God of War takes Greek Mythology and makes it cool again.
The controls are what you would expect from an action game of this genre (i.e. Square for light attack, Triangle for heavy attack). While many people would classify this as a "masher", due to it's use of Circle taps and other context-sensitive actions, the controls work so well together the fact that you may have to "mash" on buttons a few times seems perfectly okay. Besides that fact, even if you don't particularly like the control scheme, the story is extremely good and deserves at least one play through because of that.
The story is, in one word, amazing. It takes many known aspects of Greek Mythology and twists it into it's own style, whilst still being easily recognized as Greek Mythology. Many of the gods and goddesses are present, as well as many fabled creatures and enemies from the myths. Sequences of action are offset by story moments and interesting puzzles in what seems to be perfect moments to do so.
Kratos may seem at face value to just be an angry man who's only goal is to kill everyone he comes across, the story really begins to pick up when you see that Kratos isn't this tough shell, and he does, in fact, have feelings, although his anger often masks them.
At certain moments in the game, it can get slightly repetitive, specifically when it seems all you are doing is killing, then resting, then killing, then resting, over and over again. There are very few areas of the game that are like that however, and seem to only be around the beginning of the game.
The story that's told, specifically once inside Pandora's Temple, and the design of the Temple itself, are very intriguing. The main area would be the "Rings". However, only one of said rings is open, so you have to progress through the temple in order to open the rings, then proceed to complete a puzzle in order to progress up to the "Cliffs of Madness". When you complete this, it's a large sense of accomplishment, and it all comes together very well to make what I think is one of the best "large puzzles" I've seen in years.
If you haven't played God of War yet, you must. It truly is an amazing game, and one that will not be forgotten for a long time.
9.5/10