God of War definitely deserves the high praise it received. Nowadays, many games feel empty and set on repeat for yearly releases, or are just are clearly out of touch with what we want. God of War, however, differs from the average game of today, which is why it's so great.
Well, as gamers what do we want? We don't need much. A good story, intuitive controls, fun gameplay, and beautiful scenes are a must though (I don't say good graphics because even 2D games can look great). God of War delivers in all of theses things; it's got a great story, fun controls and combos to explore and discover, and fun gameplay. And I say this even though the gameplay's a little repetitive because the combat is so cinematically pleasing and so generally well done that you don't care about the small amount of repetition in the game. Besides, repetition is broken up anyway by the larger-than-usual amount of enemy types. And, as for the beautiful scenes requirement, this game looks absolutely beautiful and will make you say, "WOW!" more than once, not just because of its great graphics, but also because of its artistic creativity when it comes to making ancient myth a reality.
For example, there is a giant snake you meet early in the early game that wraps around the world. This was really cool because you can see parts of him all around, and the way he makes the TV shake when he speaks makes the moment even better. There are also different realms to explore and every one of them has a unique world of its own to explore.
Now, moving on to the story.
Seeing Kratos go from a furious god killer to a father figure is extremely interesting. He's still furious and kills gods, but obviously regrets some of his past actions and is disgusted by himself to an extent. His son asks a lot of questions and makes interesting conversation while doing side-quests or just while you're going around exploring the different worlds and realms. It gets even better when you find Mimir, the guy that knows all the lore and has the best stories to tell.
Additionally, the story told in this game is very emotional and personal. You see the characters change after big events in the storyline, and those changes are revealed in somewhat unpredictable conversations. One example of this is how the exploring Kratos goes from saying his son needs to improve a lot of his issues in combat to complimenting his son and trusting him more and more in combat. With that, the ending is perfect, earning the title of my favorite part of the game. It also heavily implies a sequel that I wont miss.
The Music
The music in this game is decent. When compared to something like Dark Soul's soundtrack, it's nothing amazing and seems like your standard action movie background music at some points. But it's very well done and sounds good, which is really all the music in a game has to do.
The Weapons (YES!)
Another aspect of the game worth mentioning is that you can find different armor sets and weapon upgrades around the world to suit your style of gameplay. It's incredibly fun to hunt sown certain enemies for armor pieces to make or upgrade what you have (this is another of my favorite parts of the game). Certain tough enemies drop specific material for legendary armor sets, too.
There's a lot to do in this game and you'll want to explore it all. God of War reminded me of other modern action games like the new Tomb Raider at points when it came to exploring the world, climbing, and searching for collectibles and gear, but God of War does every one of those things better. The reason why I say this is because you don't have to climb slow to get everywhere (hate the whole slow climbing thing), the open spaces to explore are larger, and there's much more to discover around every corner. Honestly, God of War is one of the best games I've played yet. If you haven't played this game you need to right now because it really is that good.
-Andrew Cherrington
(Edited by Corey)
