God of War - The Final Battle

So there I am standing just outside of my grave and the destroyed Temple of the Oracle and I know I'm on my way to the final battle with Ares. But before I  talk about that lets discuss the storyline of the game.

Kratos was the youngest General of the Spartan army. He killed for glory and thought his army was unstoppable. His wife begged him to stop asking when "Enough would be enough?" Kratos didn't care, he left his wife and daughter at home and just kept on killing. He was thought invincible, at least until he ran into an army of barbarians.

The army of barbarians decimated Kratos' troops and in a final desperate act to save his life Kratos pledged his soul to Ares if Ares would defeat Kratos' enemies. Ares attached the Blades of Chaos to Kratos' arms and gave Kratos the power to kill anything.

Kratos went on an even more violent killing spree with the God of War at his back. Eventually Kratos came upon a small village which had a Temple of Athena in it. Kratos declared the Temple an affront to Ares and the village was to be destroyed. Kratos' army destroyed the village, but Kratos had hesitations about the Temple. The village Oracle warned Kratos not to enter, but Kratos' pride got in the way. Kratos burst into the Temple and killed everyone. Horrifyingly two of the people he killed turned out to be his wife and daughter. Kratos had been tricked by Ares. Kratos swore revenge on Ares. For punishment, the village Oracle attached the ashes of Kratos' family to his flesh. This is why Kratos is pale. He would carry the memory of what he did on his flesh. To get his revenge Kratos teamed up with Athena and eventually many other Greek gods.

This is actually a pretty good backstory for Kratos. I still find it hard to believe Kratos had a family, but that his rage and pride would cause him to kill his family actually works. It really helps to flesh Kratos out as a character. He wants to rid himself of the memory of how he killed his wife and daughter.

Now back to the gameplay. You have to run a through the ruined temple, but all of the enemies in it are incredibly weak and should not pose a problem. Eventually you will reach Ares as he yells at Zeus. Apparently Ares wants recognition from Zeus and that's why he kills everything. Kratos easily recovers Pandora's Box from Ares (I mean this was stupidly easy. He basically just walks up and takes it). Kratos opens the Box and grows really tall. Apparently Pandora's Box is a major growth hormone. Now that Kratos is tall he can kill Ares. I do find it funny that Kratos is still significantly shorter than Ares.

The battle takes place over three parts. First is a basic fight against Ares. I made liberal use of the Blades of Chaos and the Army of Hades. A lot of dodging and a lot of striking. It's a fun fight and it can really test your skills.

After you deplete Ares health bar he sucks you into a small pocket dimension where Ares tries to make Kratos suffer by forcing Kratos to watch his wife and daughter killed before his eyes again. Kratos tries to save them. This is a fantastic fight. You fight an army of Bizarro Kratos (there must be at least one hundred of them) and you must keep Kratos and his family from dying. It is not easy, not by a long shot. I had to use the Wrath of the Gods ability with it's infinite magic boost and very liberal use of the Army of Hades to survive this fight. And I died quite a few times during the battle. It's a very emotional fight watching Kratos try to save his family. In the end though, Ares rips off the Blades of Chaos and uses them to slaughter Kratos'  family. Ares then seals Kratos' magic.

You are returned to battle Ares once more and in a desperate attempt Kratos steals the sword that the large statue of Athena is holding. This is why I mentioned learning to use the Blade of Artemis. This sword, The Sword of the Gods, uses the same moveset. There is only one health bar between the two of you and your job is to fill you health bar all the way to max while draining Ares'. This is actually a dumb fight. I don't like the last minute change in weapons and Ares has some cheap moves that can break your guard. Also if you time it carefully the fight can be over in about 60 seconds. I know, because when I finally killed Ares that's about how long it took.

So Kratos kills Ares and he finally learns the truth about the Gods. They forgive Kratos of his sins, but they never promised to wipe his memory. In despair Kratos tries to kill himself by throwing himself off of Mount Olympus, you know, the scene at the start of the game. The Gods let Kratos smash into the water unharmed and then they levitate him all the way to the top of Olympus. Athena informs Kratos that gods will reward him by making him the new God of War. Kratos accepts.

Game Over.

Final thoughts: God of War is a very fun game. It has a fantastic combat system and it shows that the design team worked hard to polish it. The team deserves all of the praise they get for the combat system.

The graphics are gorgeous, especially for a PS2 game. It's very obvious that the design team pushed the limits of the PS2's hardware to show this level of graphics. The games ability to show size, scale is amazing. Many times I felt small while battling something enormous.

The game's biggest flaw really falls into it's level design. Backtracking through every level is very poor design. It got to the point that it was easy to get lost because your first thought is not that you should be going back the way you game. And it's a glaring problem in an otherwise enjoyable game.

Next time: God of War II. Kratos is now the God of War and that can only mean bad things for mortal men and the Gods themselves.