To quote 300: "THIS IS SPARTA!" Now let the battle begin.
In these games you play Kratos, a Spartan warrior with a love for soaking the ground with blood as the errand boy of the gods. In the first installment Kratos is going on a mission to bring a stop to Ares, the God of War, who is terrorizing Athens. Spoiler alert: In the end Kratos, being as BA as he is, kicks some Ares booty and is given the title of the God of War. Which brings on the plot of the second game: Eventually the other gods on Olympus realize their mistake and devise a way to take this thrown from Kratos. By doing so, Kratos is fueled to once again set out on a revenge mission to bring about the fall of the gods, and he is not a man you want holding something against you.
I am not quite sure just how much the games were buffed up when brought over to the PS3, but if there is anything to complain about it is the inconsistency of the graphics. Most of the graphics are nothing to be disappointed in during the cutscenes, but at other times the quality falls far shorter than what else has been seen, becoming rather dated. However, the second installment does look even better, and even with some of the sub par portions the cutscenes are still really beautiful. With that said, the graphics during the gameplay are really great, creating epic environments that sometimes span as far as the eye can see, and though it was frustrating that the camera angle cannot be manipulated it is nice to see the landscapes and destinations far off in the distance to work towards, providing beautiful backdrops for your battles.
As awe inspiring as the backgrounds are, they do not dwarf the actual areas that the player gets to move around in. The environments are huge, allowing for a wider range of gameplay than just fighting (with the addition of platforming, aerial fights, and appropriately challenging puzzles) and looking back it is hard to fathom that the majority of each game actually takes place in one location because of just how large and ever-changing the level design is, providing both open and closed spaces to vary up the look.
But let's face it, as beautiful as the locations are, you most likely aren't playing the game for the picturesque scenery. Thankfully it is obvious that a lot of time and work was put into making the combat look spectacular and powerful. As Kratos the player gets to wield a few different weapons, but the signature choice and my go-to are the Blades of Chaos (Blades of Athena in the second game). Though Kratos is just as capable of ripping a guy in half with his bare hands (also fun), spinning the duel blades chained to his arms is quite the sight to see. Let's just say this: If he didn't have the title "God of War" a great name would be "God of carnage" for just how much blood and body parts he can pull from his victims.
The combat system is a mix of quick attacks, more powerful attacks, combo moves, finishing moves, etc, but whatever your method may be you will end up feeling just as powerful as Kratos boasts to be. Personally on more than one occasion I had to suppress the urge to scream "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" when running into my next battle. Seriously, the idea of this combat had a major effect on me while I was playing; I would tense up when I would come up against more powerful baddies that gave me a run for my money, and when the heartbeat started pounding through my speakers I was so pumped with these bursts of power and adrenaline that it took a while to realize that the heartbeat was telling me that my health was seriously depleted. I guess I just got a little wrapped up with the excitement of wave after wave of creatures falling at my feet as I went hacking my way through their fleshy parts, and though it would have been slightly cooler if the remains of my victims were left at my feet after each battle to see just how much damage I was capable of doing, watching him in action is more than enough to satisfy. And thankfully, even if the game is boiled down to a lot of hacking and slashing, the gameplay never feels stale as the hours pass thanks to the ability to upgrade weapons, learn new combo moves, gain new magical power moves, etc, all just as cool to watch in action as the last.
The world of these games pulls heartily from Greek mythology, and though it takes some liberties for obvious reasons it is still cool to recognize random people while traveling through this game, especially during the second (I might have geeked out a little when I ambled across Prometheus during my travels). As cool as this may be, what is even better is the wide range of creatures from mythology that you will get to battle, ranging from armies of cyclopses, centaurs, three headed dogs, medusa-like snake women, sirens, etc. Some thought needs to go into the combat because each creature is best defeated with different tactics and come with a wide range of difficulty, though the basic hack and slash will do the charm if you are skilled/desperate enough. In addition to this, most can also be defeated with some awesome finished moves (sometimes accompanied with quicktime button pressing). But no matter how big the opponent is, whether it is the Kraken or Fate itself, there is never a time when I didn't think that they were no match for Kratos. And hey, if you die it just means that you get another chance to partake in these epic battles again (just don't get lost in the animation of the final moments and forget to press the buttons that accompany the action. I am very, very guilty of this…).
Overall it is easy to see why these games have done so well. The combat is beautiful and fun, broken up to give the player a breather and time to remember to blink with platforming and puzzle solving elements. Sure there were a few battles that became so frustrating for how easily I died that I brutally attacked the pillow innocently sitting at my side, but I think I will just chalk that up to channeling Kratos. After all, that boy has some major rage issues, and I cannot wait to revisit them in God of War 3.