Don't hesitate to try it, God of War is a MUST play for any PS2 owners
God of War first and formost is one of the best action adventure games ever created. Period. Why? Well, let me tell you.
Few games pull off the absolute huge scale that God of War has. If you look at any of the screens, you can see just how vast those enviroments are. At times it can be a little overwhealming, but that's just because you're probably not used to that much on screen. On top of the huge scale of these levels, it the increadible detail and artwork that has gone into each and every single bit of every level. Nomatter where you look, eerything is top notched, and polished to a shine. From outdoors in a snadstorm ridden dessert, to a dark, cramped dungeoun with tones of traps just waiting to spring on you.
Gameplay wise, God of War is so smooth. Obviously lots of time has been spent to make sure every gameplay mechanic is down right. You won't ever have to worry about dieing from a glitch, but rather the brutal enemies in the game.
Emey design is very impressive, and once again, judging by all the special features they give you at the end, you can tell a lot of work has gone into making all the enemies feel just perfect for the setting and time period. AI is rather sub par though for your standard minions. Their not overly dumb or anything, and they won't get stuck on walls and such, they just move and attack akwardly sometimes. Boss battles are a completly different matter though. Out of all the games I've played, I have to tip my hat to the dev team here. You will find the Boss battles in God of War to be some of the most unique and origional ever, along with the special 'button mash game' when the boss's health get's low.
This mini game not only happens with bosses, where it is most impressive, but some of your ordanary enemies to. When a badies health is low enough, a circle button icon will apear over their heads. Walk up to them, hit circle, and then hit a series of buttons as they appear. Each time is different, and may even require joystick ratations. Very inovative, and allows for abnormally brutal gameplay mechanics that just couldn't be pulled of normally, adding to the overal brutality of the game.
The only downside I had with God of War was just how short it was. (On easy at least) There is the option of completing it on God Mode once you've beaten it once, but I won't even attemtp that right now, lol. Instead of adding more room for more game, they loaded up the disc with a ton of 'special features'. Loads of behind the scenes stuff about the making of the game. Although it was interesting to see just how much work these guys put into it, I would have prefered more levels or whatnot if that space could have been used so. Just release a second disc with the game or something, seriously.
Overall, God of War is a very brutal, very authentic experiance in Greek mythology. With a size and scale this big, other games will have some catching up to do. It's just a shame it was alittle on the short side.