God of War:
I think God of War games might just not be my thing. Don't misunderstand me, I enjoyed it, but I didn't feel the satisfaction of playing something that I truly loved. I never got into the story, it didn't captivate me too much, but I really do like the inclusion and portrayal of Greek mythology in this universe. It's always interesting to see which way/view the developers have taken on a particular Greek myth/legend/monster. The story sounded awesome in theory, but the execution wasn't stellar. I think it's more interesting to read a text summary of it rather than playing through the game to learn about it, since it'll make more sense. Anyway, the game play is excellent, with a lot of options and fighting styles, and I am very surprised at the variety of game play available too. Instead of just killing monsters all the time, I love how there's other things to break it up, such as moving stuff around to solve puzzles and atypical boss fights.
That said, some of the platforming elements were downright annoying, it doesn't help when you're jumping from platform to platform and you accidentally (read: not your fault) miss it, die and go back to the last checkpoint which could just be a bit too far away when you've repeated this for the tenth time. While most of the puzzles were pretty good, some were a bit complex and would take some time to figure out what you need to do. This kinda broke the pace, if it was not clear to you how things were suppose to go. The fixed camera angles takes some time to get used to (I'm always one to move the camera around to survey and take in the surroundings). To be honest, I don't think the graphics has aged well (obviously, they were great when the original game was released, but now, it's not too great), the prerendered cutscenes are very good, but the real-time cutscenes looked awful (a lot of jagged edges), even worse than the game play animation. Most of the trophies were surprisingly easy to get, apart from two really hard ones (speed run of the game and the arena challenge after the first playthrough). The soundtrack was good, and really suited the atmosphere. Overall, frustrating at times, but worth playing to see what all the praise is about.
God of War II:
While I may have some doubts about the first game, and didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, God of War 2 blew me away. I thought the beginning was even stronger and left a stronger impact than the first game. I loved the canon explanation on how Kratos lost his god powers (which ended up removing his magic bar and decreasing his health bar, it was an interesting way instead of just starting out with the reduced powers straight away). The graphics were noticeably a step up, and I'm pretty amazed that the PS2 managed to dish out something this impressive. Granted, some of the cutscenes were still a bit jaggy, but it looks so great and smooth while you're playing, and the pre-rendered cutscenes looked stunning. The environments look great, but you do wish you can have a freely controlled camera instead of the fixed one. Sure, it plays out to how the developers intended, but often times, I wished I could check out my environment more. I am not sure why everyone says it is a short game, it still takes around 10 hours to finish it, and will take longer if you don't know how to solve the puzzles right away. Speaking of the puzzles, they are even more intricate and involved. If you have no clue and aren't as experienced with these puzzles, it will frustrate you to no end. There are multiple uses for the tools you get, and sometimes the tools blend out well into the background, such that you'll spend time looking for it. That's not including where to start, since some puzzles are so big in scope that it's just overwhelming.
The magic attacks you get this time aren't as cool, I really missed Poseidon's Rage from the first time (Cronos's Rage just isn't the same). The combat is as slick as ever and the extra powers you get are pretty cool (the gliding, slowing down time and fleece to reflect attacks). The boss fights are good, but most of them are like a puzzle themselves, which makes it quite intense at times, and annoying at others when you can't figure out how to advance to the next stage of the fight. Just like the first game, some annoying platforming aspects are still here, but it's not as numerous. The violence is still there, as well as the large amount of blood everyone seems to have, Kratos is pretty brutal... and unlike the first game, he doesn't have as strong and believable a motive to be this violent. Actually, in terms of narrative it's not that strong, what basically happens in the game is Kratos just heading to the island where the fates are, and the whole game revolves around him getting past the obstacles. Sure there's the whole titan god thing in the background, but it takes a backseat and you forget it about until right at the end. I loved the ending and then cliffhanger is left though, excellent. The music is epic, and suits the mood and what's happening all too well. Overall, I had way more fun with this sequel than the original, the scope, music and puzzles made it much more fun and enjoyable.
Overall:
A good collection of games, and both stands to the test of time (although naturally, the second one better than the first). The trophies are pretty easy to be honest, a huge majority you get by just finishing the game, it's just the couple of harder ones that you'll waste most of your time on. I liked how they had the "Making of" video for God of War II, you glean a lot of insight on how a game is made. It's so involved and so much to do for the least little things. A worthwhile disc to get.
-----------------------------
Other game reviews can be found on this page.
