So we left off with Kratos entering the Challenge of Hades. Overall this is one of the more straight forward challenges and even though it has some backtracking, figuring out where to go isn't that complicated. There's a neat little maze puzzle where you have to defeat all of the enemies to continue and you have to figure out how to turn the light on for a giant statue. The worst part of this Challenge is the rafters. You have to cross these rafters while blades of death spin in your path. Not the worst thing in the world normally, but if you remember I mentioned that God of War is a fixed camera game and you're given some pretty horrible angles at times. Trying to judge the timing of the blades is obnoxious, especially when you have to jump over them. Eventually you find yourself back in the room with the two large double doors. Prepare for a boss fight.
You are attacked by a giant Zombie Minotaur wearing steampunk armor. You must first destroy his armor (a long process) and then kill him (also a long process). I highly recommend Poseidon's Rage here. It can really speed things up and you can get magic refills from the Zombie. Once the Zombie is dead you can go through the double doors to find Pathos Verdes the 3rd's second son, who is also dead. Apparently Pathos is losing his faith in the Gods with the death of his second son. Steal the second son's skull and back to the pool in the inner ring.
Swim down to the bottom of the statue, place the skull and pull the lever. The pool drains. You now have to line up a series of openings with the hub room. The coolest part about this section is the draw distance (how far you can see). You can see from the statue to the hub room. Normally there would be a "fog of war" blocking the view and that would save rendering power. But God of War doesn't deal with a fog of war. It is completely awesome that way. You get to see some amazing background visuals because of this.
When everything is lined up you push to statues together to cause a beam of light to appear and you end up at THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Which only a giant can climb! But this is God of War not the Princess Bride so you're actually at the Cliff of Madness, not quite as impressive sounding. There's a note from Pathos Verde the third claiming he's created a challenge that no man can complete. This. Is. A. Lie. The challenge is not that hard, but it is cheap, lame and has the worst amount of backtracking the game. It is incredibly easy to get lost here since you actually have to back past the beginning of the area to complete this section. You also have to do an annoying challenge where you have to kick a box around a corner before spikes in the floor kill you. I did not complete the challenge by kicking the box, that was not working for me so I just dragged the box, which made it very funny when I unlocked the trophy "Kickboxer" afterwards.
The Cliffs of Madness also introduce you to a knew enemy, the satyr. When I first saw them I though they were jackals and I thought they were wearing Egyptian armor. I literally thought they had put Egyptian enemies in this game. It was thoroughly confused. Eventually I figured out what they were and I killed them.
From the Cliffs I reached the Architect's Tomb. This area has an obnoxious platforming-puzzle section since there are sawblades zipping back and forth between moving platforms. You must press a switch jump across the platforms and run through the door before time runs out. Sadly this takes an otherwise fun puzzle and makes it obnoxious. You actually have to jump across the platforms before you press the switch, solve some other puzzles that open other parts of the door and then jump back across and press the first switch. This puzzle was actually really close to being great.
After you make it through the door you encounter the Architect, dead thankfully, and his wife, also dead. The Architect killed his wife when she tried to convince him to stop building the Temple. Even though he had lost faith in the Gods he still believed that he was the Chosen One to build the Temple. So he killed her then shortly after I assume he killed himself, but not before he incorporated her skull into the Temple as another key for a door. Steal her head and prepare for the final fight.
The final fight is more annoying then hard, and after the Zombie Minotaur, very disappointing. You must battle harpies and archers while you're on moving conveyor belts. Weak sauce.
You now reach Pandora's Box. It's a very impressive box that's for sure, very large. Athena appears and tells Kratos that he must get the Box back to Athens immediately, but she offers no help and that's where these Gods suck. In the next cutscene you see, Kratos is pushing this heavy box incredibly slowly. Considering where he had to travel to get here, Kratos will probably get the Box back Athens in three months time with how fast he's moving.
But not to worry. Ares realizes that Kratos has the box and he decides to do something about it. He lobs a broken column at Kratos all the way from Athens and succesfully kills him. Yes Kratos is now dead. Ares claims the Box for himself and has it brought to him at Athens. Oh brother, it's pretty easy to see where this is going.
Kratos' spirit is cast into Hades. In a very amusing scene Kratos avoids falling into the river Styx by grabbing hold of the ship captain from the first level, who just happens to be holding onto a ledge. Kratos climbs up the captain and kicks him into the river Styx.
Hades is a very small level of platforming hell, literally. There are spinning logs with blades attached to them that Kratos needs to cross. Giant pillars of death that spin and have blades attached to them that Kratos needs to climb and many cheaply placed Archers that Kratos needs to kill. What fun. It's actually not a bad level, the platforming can be challenging, but it's still enjoyable. The worst part is the cheaply placed Archers. These guys can make the level a nightmare. But if you just plow ahead you'll beat the level.
Remember the old man who was digging your grave in Athens? Well it turns out he was actually digging Kratos a path out of Hades. Apparently digging through the center of the Earth will not put you in China. It will actually place you in Hades. Go figure.
Next time, the final battle and talking about the backstory.
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