God of War is a consistently entertaining and brutal romp.
Cons: Some late game sections really test your patience; Camera angles are sometimes a problem; Fighting on anything but the ground is less fun; Some stiff writing
Note: This review is based off of the God of War Collection version of God of War 1. Although the gameplay is the same, technical aspects such as the stability of the framerate might not be identical between versions.
God of War is among the most deserving M ratings that the ESRB has ever given. The amount of gore in this game is absurd with a hint of ridiculous. Make no mistake, GoW is absolutely brutal, feeding into a bloodthirsty instinct that many of us didn't realize that we had. It's also incredibly fun.
Perhaps it's partially because of this brutal nature that the combat is extremely satisfying. As you command Greek-total-badass, Kratos, around killing mythological creatures and chaining combos, blood is flying everywhere. You find yourself quickly surrounded, so using a combination of quick attacks, strong attacks, and magic, you clear some space between you and the baddies, sending more blood flying. And then a circle button icon appears over the head of a weakened foe. One quick-time mini-game later and they've likely lost a head, some arms, or maybe they get impaled by Kratos' blades of chaos.
Getting beyond the gore, however, the combat is actually really finely tuned and among the most fluid battle systems in gaming. Kratos animates smoothly and chaining combos together is almost effortless, so someone like me, who never memorizes combos can get a nice chain going while juggling a myriad of foes. Blocking is as simple as hitting a button (permitting the attack isn't too powerful) and then responding as time slows down (alternatively you can dodge in any direction). And as you progress further in the game you are able to upgrade your abilities to become even more powerful as you take down a growing variety of foes. Combine this with a good variety of situations for fighting (one of my favorites involving dragging a prisoner uphill) and you have one phenomenal combat system.
However, it's not the only part of the game as the developers at Sony Santa Monica had the good sense to realize that a game of nothing but fighting would get tiresome. So frequently there are sections of light platforming, some puzzle solving, and even variations on traditional combat where Kratos is fighting from a wall or rope. On the plus side, these variations dramatically help the game flow better so it has a great sense of pace. On the down side, the platforming sections get incredibly frustrating late in the game (blame the screwy camera, which often makes certain jumps hard to gauge and leaves enemies off screen), and fighting on walls and ropes is simplistic and not terribly fun.
Consistently good however, is the superb musical score. The orchestration of God of War fits its massive scale by sounding truly epic. The music helps instill a constant sense of wonder and gets the blood pumping during fight scenes. Sound effects are as brutal as the graphics with enough crunches, slashes, and squishes, to help make things feel ever more so satisfying and should be commended as well. Voice acting is solid, although the writing feels very stiff at times, breaking the immersion.
Graphics are quite good when considering that this is a PS2 game. Although things look kind of simplistic by today's standards (some pre-rendered backgrounds in particular have aged poorly), the art design holds up really well, particularly since it doesn't pull any punches from the brutal and somewhat straightforward Greek mythology. Kratos' smooth animations are also to be commended as they hold up well a generation of consoles later.
While it's not without its noticeable blemishes, God of War is overall more than the sum of its parts. In equal parts because of solid foundation, great pacing, and stellar presentation, God of War is fun to play throughout its roughly 6-9 hour campaign (which you can replay for some nice goodies such as behind-the-scenes videos). And the fact stands that this is an epic, memorable game that is worth a look for any action game fan with a taste for blood.