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Sinister allegories
God of War is a tale of revenge and betrayal. You control a Spartan warrior named Kratos on his quest for revenge against Ares, the god of war
Mythology HAS always been the heart and soul of world literature. The stories of Greek anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, terrifying monsters like Gorgon or Cerberus, gallant heroes like Achilles and Theseus inspired writers and poets of the Renaissance, giving rise to masterpieces. Such is the power and beauty of the mythological tales of Greece, Rome and Scandinavia.
The entertainment industry, especially videogame developers realized the potential of mythological tales. From ancient video games to next-generation consoles, the heroes and monsters of mythology have inspired, both, game developers and gamers. However, all these previous games pale in comparison to the recently released God of War by Sony, Santa Monica, on PlayStation2.
Story
God of War is a tale of revenge and betrayal. You control a Spartan warrior named Kratos on his quest for revenge against Ares, the god of war. When the game begins, you see Kratos plummeting to his apparent death as the result of his suicidal jump from the tallest mountain in Greece. However, just before Kratos hits the rocks in the Aegean Sea, the mysterious narrator takes us to a flashback and the game begins. Throughout the game, Kratos’ quest for the Pandora’s Box, the only weapon that could kill a god, takes him from the besieged streets of Athens to the Desert of the Lost Soul and from the Temple of the Oracle to Hell.
Characters
Kratos: God of War tells the story of Kratos. A pale-skinned, muscle-bound Spartan warrior general who became Ares’ right-hand man on Earth and was popularly known as the manifestation of god’s wrath. However, he was not always known as the “Ghost of Sparta.” The transformation of Kratos from an olive-skinned fighter to the universally feared and despised ghost alone is worth giving this game a shot.
Kratos’s family: You only see them in flashbacks within the flashback, which comprises more than half the game play.
Oracle of Athens: A voluptuous woman with powers of foresight and astral projection who serves the goddess Athena and saves her from her death a la Spider Man style.
The grave digger: A mysterious old man, engaged in a dull albeit profitable occupation of grave digging at the Oracle’s temple. He implies in his talk that he is a god, but one finds that hard to believe. He can dig really deep though.
Gods and goddesses
God of War boasts an all-star ensemble cast of Olympian deities, including:
Ares: The son of the king of gods, Zeus, Ares is the god of war. He saves Kratos’ life, and in return, Kratos becomes his slave.
Zeus: The king of gods who also fathered many humans along with Ares. Zeus forbids all gods and goddesses against fighting directly with each other and grants Kratos his power of hurling thunder bolts known as “Zeus’ Fury.”
Poseidon: Zeus’s brother and god of the oceans. He helps Kratos by granting him a special magical power, “Poseidon’s Rage.”
Aphrodite: The goddess of beauty, she tells Kratos to get the head of Gorgon to wield the power of her horrid gaze which can turn men and monsters alike to stone.
Athena: The goddess of wisdom who favours wise men. She guides Kratos on his journey to acquiring Pandora’s Box and promises him redemption in return. She also grants Kratos with the Blades of Athene, her own version of the “Blades of Chaos.”
Monsters
God of War does not reserve the monsters of myth for boss battles only. Along with the legions of undead soldiers, you will be continuously fighting all sorts of monstrosities like:
Hydra: She is the first boss you fight with and is a hideous monster with three heads, really bad breath and an acquired taste for human flesh.
Cyclops: One-eyed, club-wielding giants wearing a fierce expression and not much else, who come in various shapes and sizes.
Harpies: With a bat’s body, a woman’s appearance and a monkey’s face, these minions of Ares are ruthless scavengers. They seldom attack singularly and are quite vicious. However, Harpies face the music when they encounter Kratos.
Minotaur: With the head of a bull and the body of a man, Minotaur is quite difficult to defeat. You’ll be fighting many Minotaur fledglings in the game but the real monster gives you a run for your money.
Medusas: They are minions of Gorgon. Part snake and part women, they roam on the plains, waiting for their prey.
Centaurs: Half-horse and halfman, these creatures are easy to kill because by the time you come across them, you have a lot of magic and combat techniques at your disposal.
Game play
The very first thing you notice is the camera technique. The camera does not move around a lot, which could have been a problem but the game developers have handled this so smoothly that you actually begin to enjoy it.
This is no ordinary feat for even in remarkable games like the Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, the fixed camera position becomes rather annoying.
Kratos’s movements are very fluid. His attack animations are quite interesting to look at and they give you a sense of power. Kratos’s game model is beautifully done and his physical appearance, especially the face, exudes the same stone cold menace and burning hatred, the very essence of his being.
Kratos is buffed up like a wrestler but possesses surprising agility. He can be quite acrobatic if the need arises. The non-playable characters of the game are also fairly well-crafted and some of them can be a real pain in the neck, especially the gorgons, cerberuses and satyrs.
Blocking in God of War is also very effective —almost to the extent of being aggravating and so, makes the game play quite easy. Apart from the special charged attack of a few enemies, Kratos can completely block any number and type of attacks from any direction by simply holding down the L1 button.
The most interesting part of the game is the inclusion of context-sensitive kills, through a mini-game, that can be performed when the enemy’s life bar is depleted to a certain level. The screen pauses and a command starts flashing on the screen and subsequent button press prompts follows each successfully executed prompt.
If done correctly, the monster dies and you are rewarded with larger than the usual quantity of goodies (souls, life, magic, etc.) If you fail, you can kill the monster by depleting its life bar completely. However, the bosses only die through the successful execution of context-sensitive kills.
Mythology
The mythology in the game is sadly quite misleading and has very little to do with tales in classical Greek literature. The Pandora’s Box did not contain magical dust. Instead, it contained the troubles of the world.
The sirens never went wailing around in the desert like opera singers but actually dwelt on a rock in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Their music would make the sailors go mad. Similarly, in the original myth, Hydra would grow two heads when one was cut.
All said and done, God of War is a mind-blowing game and has redefined the gaming experiencing in more ways than one.
The writer navaidzafar@hotmail.com is a lecturer at the Government Degree College for Men, Karachi, and is an avid gamer
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