God of War: God of Awesome!

Never believe hype. Oftentimes, a movie, game, or comic will be hyped as the next great thing that people will forget that all it is is a movie, game, or comic. The next crossover is going to be the greatest, most long lasting story ever! This movie will gross more than Titanic. This game is the game of the year. But sometimes, just sometimes, hype can be there for a reason.

God of War starts you out playing as Kratos, a Spartan warrior in the service of the gods. You are immediately thrust into battle against undead soldiers, and the Hydra. Following this battle, you set out for Athens to destroy Ares, the god of war, and reclaim the sanity the mad god stole from you. Along the way, you will pick up weapons from the gods you serve, and fight your way through Pandora's temple to find Pandora's box, the one weapon that will help you defeat Ares. The story is top notch. And the voice acting is nothing to sneeze at either. Every character is portrayed wonderfully, bringing each character to life.

First things first. This game is absolutely stunning. Sometimes you just want to stop and look around you, or watch things in the background. In one part, you have to pass through two giant flapping curtains and then you see Ares(giant sized), battling the army of Athens. And watching Ares in the background while you run is simply breathtaking. Later, you can just stand around watching Kronos wander desert, whether from afar, or from the top of Pandora's temple. The characters are beautifully rendered, and the backgrounds are lush and full of life. Even the blood, gore, and nudity are well done, something a lot of games which use them make them cheap, figuring the audience won't care. But in this game, it is done for a reason, to make the game feel more like the era. This is a beautiful game.

The gameplay is very easy. A few buttons make up the majority of your moves, yet you can do so much with them. It feels natural, rather than having to remember long sequences of different buttons to get moves off. Plus, the "minigames" where you kill a monster make it just different enough. Whether you are pushing a button repatedly, pushing different buttons, or rotating the control stick, you get enough variety here.

The music is inspiring (if a little on the Lord of the Rings side). As is all the sounds in the game. This feels more like a movie than a game, and I would love to have seen a Lord of the Rings style game done like this.

There are some minuses to the game. One, the camera angle can lead to you falling off of narrow walkways many, many times. The camera does its own thing, which can seriously hurt the player sometimes. Especially when an enemy off screen comes flying at you with their attack already in progress. Some people may complain about the game being short, anywhere from 7-10 hours to beat it. But for this type of game, any longer could hurt the player from finishing. And apart from the god mode and other unlockables, there really is no reason to play this repeatedly,unless you want to. Which I think many people may find themselves doing.

Overall, this is an impressive game. And I hope to see a sequel improve upon this worthy title.

Buy it!