I have been playing God of War the original for the first time. It was part of a bundle of games I got for my recent birthday (to enlarge my PS2 and Wii collections). Ultimately it is proving to be unable to live up to the hype that has surrounded it over the last decade.
It looks pretty good. Not fantastic, but good. The bloody violence is meaningless to me, neither adding or detracting. Nevertheless, the game is presented well. Having not completed it yet I can't comment on the story but so far it's not anything special. Far from it.
Despite being visually polished, it's gameplay is not. The worst aspect has to be the platforming, which is atrocious. It is clumsily implemented, mainly due to the uncontrollable camera angle. Without a consistent camera view or the ability to adjust view, judging distances and heights becomes tiresomely awkward. Some of the puzzle solving and combat is hampered by this as well.
The combat is clunky and maintaining a nice flow of movement in a mob of enemies is an exercise in frustration rather than enjoyment. The in and out animations are too slow for the fast pace this game is clearly trying to go for. I am left with a slightly less satisfying experience of juggling, death by a thousand cuts or finding simple exploits. With a more flowing animation set that allows for smooth transition between move sets (including dodging) and the ability to cancel out a move (which happens only when Kratos is hit - it seems) would have made the game more interesting and presented an interesting skill challenge.
The magic is poorly implemented as well. The thunderbolt is largely useful on a conditional basis, either during platforming in range of zombie archers or against larger enemies that come in small numbers. The madusa head is my least favourite. Seemingly a piece of crowd control, it leaves Kratos too open to attack and the necessity to smash the stone enemies can lead you into a wall of swords. Against one or two enemies it lacks purpose as it uses up too much magic which is essential for the Area of Effect spell. The Area of Effect spell is good. Excellent for crowd control in desperate situations, but greedy on the magic bar. As the game progresses I am relying heavily on combat and I am fighting against an intuitive reaction on how to approach the combat.
The game is annoying me more and more the further I progress through, which is a terrible shame as it starts really well. The beginning of the game is great fun. Taking down the hydra and good portions of Athens compliment the strengths of the gameplay mechanics. For me the turning point was the Oracle of Athens hanging from a rope, berating me constantly as I solve the puzzle and complete the awkward platforming. Rather shamefully, I cheered out loud when I failed the platforming segment and she fell from the rope with a splat on the ground. I couldn't believe how irritating that was. From that moment on, the interesting encounters with enemies seemed to be replaced with lazy mob placements.
I'm still reserving judgement until I complete the game as things may improve in the latter part, to be in line with the strong start it had. I hope it does. I would like to come out of the experience and say:
"It's a good game with a strong start, faltering middle and strong ending. Gameplay is unpolished, combat lacks balance but is still presented with engaging visuals." That is what I hope to say as I think that is the best I possibly could say.
Thankfully, I have been informed that many of these issues were addressed in subsequent games and I would be perfectly willing to give them a chance if that's the case. I am really looking forward to playing Devil May Cry afterwards, partly to compare the two games.
