God of War
MAY 11, 2006
A Timeless Tale of Revenge and Redemption.
-- By Megan Denise Labbe, Staff Writer,
Phoenix Genesis
Warning: Contains Story Spoilers!!!
PlayStation 2's God of War is a stunning game of action and adventure that draws on classic Greek mythology, Jungian archetypes, moral themes, and social values. It also contains mature content with its bloody fights, sex, lies and a whole lot of revenge. But God of War does not glorify these dark adult themes. Rather, it focuses on the aspects of regrets and redemption that come as part of the price of revenge. Kratos tells us his story about how the gods of Olympus abandoned him. He wanted to end his life by jumping off the highest cliff in Greece. Of course we have all been at that point of despair once. In this respect, this game is kind of like life if you think about it.
The first battle starts ten years ago when Kratos asked the god of war to help him defeat the barbarians. Kratos is a strong and great warrior and the captain of the Spartans but when they went up against the Barbarians, Kratos met his match and with that his life turned upside down. Aries, the god of war, agreed he would help him but there is always a price to pay and that price was pierced into his arms the blades of chaos. These were a constant reminder of his mistake. He paid in a way no person should. Well, as they agreed, Aries gave Kratos the power to defeat his enemies and his rage grew and grew, killing everything. As the years passed, he made mistakes. But his nightmares did not start until he made the biggest mistake of his life.
As Aries' toy, Kratos had to do whatever he was told. He and his army would battle and win and causing
everything in sight to be burnt down. One day Kratos and his army came upon the Temple of Oracle. He was
not to enter, but nothing would stop him. As of that one night he tried drinking his problems away and
he slept with many women, but nothing would change. As he inevitably entered the Temple, he flung his
blades with no hesitation to realize he killed his wife and daughter. Kratos had one reminder of what
he did to be great and this time the ashes of his family consumed his skin living him pale to remind
him of how much of a beast he is. And since that day he swore revenge.
With this new hate his story begins. Fluffing Athens demands Kratos set out traveling to the mountains and
the deserts battling constantly with Medusas, harpies, gorgons, Cyclops, the undead warriors, sirens and
with Centaurs. When he finally got his hands on Pandora's box, Aries threw a spear killing him. Kratos
died and went to hell but he was not stopping there. He had escaped hell. An old man he came across before
he made it was digging a grave: Kratos' grave. This was no ordinary grave: it was his way out of hell.
As Kratos came upon Aries, the epic battle began. With all his might, Kratos killed the god of war. Athena was pleased, but she only forgave him and she let him live with his nightmares, realizing that he wanted to put an end to it. As Kratos jumped off the cliff, the gods pulled him back up into his thrown to become the new god of war.
This game is amazing because so much of it relates to the real world because the world is full of liars and
struggles with one's conscience. Nothing comes for free and everything comes with a price, but in the end
we become stronger. The game play was very good, but the camera angles were not that great and a little
more blood would have been better. I love this game, but it's too short, so that was big letdown. However,
this game is so seductive, that it has a high replay value. The voice acting, sound effect, and music score
are of the highest quality, rivaling any epic motion picture. This game teaches us that there is no easy
way out of anything and trying to take the easy way out makes it harder in the long run.
Final Game Rating: 9 out of 10.
Megan will be game testing God of War 2 at E3 2006.
Links
- More Video Game Reviews by Megan Labbe
- Go to Dave's Gaming Domain
- Go to Dave's Slaves
- Phoenix Genesis Online Game News
- E3 Expo
- God of War Official Website
