God of War is a very solid action game with more than one aspect where it does excel. Recommended without reserves.
Technically speaking God of War is excellent. The soundtrack is extremely immersive and so well orchestrated that you might find yourself letting go of the joypad on a safe spot just to listen to the music. Voice acting and generic sound effects are also on par. The players ears can be nothing but pleased with the audio offered by this game.
The visuals are most often also very pleasant, with some levels more inspired than others. I found sometimes the camera self-adjusting in a bit annoying fashion like when it zooms out at inopportune moments like when you have to swim underwater, ducking on the bottom to avoid being smashed by one running wall. During other challenges, the camera rotates making you lose your sense of orientation (might be done on purpose but I like to think not). It does that sometimes also when you move from one place to one other. Said that, most of the times the dynamic camera does the job well, sometimes giving a nice cinematic feeling (all the cinematic sequences are very nice).
The combat system is also well laid-out and we finally get to play a real anti-hero in an action game. Boss battles are very satisfying and can be a challenge while the casual fighting is made less boring by the numerous techniques that our hero gets to learn during the game with the help of the Gods.
The quality of the puzzles is okay but nothing remarkable. There are many rather frustrating parts in the Temple of Pandora and Path of Hades, for example. The game comes sometimes in fact with the annoying (for me, at least) sequence of "cheap deads" due to failed acrobatic maneuvers. Such sections are unfortunately not in the least influenced by the difficulty setting chosen. The "You are dead" message will appear as often on your monitor. In my gaming in fact, I found myself restarting many times some dexterity challenges (the real weak point of the game, according to me) while I died in actual combat only 2-3 times. Luckily the game designers have been benevolent enough to set check points close to one other during those trials so that it doesn't become too frustrating.
Still, I can safely say that the game, not considering the very nice final chapters after Path of Hades, amused me the best in its first third, just before entering the Temple of Pandora. Up to that point, I really thought it was almost perfect in its development. Later on, the game seems to lose a bit of pace and the levels themselves are too long with the game losing focus. The narration suffers because of it since it becomes less tight. It's true that more than once I found myself wondering: "What? Again another lever to pull?" which is not perhaps a good sign. But it feels somehow right if looking at the context the puzzles come with. It's ancient Greece, after all.
Overall, the game comes with few well thought puzzles while some others are not really so original or entertaining while practically all the platforming games have mostly been a frustration. Overall God of War is a champion. With some better polishing (camera) and a more tight level design, it might have aimed towards the God of Action title. For this though, I might have to wait untill I play the sequel. Or more likely, get to play Prince of Persia - Sands of Time.