I'm in the process of playing through God of war on the PS2 at the moment. It's a stunning game from the people behind Twisted metal and War of the monsters. Neither of the games were particularly big sellers but were both technically very competent games.
Playing God of war kind of reminds me of watching a blockbuster movie. Everything is over the top and done on a massive scale from the music, the cut scenes, the bosses it really has had a great deal of effort put into it. What I like about it is that it strikes me as the kind of game that could appeal to the Devil may cry crowd as it has fair selection of moves and weapons available while at the same time being accessible to the "masses" as I'm sure that on easy mode you could hammer the buttons and still do pretty well. There's an element of strategy with the weapons too as you can choose which of your weapons and special moves that you want to power up.
The game is pretty adult in tone. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets an 18 rating on release here. There's plenty of over the top gore and nudity which is quite a surprise at first but you soon realise that it's not the only nudity that you are going to see in the game and almost becomes a bit Benny Hill-esque eventually.
The highlight for me so far has been the bosses and the story. I've only faced two so far but they've both been real jaw droppers and pretty exciting to try and beat to boot. They are arguably not as intuitive as some of the bosses I've seen on Resi 4 though. The story is a pretty linear one but is well presented and keeps you interested in progressing through the game. Some of the voice acting is good, I recognised the Colonel's voice from MGS in there at one point those guys seem to be in everything.
These are just my initial impressions of the game I'd like to hear what others thought about it.
Thanks for the impressions. It does sound like a very polished title. I've not actually played this yet, but I have seen a video of the game and it looks stunning. Amazing how much is being squeezed out of the PS2 towards the end of its life.
Just one question, is the camera well bahaved?
I forgot to mention the graphics I'd wager they are some of the best you're going to see from the PS2 the frame rate is rock solid and the only blemishes that I can see are some v-sync issues which are usually pretty unnoticeable.
The camera is totally automated you have no control over it. It lets you see what you need to see depending on where you are standing if you can't see over a ledge because of the camera and you jump off then I've found that you can expect to die most times so once you're used to this you shouldn't have too many problems. In most cases you are either in narrow tunnels or large square rooms so that camera isn't a problem at all in these situations.
Hmm sounds pretty good, aside from the presentation, nudity and the whole cinematic experience, does it do anything "new" gameplay wise?
From what I've played so far nothing really it (along with plenty of other games) borrows heavily from Sands of time in that you've got balancing on beams, swinging on ropes, climbing walls (with the added ability to smack your enemy against the wall and throw him off) and shimmying along narrow spaces but it does it all well enough for me.
One thing that I did like for one of the bosses is that there's a clear way to kill it right from the offset but you've got to figure out how to get him into a position where you can pull off the final blow.
From what I hear later on in the game there is some neat stuff but I've not seen that for myself yet.
From what I've seen of it so far its completely unoriginal, stealing from countless games (Parappa the Rapper, Def Jam: Fight for NY, DMC, Prince of Persia, Zelda, etc which have no doubt taken from games before them) but its the first time that I've seen all these elements fused into one adventure. Having not come across any loading screens yet or chapter sections its just rattling along at an insane pace allowing me to get completely caught up in the epic spectacle. It even managed to come out of a cut scene back into the action without me realising, leaving me starting at my motionless character for a split second - the graphics are very good indeed.
I totally agree with you Goldbricker, this is Dante-lite for the masses.
I was sent the demo for this, and agree with what you're saying there.
It is very technically accomplished though, and impressive visually. The demo holds your had all the way through - I dunno whether this is the start of the full game, but it has you fighting giant serpents on pirate ships.
Yeah, that's the start of the game you've got there on the demo Papercut. I liked the way it throws you straight into the action and pretty much gives you all the different types of game play you will experience in one hectic first level. Swimming, climbing ropes, balancing on beams, avoiding archers, using finishing moves, etc. Its pretty slick.
I abandoned it at the Minotaur boss though, really didn't enjoy having to twiddle the analogue stick in different directions to match on screen prompts or copy button combinations. The hand holding for me is a problem, you never really feel your 100% controlling the characters as you have these paths of attack put in front of you which you must follow - which I guess you can kind of forgive due to the whole gods theme, but it became annoying for me. Its such an amazing world they've created I wanted more freedom within it I guess.