God of War (2005) Gameplay | PS3 God of War Collection |

I remember all the hype, surrounding God of War before and after it came out. I remember all the critical acclaim, and the high review scores, and all the ranting and raving about the game in months and years following it's release. I also remember that I ignored this game on purpose, because I already figured I knew what the game was like, and I just wasn't interested based on my assumptions. As far as I was concerned, I had already played it when it was called Devil May Cry, and I put an interest I had in this game on the shelf for the time being, and was perfectly happy leaving it there. That was until, on a whim, I saw God of War on the shelf for a mere $20 greatest hits price, and decided what the heck, for $20 I may as well check out what all the hype was about.

When I got God of War home after finally taking the plunge on it, I was expecting a mindless button masher with a straight action focus. I wasn't expecting to be completely wrong about the game, because, despite it's more linear nature, God of War is an exceptional game with, arguably, the smoothest combat system ever designed with a cool upgrade system, on top of levels that while more narrow than something like Zelda do have quite a bit of open exploration to them, and some really well designed puzzle elements to pace out the action. Outside of a few obnoxious scenes in the game, the whole game is a buttery smooth experience that definitely falls into the action-adventure category with it's excellent mixture of elements.

The PS2 God of War games both play incredibly smooth, and support progressive scan, and make for a great case study on how good the system was capable of looking graphically with an experienced team creating games from the ground up on it. Arguably, the two best looking PS2 games ever made, and progressive scan support. Two of the best looking, best playing games on the system. They make the top 10's on the system for best games, and best graphics for a reason, and while I don't know if they would make my personal top 10 PS2 games (like I could ever narrow down a list), I am a big fan of both on the PS2, and PS3 respectably.

Kratos, once the champion of the gods, and obedient servant of Aries, the god of war is now on a quest for vengeance, and for relief of the memories of his most egregious of sins the memories of which haunt him every day. The game will eventually tell you what it is he did, so I won't, but if you know you know. Honestly, the appeal is Kratos is a bada**. The combat and feel of the game reinforce this n