About thirteen years ago, the good people at Sony Computer Entertainment published a game from SIE Santa Monica Studio about a man/god called Kratos who would go on to become the titular
God of War and would be seen as an anti-hero being oblivious to all else and very arrogant. In other words, he is essentially the angriest character that Sony's development studios have ever created. But he is also among the most popular too and has made at least one appearance on every PlayStation console since the PS2 but excluding the PSV. We have seven games to get through so let's go fight some gods of Greek and Norse mythology:
Just a side note that I have previously mentioned
God of War III in a top 25 list some time ago, but it wasn't a review as such so I'm reviewing it properly this time. I'm also not including the mobile game
Betrayal as I haven't played it and likely never will play it.
God of War
For the games that came out on PS2 and PSP, I played a PS3 port of those games as I never really owned either console so the review will be on the ported versions and not their original forms. The greek era (at least) of the games is set in an alternate version of Ancient Greece which is populated by gods, titans and other known beings of Greek mythology. The first game is set between
Chains of Olympus and
Ghost of Sparta and tells the story of Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson during the Greek era) who was once a warrior who served the Greek gods of Olympus until one day when a deal was struck between him and the current god of war Ares (voiced by what many consider the definitive voice for Wolverine, Steven Blum) in which the latter who grant the former the power to destroy their enemies as well as to spare the lives of the former's men. The deal goes awry when Ares has Kratos attack a village of which his family were living and he accidentally kills them. As an act for revenge, Kratos chooses to no longer serve him, but would find a way to enact his revenge. Many players I know tend to have issues with fixed cameras and up until the 2018 game, these games all have a fixed camera to give it a more cinematic feel which I personally feel is OK for the most part. The game is a hack and slash game so definitely expect there to be a lot of slicing and dicing as well as some puzzle solving elements. As this is a game loosely based on Greek mythology, there will be many battles as well as a chance to face against a series of monsters and opponents such as undead armies, minotaurs, Medusa and of course a few gods and titans here and there. It's a great start to what would become a great series for the PlayStation community. Its action packed, full of hacking and slashing and its in a way, pretty darn fun to play even if the story is a serious one. 9/10
II
So now we come to what is arguably the best PS2 game of all time and for good reason. So following the events of the previous game, Kratos has become the new god of war, but is soon rid of his godlike powers thanks to a betrayal from his father Zeus (voiced by regular Disney voice actor Corey Burton) who kills him in the process. Kratos is then saved from being dragged to the Underworld thanks to the titan Gaia (voiced by Linda Hunt) who then instructs him to find the Sisters of Fate who can grant him the power to travel back in time to avert Zeus's betrayal and kill him. Everything from the previous game is upped a notch in this game as there are double the boss battles, more difficult puzzles and a whole array of enemies to battle. It also has some platforming elements as well as using the common hack and slash gameplay mechanic of doing combo moves. Much like before, Kratos gains relics that grant him immense power from the fights he has fought over the course of the game and his health and magic meters can increase over time too. So as I said, many call this the best PS2 game there is and I can definitely see why. It's got very intense gameplay, lots of puzzles and battles to take part in, the obligatory off-screen sex scene to please the fanboys and a compelling story about vengeance. Another great entry in the series and one of those rare sequels that is even better than the first. 9/10
Chains of Olympus
So next is the first PSP title of the series but as I said already, I didn't play the original game so this review will be on its PS3 port. Set before the first game and during Kratos's ten years of service to the Olympian gods, he is guided by the goddess Athena (voiced by Erin Torpey) and sent to find the sun god Helios (voiced by Dwight Schultz) as the world becomes threatened by the dream god Morpheus and his allies. Gameplay is largely the same as it was in previous games albeit with some limited function due to the PSP's limitations in contrast to home console games. But that being said, it's still a solid experience just as much as its home console counterparts. Its a good game that explores events set before the start of the series and as such we can sort of see Kratos in a new light compared to his vengeful side seen in the main games. 9/10
III
So now we come to the first PS3 game of the series and naturally the first HD game of the series as well. Picking up from where
II left off, Kratos Reignites the Great War and goes in search for Pandora in which he hopes to use to open Pandora's box and end the reign of the Olympian Gods. AS with before, everything is once again upped a notch as we get new weapons, new ways to gain more health, more magic and more item slots. The game also has what I think are the best well made boss battles in any game to date. Without giving away spoilers (though this may not matter now that the game has been out for a long time now), there is a boss battle that feels like more of a map than a battle as it involves a certain titan. Most of the game is killing gods and other Greek mythological monsters, but all kind of show how determined Kratos is in taking down the masters he once served. This is my favourite game in the series because its intense, has the best boss battles in any game I have ever played to date and it brings all the best bits about the series together in one big package that at the time, ended the series on a satisfactory note. But the story is far from over. 10/10
Ghost of Sparta
Last of the PSP games, here we have a game set after the very first game but before the second game. In it, Kratos decides to explore his origins and comes into contact with his mother Callisto (voiced by Deanna Hurstold) who claims that his brother Deimos (voiced by Mark Deklin) is still alive. He spends the game finding him until he finds him and after being initially resentful of him, Kratos and Deimos team up to fight the god of death Thanatos (voiced by Arthur Burghardt). Gameplay is largely the same as before with Kratos gaining weapons and fighting all known monsters of Greek mythology. New to the series is an updated combat system in which Kratos can literally plummet the living daylights out of his enemies and you can also sacrifice orbs to gain bonuses such as behind the scenes footage and bonus costumes for Kratos. Its a pretty solid experience once again. Much of the gameplay of
Chains of Olympus is retained here, but the game is considered better than that game due to its updated combat system, gameplay not seen in previous games and a story that delves into family matters something of which has not been properly addressed in a manner like this. 9/10
Ascension
So next up is what is considered to be the weakest entry in the series, but also not the absolute worst one either (then again, none of the games in the series overall are bad anyway). Serving as a prequel to the entire series and taking place just after Kratos kills his family, Kratos goes on a quest to be free of his blood bond to Ares by confronting and taking down beings known as the Furies who once imprisoned him for doing as such. Along with the gameplay of previous games, Kratos can now use weapons scattered on the ground for a limited time. He can also tether his enemies by having one in place with his first blade and uses his other blade for the other enemies before dealing with the tethered enemy. The rage ability which has been featured in previous games, returns but how it works is that the meter gets filled up depending on attacks done by Kratos. But the biggest new feature to the game is multiplayer in which players can choose their warriors and which god they are loyal to before battling other players. As the weakest entry of the series so far (at least from what reviews and so forth have said as well as my own experience with the game), its still does well in giving us a good story and gameplay that is reminiscent of previous entries. But I'd say where it lacks is the multiplayer. Now almost every single PlayStation exclusive franchise has had a multiplayer mode and for the most part, its like Marmite in that you either love it or hate it. I personally never really used multiplayer mode as I'm not really into online multiplayer. But I think when a gameplay mechanic used in a game is not bought back in future games normally means that it wasn't a great feature to have. Apart from that, everything else about this game is good. It just didn't need a multiplayer mode. 7/10
2018
So here we are at the newest game in the series which changes a lot of things. While previous games were loosely based on Greek mythology, this one is the first to look at Norse mythology but still retaining a connection to previous games and can be seen as more of a re imagining than a reboot. Prior to the game's story, Kratos (this time voiced by Christopher Judge) had a second wife and she gave birth to their son Atreus (voiced by Sunny Suljic) who is unaware of his godlike powers. At the start of the game which begins after she passes away, the pair go on a journey to the highest peak of the nine realms to fulfil he wish for her ashes to be spread there, encountering many Norse monsters and gods along the way. Being rebuilt from the ground up, the game forgoes the fixed cinematic camera angle for a more third person angle with a continuous shot (much like with other morden games). Kratos's signature weapons the Blades of Chaos are replaced with the Leviathan Axe (though the blades do appear later on as a nod to the series) which is basically a weapon with ice like power and can be used in a similar manner to Thor's hammer Mjolnir (Thor by the way does not make an appearance in this game, but will likely appear in a future game). While not open world, the game has an open element and features a variety of open world and RPG elements such as fast travel locations, equippable armor and weapons for both Kratos and Atreus and the ability to craft stuff. Much like with
The Last of Us, the game mainly has you play as Kratos with Atreus being your main companion, but from time to time you will be able to briefly control Atreus such as when Kratos helps him with his archery. Atreus can also help in battle too. The best way to describe this game is its basically
The Last of Us if it was done as a
God of War game and its great. While the new direction and overall new gameplay may get some criticism from long time fans of the series, its a solid experience that feels like a very fresh and new experience for the PS4 and takes the franchise into its Norse era with probably the freshest game of the series in a long time. Its emotional, its action packed and although less intense than previous games, its still good those great boss battles and everything else that kept the series great even if its going in a new direction. 9/10
So overall, if you are a fan of greek or norse mythology, you will enjoy these games. They are as great as people have said they are, they are all very fun and intense and its a great stress reliever too just by how much killing you can do in these games. I will always consider
III as my personal favourite game of the series, but the series overall is a great one and I'm glad I was able to play such a great series of games even if I feel that Kratos may need some anger management after seven games of non stop battles against all things Greek and Norse. 9/10
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