but what can I say; I genuinely have seen reviews that change opinion as spontaneously as that. Or maybe it's me who's mad after all? |
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Muckraker  Posts: 295 Joined: 4 Jan 2008 | Yeah, I'd describe God of War to be "above average," and really, the only thing that made me play it through to the end and hope to play the sequel someday soon as that I am a big fan of Greek mythology, no matter how much God of War butchers up the lore. |
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Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1098 Joined: 13 Dec 2007 | The thing that irritated me most about God of War was that they got their mythology all wrong. Nerdy, I know, but if they'd gotten it right I might've played for more than the first level. |
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Press Junketeer  Posts: 369 Joined: 29 Jan 2008 | Okay, methinks you need to take a minute to calm down, indecisive. While I'm not a big fan of the God of War series (by a longshot), I think you were a bit unnecessarily harsh on it. Here's my take on your review.
Good introduction. Watch out for the run-on second sentence. Nice segway into your main point.
And here's where I began to get frustrated reading the review. You seem to be looking at God of War for all of the wrong reasons. A medium of artistic expression?! It's a video game, for crying out loud! If you want artistic expression, go to a gallery (just not one where they're starving a dog). It actually made me laugh when you slander the game about artistic expression, and then berate it's take on Greek mythology. Artistic expression is about the interpretation of an idea. What would you have preferred for a game? Leisure Suit Zeus? They altered the content to make it more appealing to a general audience...deal with it. In hindsight, referring to the audience of the game as "brain-dead morons" is never a good way to earn favour in a review.
Again, try and lay off the game's audience; it ruins your credability if you insult. Watch that run-on paragraph. Also, I felt that the quick-time events added quite a bit to the gameplay. It wouldn't be realistic to fight the Hydra, a monster several times your size, just by running up and hacking at it. Quick-time events add a way for the combat to be somewhat more "realistic". Not to mention I really loved the sync kills. Its boring when the enemies just fall down dead, rather than you ripping their heads off.
Ah, and here's where your review slipped for me. You seem to enjoy referring back to Halo (a la the regenerating health) when commenting on what makes good (or better) game design. As far as spirit collecting goes, I like the concept of it. You are an emmisary of Ares, the god of WAR! It seems fairly sensible that you'd devour the essence of your slain enemies. As for slashing objects open to get them, it's just as logical as placing coins in question-mark-shaped blocks. I'm sorry, but this is a video game. If you were looking for hyper-realism, you're in the wrong place. It is a work of fiction, and so must be viewed as one. Next you're going to mark Super Mario World down because Mario doesn't get a concussion every time he hits a block.
Speaking as a gamer, I must disagree with you here. Looking around for the solution to a puzzle, and waiting to see an action button, is commonplace in games. As for the simplicity of the puzzles (i.e. Kratos' physics degree) you must once again remember that this is a video game, and a linear one at that. If you were allowed to move about the world in a sandbox-style environment, then you would probably not see a puzzle like that. However, since there is only one path to follow, the game must make sure that you can take it. If you had to steer the statues and pillars precisely, it would take gamers hours to beat a level.
Try to avoid being condescending or sarcastic in your reviews. Not only does it annoy people, but it is hard to discern your sarcasm from type alone. Over all, a much better review than your previous efforts. Perhaps you can review a good game, or at least a game that you have a positive opinion of (besides Halo). |
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Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 578 Joined: 10 Mar 2008 | I'd have to agree with alot of the things irishdelinquent said. Overall a good review (much better than mine atleast) but some of your points were a little out there. I mean, c'mon, God Of War is mainly about beating the ever-loving-shit out of your oponents, ripping their heads off and on top of that a great story (in my opinion, I absolutly love greek mythology) |
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Muckraker Posts: 295 Joined: 4 Jan 2008 | I agree that God of War wasn't such a bad use of Quick Time Events. EXCEPT for when you knock down a minotaur and mash a button to see if you stab it. That got tedious REALLY fast. Swinging the analog stick the right way at the right time? That's fine. Mashing the button to open a chest? WHY?! |
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Copy Clerk Posts: 112 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 | try looking at my review of ico for an extremely positive (and excellent) review |
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Beat Writer  Posts: 169 Joined: 13 Feb 2008 | I mean no offense but what is the point of reviewing a game that is commonly held as excellent? Well written though. Keep it up for other games. |
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Gone Gonzo Posts: 1098 Joined: 13 Dec 2007 | Unrelated: Are there any games in which you play as Bellerophon? It would be really cool if you could make choices, like if you get the King to open the letter when you first arrive, or if you don't try to fly to Olympus. Man, I'd buy that. |
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Beat Writer  Posts: 177 Joined: 17 Dec 2007 | God of War is a pretty good game--more of an experiment with an interesting, more fluid take on Zelda. God of War 2 is an EXCELLENT game. It's God of War but longer, bigger, better. |
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Copy Clerk Posts: 112 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 |
because no-one else seems capable of explaining why it is so excellent |
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Copy Clerk Posts: 112 Joined: 11 Feb 2008 |
If your saying its like zelda because of the puzzles, and you like such puzzles,then please could you try justifying the puzzles thatr i criticised in my review? |
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Beat Writer Posts: 177 Joined: 17 Dec 2007 |
All you seem to be doing is criticizing that these puzzles are linear. I'm not quite sure why you're ticked off at them because of the game's logic--in my opinion, most of the game's puzzles make decent enough sense, moreso than some other, more puzzle based games (Ico, I look at you, and I do not look well). The camera is fixed BECAUSE the developers want you to see the puzzle and thus solve it--it's called a gameplay mechanic, and it's no different from the crate pushing you do in half a million other games, or the switch timing puzzles you do in Zelda games. In fact, games with fixed camera angles make puzzle solving a lot easier, because the camera pans to show you important things and thus make you use the environment to get at them. That's why it's a GOOD puzzle--you're given hints that make you go back and look for solutions in the area around them. Considering most of God of War takes place in some bizarre temple full of tricky puzzles, the logic is that these are meant to be crazy and difficult to prevent you from getting the treasures within--just like EVERY OTHER PUZZLE IN EVERY OTHER GAME. God of War does it better then some, worse than some. Comparing it to Zelda is pretty fair because unlike, say, Devil May Cry, God of War puts a lot of emphasis into its level designs, and with all the secrets and chests scattered throughout, there's a healthy Zelda influence on the core gameplay. So, there. Justified. |
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Beat Writer  Posts: 174 Joined: 8 May 2008 | I dont know I mean ever since hearing Yahtzee rip the ever loving shit outta games I have become a little more critical and less willing to gratefully accept whatever bullshit the gaming industry decides to spew forth however. Apart from a few minor quibbles God of War was simply mind fuckingly orgasmic. |
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Beat Writer Posts: 177 Joined: 17 Dec 2007 |
A good point, but to be fair, Greek Mythology is almost more FUN if it's twisted around a bit--otherwise it's a fair bit repetative. Almost every myth involves Zeus fucking some poor girl (or guy), sparking Hera's ire, and then she turns that person into a newt or something...and then Zeus turns into a newt to fuck them again. Or else Ares get all pissy and starts shit only to have Athena outsmart him in a weird, cosmic Laural and Hardy nonsense, and somewhere along the line Poseidon makes seahorses and trys to fuck Demeter, who is all pissy because Hades kidnapped her daughter and dragged her to hell to fuck the ever-living shit out of her. If you made a game about Greek mythology, it'd be a weird cross between X-rated bestiality porn and wacky hi-jinks at the expense of some poor girl who just liked to sew a whole lot. Unless you go with the heroes, who differ only in the fact that they have to kill some difformed monstrosity the Gods created for laughs before they can fuck the ever-living shit out of their girl back home, pending she doesn't tragically kill herself or cheat on you, in which case you brutally murder her and her new lover and become king of some island where you rule peacefully for several decades until you offend some god or goddess and they smite you to death. |
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Beat Writer Posts: 174 Joined: 8 May 2008 | Yeah I was more referring to the first posters criticism of it having none of the beauty of the real mythology. |
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Red Guard  Posts: 744 Joined: 21 Feb 2008 |
Not necessarily. In the USA God of War is rated as M, or Mature, which is appropriate for 17 year olds, which is a year before the age of majority; thus making them minors, not adults. |
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Beat Writer Posts: 169 Joined: 13 Feb 2008 | Let me get this straight, because you have to open chests for orbs and because you got stuck in some of the puzzles, you hate God of War? You sir have a ten foot wooden splintery pole up your ass. As far as video games go, God of War IS art. In fact Mr. Retentive, it sounds like you haven't beaten the game, it sounds like you gave up after the first quarter. The two flashbacks with the "barbarians to the east" were done better then most movies. The story was great and the combat was fun. I don't know why you have such a chip on you shoulder. |
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Paperboy  Posts: 31 Joined: 6 Dec 2007 | Both God of War games have brought no small amount of pure head-ripping, chest-splitting enjoyment. I like the fact that it has a kinda Greek setting, but really, it's skin deep. Some of you complain about the mythology. Who cares? Really, mythology in it self are a stale, dead collection of lame ass tales. This goes for Greek, roman and Norse at least. Mythology only makes sense when used a prism. It is a great tool to examine any given society. It gives us clues about their mindset and makes understanding them easier. |
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Press Junketeer Posts: 369 Joined: 29 Jan 2008 |
I must agree with you. lol see where my Leisure Suit Zeus comment comes into play? Greek Mythology is twisted. If they made the game based on real Greek myths you'd have incest, beastiality, and so many more twisted things. They changed the myths to make them more appealing and marketable. |
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Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1207 Joined: 14 Nov 2007 | I don't think Greek myth is as samey as everyone makes out. I mean,yes, Zeus does like fucking a lot. But Greek Mythology has given us some of the greatest epics of all time (The Iliad, The Odyssey), THE greatest tragedies of all time (Shakespeare be damned, Oedipus and Medea are in a different league entirely to stuff like MacBeth), legendary heroes like Heracles, Achilles, Odysseus, Jason... My point is, developers don't have to start mucking about with the lore in order to try and sell a game. Greek mythology is already complex and twisting (and twisted!) enough without mucking it about for no reason. Incidentally, lovers of Greek tragedy may be interested in this if they haven't seen it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NydKPClhYgM |
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Beat Writer Posts: 174 Joined: 8 May 2008 | Well if we are going to be anal about geek mythology then its Herakles. Hercules was the romanization. |
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Red Guard Posts: 744 Joined: 21 Feb 2008 |
Ooh, casual racism, nice! |
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Copy Clerk  Posts: 62 Joined: 10 Mar 2008 | Personally I enjoyed God of war for what it was; an entertaining next gen (now last gen) version of final fight. I mean c'mon it is not meant as high art. This is more for the beer and peanuts crowd. It is meant to be a bit of fun without a lot of thought. I do agree with you about the chests and having to tap the button repeatedly until I wore out a controller and at times the game could get repetitive but I still enjoyed it. As for the story, I felt it was a nice twist on the old greek myths. Of course it had barely anything to do with the originals with exception to some names but hey I like originality even if it is banal originality. Look some games are fun because they are brainless and do not require a physics degree to play, i.e. portal (JK), though I did find it bloody hard near the end. Sorry for the poorly written diatribe but I just had to add my two cents since you are right about some of the gameplay but the game itself is a positive example of the genre. |
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Red Guard Posts: 744 Joined: 21 Feb 2008 |
Might not have taken one to play, but I bet it took at least one to write! |
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Press Junketeer Posts: 369 Joined: 29 Jan 2008 |
lol it's actually heracles, but who really cares. As for the mucking of mythology, they only did it so as to incorparate Kratos into the whole thing. It's rather hard for Kratos to complete the tasks of Heracles (ie slay the Hydra) or Jason (defeat the Colossus of Rhodes) without re-writing the myths. |
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Anonymous Source Posts: 1 Joined: 16 May 2008 | While some of the materials in your review were somewhat apt, I do have some responses to what was there and what occurred in the subsequent discussion. Apologies in advance for the long read. I think there is a general agreement among most everyone that God of War I & II represent the pinnacle of PS2 graphic power, and that very few games ever went quite to that level. The environments in both are varied and visually interesting to the point of being jaw-dropping gorgeous. Arguing this point, however, is like elitist snobs disputing in an art museum; it boils down to opinion. On the other hand, if you say the visuals in God of War are terrible, then you might also say that the visuals in almost every other PS2 game (save perhaps Shadow of the Colossus) are also terrible because few others have put in near as much effort into that field. The same goes for the musical score. It is what can only be described as epic (which it's supposed to be) and fits the style of gameplay, characters, and plot to a very high degree. Now, opening chests... one nice thing about this for both health and magic is that you have a choice as to when you open it based upon when you need it or want it. Say for example they did it your way. After every battle, your health is recharged. Wow, this game suddenly becomes very not challenging, as you're always in top form when you fight, so clearly you'll only lose if you suck. Or, maybe incrementally like every few battles. Wait... isn't this exactly like the chest system for both health and magic, except now you don't get the choice of if you want to take it or not, or what you want from it? What if we had the same system as the chests, except abolished the chests themselves? You'd step into a light onscreen and it would ask you if you wanted health, magic, or if you wanted to save it. I guess it would work, but would it be better? The presence of this system may be something simply arbitrary to put forth a nice gameplay element. Being able to choose when and where you get the materials and what you decide upon effects the next combat, and leaves it up to the player to decide how they want to fight. If they, for example, are heavy into standard slice 'em up, they'll mostly grab health. If they use magic, perhaps they'll save the chest until they're low on it. This may seem like a weak argument, but in reality it is a big part of how the game is played. Arguing against it is merely a statement of personal preference. The same goes for the puzzles and quicktime events. The puzzles seek to be a break away from the consistent and intense action because after a certain amount of time, the relentless slashing and dancing around can take a toll on one's hands. Aside from that, there is always heavy criticism when a game has a singular gameplay element all the way through, making it become stale. It's because of this that most games feature varying elements (like the, for some reason, much-lamented driving sequences). The puzzles themselves are not incredibly deep or challenging, but they provide a change of pace that has become necessary to the 8-minute attention span of society. I won't even go over quick-time events because people like them or hate them for personal or arbitrary reasons. I like them well-implemented (as in GoW). They provide an atmosphere of the player being a part of the action that they don't normally get to do instead of just watching it. I do see the opposition, however, in that they're now overused and really isn't anything more visually pretty simon-says. Finally, the story. It almost seems as though many of you believe that this is the first time anyone's ever written additional fictional material based upon Greek mythology. Trust me: it's not. How about "Prometheus Bound," by Aeschylus? Or the sequel a couple thousand years later "Promethus Unbound" by Percy Shelley? Lots of plays, lots of novels. A quick google search revealed that there is a long running series of Greek Mythology-based romance novellas (which would include the aforementioned piles of fornication). Video games? How about Morpheus, Age of Mythology, Wrath of the Gods? This isn't to even say the vast number of media today that borrows from it. Technically speaking, God of War takes place after Greek mythology "ends." Or, more precisely, after it runs off and becomes Roman mythology. I find the presence of so many classic characters to be quite interesting, especially when concerned with the changing of fate. The idea of fate is enormous in ancient Greek culture and in their mythology, and it seems reasonable that most of those characters would want to alter theirs. Meeting them along the way seems fitting. But again, it becomes an issue of personal preference. Is it accurate? No, not really, but then again it isn't basing itself on anything existing really. Oh, one final point here. Greek mythology as a whole is a very large collection of stories, written down or told by thousands upon thousands of people. Put this down as another story perhaps. I won't really get into the combat. It's tough to argue that it employs one of the most intuitive styles to be found in that genre, rivaling that of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, surpassing games like Zelda, Onimusha, Dynasty Warriors, etc. It is not a giant button-mashing fest, you actually have to employ a measure of skill. But again, not getting into it. It seems that there is this rather exhausting trend these days, ever since the rise of Yahtzee as a critic. His reviews are very funny, and he often brings up very well thought out and legitimate points of criticism, which he isn't shy about tearing apart. He also isn't shy about saying when he likes a game or the game is good. However, it seems that he has made it popular to hate games, especially mainstream ones. I feel as though this review is merely an attempt to criticize something that is vastly popular for no particular valid reason. A lot of what is said is very generic and filled with malice, without any real substance to suggest anything that isn't an emulation of Yahtzee-style review and/or complaining about mainstream, which, I suppose, is sort of the same thing. I guess. |
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Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 710 Joined: 9 Jan 2008 |
Hang on... "Excellent"? Are you allowed to say that about your own work? |
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Red Guard Posts: 744 Joined: 21 Feb 2008 |
You're allowed to say it, but it might not be true, and it does make you look like a tit. |
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Copy Clerk Posts: 62 Joined: 10 Mar 2008 |
Hey I totally agree with you. The skill of the programmers on this game and many others is beyond reproach. The constant improvement in physics, hit detection and graphics is as amazing as it is rapid. My point was that some games are just meant to be fun. I am sure you have played some games that felt more like work than fun, if not god bless you. Anyway, even though constantly tapping buttons can get annoying I found GOW more enjoyable than irritating and for that I want to thank all of the developers who actually use their skills and try to make things better. |
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God of war was truly a landmark title, possibly the best game for ps2 and one of the best games I've played in years. The game bought jaw droppingly awesome graphics to the aging ps2, and highly refined and ultra addictive gameplay, putting you in control of one of gaming's most badass protagonists, letting you battle the gods to become the god of war...no.
No, no, no. God of war is about wasting your time. It's about tedium. God of war sums up all that is wrong with most commercial games. To me, it feels like the game was not designed as a medium for artistic expression, but rather for the sake of systematically fulfilling the wishes of gamers to turn into brain-dead morons by taking part in abstract and repetitive button mashing patterns and item collection, all the while advancing an utterly ridiculous and worthless story which holds nothing of the subtle beauty of real Greek mythology.
Don't get me wrong, the combat is skill based, that's if you reduce the meaning of the word 'skill' to its most rudimentary form. Combat will see you memorizing patterns and accordingly mashing a couple of buttons as broken up by the occasional block (which defends attacks from all directions using only a couple of daggers held in front of his face) prompting animations which will never get boring (if you're an idiot) and will get boring after no longer then half an hour, if your not.
Then there are quick time events used abundantly throughout, completely abstract, of course, never adding anything, as expected, but always resulting in grossly repeated animations.
Its also hard not to feel like your time is being seriously disrespected when you are asked to slash through most doors and such in order to advance or even just to do some innocent spirit collecting. Who doesn't like collecting spirits? Me; Because it's pointless. Every few yards you have to open a treasure chest to release some spirits or whatever they are, to replenish your health and magic power. I plead for anybody to tell me how this enhances the experience. It's not like its realistic or something; not that the game makes any attempt at realism anyway. So why not just automatically regenerate health the appropriate amount after the battle's over, or maybe give you a bit of health every time you kill something. Oh, wait, they do do that, so why the treasure chests? I can only assume it's because people get some sort of weird kick out of gathering shit. Maybe they feel like they're doing really well when they constantly open treasure chests or maybe it relates back to some primal instinct to collect. Perhaps something we developed when we used to pick berrys and stuff...All I can say is that I hate it when it features in such a meaningless way in computer games.
Speaking of meaningless, how about the puzzles, if you can call them that, which you can't. Let's call them weird pacing activities which have inexplicably evolved in videogame culture. These weird pacing activities usually involve using the environment to solve problems in order to advance. I'll give you some examples from early on in the game and let you make your own mind up about them after telling you that I think they are absolutely ridiculous.
So you're walking around on a sort of balcony/ledge above a locked door which blocks your progress. What do you do? Well you have no bloody clue what to do except follow the only possible path that exists, but this is where you have been lead and you cannot go any further lest you fall into the courtyard where you begun. So here's the solution: you walk around until you see the action button appear on the screen. What? It has appeared here? Ok ill press it and see what happens. Actually it turns out Kratos fancies using his godlike strength to topple a statue and the games been kind enough to grant me the pleasure of taking part by mashing the action button as fast as I can until the statue falls. It also turns out that Kratos has a capacity for physics calculations to match a modern super computer, because the statue falls in such a way that its head breaks off and rolls to just the right place to provide a step up to a ladder which was previously just out of reach.
The ladder leads to a tower of which you also have no idea as to why it might be of any use in your adventure. It turns out that this tower is home to another ridiculous puzzle. The tower has another little tower on top of it...which is too high to jump up to, not that you have any reason to get up there except that it's the only possible thing to do (its not like you can see what's up there either because you have no control over the camera). Turns out you get up by hitting 2 nearby pillars until they become low enough to provide steps up to the small tower. One of the 2 pillars for no legitimate reason (other then to provide steps) can be knocked lower then the other. I find the existence of this particular 'puzzle' particularly sickening because due to the lack of interactivity with the rest of the god of war world, the realization of this solution is highly unintuitive. Luckily for Kratos, there's a giant crossbow thingy atop this mini tower. I'm not sure why it's there or why it's going to be useful, but being somewhat accustomed to this games twisted logic, I'm sure its going to get me to my next destination one way or another.
Apart from these minor quibbles I can wholly agree that god of war is indeed one of the best last-gen games, and certainly worthy of a score of at least 9.5 as has been granted across the internet.
Obviously I hate this game and everything it represents, but I seem to be very alone in this position. Even Yahtzee seemed to like this one. Am I completely mad here?