So, a couple of weeks ago Sony gave out GoW HD on PS Plus in Europe for free. Having never played the franchise, I tried it out and was quite enjoying it so when Sony put pretty much every GoW game bar GoW 3 and Ascension on sale the next week I bought the rest of the series. The only character action game I've played before was Darksiders and I've also had some experience with action games through the Kingdom Hearts series. Here are my thoughts game by game.
God of War HD
Things I liked:
1. Kratos- he's just a badass mo-fo. I love the way his very first line, 'to hell with you' pretty much sums up most of his responses to just about any NPC in the game (and in the whole series). Obviously, going in I knew his backstory so the big reveal of him killing his family fell a bit flat I enojoyed getting a bit more of the backstory, especially his calling down on Ares to save him.
2. Powers- I really liked the powers Kratos acquires in this game. It took a while to figure out which one to prioritise as I wasn't really sure what my fighting style was going to be but after the Sword of Artemis it clicked.
3. Fighting- It feels so great having the second analogue stick being a dodge button. It actually made the fights much more fluid for me than I would have expected. I remember from Darksiders my overall strategy used to be hit, hit, hit, block this gave me much more freedom. I also felt that while the combo variety wasn't very big, it was very easy to change them around and experiment with them.
4. Bosses- I liked the fact that the game really has only 3 big bosses and they were done quite well. Especially the Ares fight was epic just because of its scaled and the 'fuck yeah' feeling.
Things I didn't enjoy:
1. The opening Athens sequence during the night. I felt the night setting made everything a bit too dull looking and I much preferred when the game swapped to day as really that's when the visuals were able to still blow me away after all these years.
2. Cliffs of madness- I felt that the game was dragging on a bit at this point. After doing the whole Pandara's temple I really wanted to get the box only to find out I still had another area to fight through.
3. Why was Ares attacking Athens again? I don't think that's ever explained, or even why couldn't the god strike against him but needed Kratos.
God of War II
Things I liked:
1. The setting variety- It was a nice contrast to the first game, getting the jungle, the blizzard mountain, temple of fates etc. The game was very colorful and it was fun traversing through all the environments.
2. The opening- I really enjoyed the opening. It was a nice contrast to the siege of Athens with Kratos being the invading force. The battle with the collosus felt great and also giving you a reason why Kratos was without his abilities through a story is always appreciated.
3. Kratos- still a mad mo-fo.
4. The sense of scale- with the introduction of Titans the game felt much bigger and the overall conflict became much more interesting.
Things I didn't enjoy:
1. Powers- I didn't like the powers at all. They were a strange mix and match of various uses and I could never really find a balance between them. I ended up using Chrono's rage most of the time and just leveling up Blades of Athena.
2. The story- it kinda screamed 'Well the first game was a success, let's make this completely unrelated plot and stretch it into 2 games' sort of thing, like the Matrix triology or Pirates of the Carribean movies.
3. Plot hole- if Kratos could travel back in time why didn't he go back and prevent himself from killing his family? Also how could he just take all the Titans with him into the future? Wouldn't that create a present where he was never resurected by Gaia?
Chain of Olympus
I'm not gonna do the list thing here, cause I felt it wouldn't work for this game. I'd say CoO is a nice side-story, one which can be replicated many times as just one of those things that Kratos had to for the gods in his 10 years of service. It felt like GoW lite, with the puzzles being easier, combat being easier and Orbs being plentiful. I also felt the game was shorter than either of the console games. The lack of second analogue hurt the game a bit, I felt, when it came to combat.
I liked the little personal moment for Kratos when he had to give up on his daughter, knowing that only as a beast was he able to save her.
One thing that is strange for continuity is that Kratos kills the Queen of the Underworld and yet Hades helps him in GoW1. Also this would mark the first time a mortal has killed a god but this is never mentioned in the other games. In fact in GoW 1 a big deal is made out of the fact that as a mortal he needs the pandora's box to kill Ares.
Ghost of Sparta
Probably my favourite of the GoW games I've played. It's quite different from all the rest as it actually gives you a few moments to just cool down, like entering Sparta. It's a nice personal story and I felt it did really add a lot to the lore behind Kratos. It's a bit odd that Deimos was never mentioned before until this game (well apart from the last sentence in CoO) but that's acceptable.
I liked the fighting and the powers that they gave you. Also having Thera's powers was also pretty damn awesome and a nice addition and a bit of a twist on the typical GoW formula. There were also pretty much no puzzles here, not sure how to feel about that.
It is kinda weird that Kratos kills Thanatos, a god before the Olympians and that's never mentioned in GoW 2, surely that's a bit bigger than killing Ares, though then again Kratos is meant to have the power of a god in this game. The ending was quite nice, seeing Kratos struggle with his madness and question himself.
I felt the game was very good for explaining the random opening of GoW II, as you can see why Kratos hates the gods and why Zeus might be afraid of him.
I'm getting GoW 3 soon, so I can't wait!
Also just to mention Darksiders, looking at it now, is a complete rip-off of GoW. Everything about it, from the main hero, his motivation, use of mythology, the way NPC interact with you, even the damn chests is pretty heavily inspired by GoW.
God of War HD
Things I liked:
1. Kratos- he's just a badass mo-fo. I love the way his very first line, 'to hell with you' pretty much sums up most of his responses to just about any NPC in the game (and in the whole series). Obviously, going in I knew his backstory so the big reveal of him killing his family fell a bit flat I enojoyed getting a bit more of the backstory, especially his calling down on Ares to save him.
2. Powers- I really liked the powers Kratos acquires in this game. It took a while to figure out which one to prioritise as I wasn't really sure what my fighting style was going to be but after the Sword of Artemis it clicked.
3. Fighting- It feels so great having the second analogue stick being a dodge button. It actually made the fights much more fluid for me than I would have expected. I remember from Darksiders my overall strategy used to be hit, hit, hit, block this gave me much more freedom. I also felt that while the combo variety wasn't very big, it was very easy to change them around and experiment with them.
4. Bosses- I liked the fact that the game really has only 3 big bosses and they were done quite well. Especially the Ares fight was epic just because of its scaled and the 'fuck yeah' feeling.
Things I didn't enjoy:
1. The opening Athens sequence during the night. I felt the night setting made everything a bit too dull looking and I much preferred when the game swapped to day as really that's when the visuals were able to still blow me away after all these years.
2. Cliffs of madness- I felt that the game was dragging on a bit at this point. After doing the whole Pandara's temple I really wanted to get the box only to find out I still had another area to fight through.
3. Why was Ares attacking Athens again? I don't think that's ever explained, or even why couldn't the god strike against him but needed Kratos.
God of War II
Things I liked:
1. The setting variety- It was a nice contrast to the first game, getting the jungle, the blizzard mountain, temple of fates etc. The game was very colorful and it was fun traversing through all the environments.
2. The opening- I really enjoyed the opening. It was a nice contrast to the siege of Athens with Kratos being the invading force. The battle with the collosus felt great and also giving you a reason why Kratos was without his abilities through a story is always appreciated.
3. Kratos- still a mad mo-fo.
4. The sense of scale- with the introduction of Titans the game felt much bigger and the overall conflict became much more interesting.
Things I didn't enjoy:
1. Powers- I didn't like the powers at all. They were a strange mix and match of various uses and I could never really find a balance between them. I ended up using Chrono's rage most of the time and just leveling up Blades of Athena.
2. The story- it kinda screamed 'Well the first game was a success, let's make this completely unrelated plot and stretch it into 2 games' sort of thing, like the Matrix triology or Pirates of the Carribean movies.
3. Plot hole- if Kratos could travel back in time why didn't he go back and prevent himself from killing his family? Also how could he just take all the Titans with him into the future? Wouldn't that create a present where he was never resurected by Gaia?
Chain of Olympus
I'm not gonna do the list thing here, cause I felt it wouldn't work for this game. I'd say CoO is a nice side-story, one which can be replicated many times as just one of those things that Kratos had to for the gods in his 10 years of service. It felt like GoW lite, with the puzzles being easier, combat being easier and Orbs being plentiful. I also felt the game was shorter than either of the console games. The lack of second analogue hurt the game a bit, I felt, when it came to combat.
I liked the little personal moment for Kratos when he had to give up on his daughter, knowing that only as a beast was he able to save her.
One thing that is strange for continuity is that Kratos kills the Queen of the Underworld and yet Hades helps him in GoW1. Also this would mark the first time a mortal has killed a god but this is never mentioned in the other games. In fact in GoW 1 a big deal is made out of the fact that as a mortal he needs the pandora's box to kill Ares.
Ghost of Sparta
Probably my favourite of the GoW games I've played. It's quite different from all the rest as it actually gives you a few moments to just cool down, like entering Sparta. It's a nice personal story and I felt it did really add a lot to the lore behind Kratos. It's a bit odd that Deimos was never mentioned before until this game (well apart from the last sentence in CoO) but that's acceptable.
I liked the fighting and the powers that they gave you. Also having Thera's powers was also pretty damn awesome and a nice addition and a bit of a twist on the typical GoW formula. There were also pretty much no puzzles here, not sure how to feel about that.
It is kinda weird that Kratos kills Thanatos, a god before the Olympians and that's never mentioned in GoW 2, surely that's a bit bigger than killing Ares, though then again Kratos is meant to have the power of a god in this game. The ending was quite nice, seeing Kratos struggle with his madness and question himself.
I felt the game was very good for explaining the random opening of GoW II, as you can see why Kratos hates the gods and why Zeus might be afraid of him.
I'm getting GoW 3 soon, so I can't wait!
Also just to mention Darksiders, looking at it now, is a complete rip-off of GoW. Everything about it, from the main hero, his motivation, use of mythology, the way NPC interact with you, even the damn chests is pretty heavily inspired by GoW.
