God of War (2005)

It's sad to see how the perception of Kratos changed with the releaae of 2018 with claims such as "Kratos was never a good character until 2018". Given my utter loathing of God of War 2018, I actually liked God of War 2005. The story was my favorite part of the game with Kratos wanting to be at peace with himself being the main driving force rather than just revenge. It's tragic what happens to Kratos at the end. Becoming the thing he swore to destroy after being denied his wishes twice. One for relieving him of his past and killing himself.It's rough around the edges with hit feedback being inconsistent, enemies blocking and attacking whenever they want, enemies suddenly getting up from OTG state, enemies being spongy, but for the first go, the combat is robust. I really like the level design, especially Pandora's Temple with how it is one big puzzle. Speaking of which, I liked the puzzles. Sure a lot of them were block pushing, but some really want you to know that you have some weapons and I like how it teaches the player that.

And most of all, it is actually a video game first and foremost. It's not baiting for awards with design choices that are to the game's detriment, it still feels like an inspired game not following game design trends of the time aside from being a hack-and-slash. It is, indeed, a video game and it's not afraid to be unlike other games in the series.

Though it feels like every enemy has just a bit too much health, the combat in this game feels nice to control. There are some neat setpiece moments of epic scale or just straight-up cool presentation. I enjoy parts of the Greek mythology theme, and Kratos is a decent anti-hero for the story. There's plenty to like about the game, but I just don't quite love it after the first several areas.

It suffers from finicky platforming and annoying puzzles that add some tedium to the experience, as well as a lot of QTE abuse. Beyond that, nothing about it has been exciting enough that I can't wait to pick it back up and see where it goes next. I had a lot more fun with the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta games. Maybe more of those big boss fights and better level design would have helped hold my attention, or maybe I'm just not in the mood for this. I can appreciate how cool it might have been at the time, though.

Playing through all four games in preparation for Ragnarok. I'm doing Hades's challenge in Pandora's temple right now.

So far, it's not without its shortcomings. The game feels dated and janky in spots (especially where hit detection is concerned), it's not as deep as something like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, and whoever designed the female characters belongs in horny jail for the rest of their lives. However, the story, combat, and art design are all very good and gel together to form a pretty fun dirtbag power fantasy with a tragic twist.

The best part of the game by far is Kratos himself. He's a strikingly designed and hilariously cruel villain protagonist with great voice acting and strong motivations. His great default weapon and wide array of powers make him endless amounts of fun to control even when said controls have an aneurysm. As far as major console mascots go, he's definitely the most interesting and fully fleshed out character and he's clearly the driving force behind why this series became iconic.

Finally played and finished it after all these years. Still plays and looks great. Definitely not a 5/5 and even some annoying details* make it sometimes a 3.5/5, I think it still deserves a 4/5. Now before the new God of War, all I have to do is to finish the 5 other God of War games... Such an easy task!

*Bad platforming because of unpredictable camera, fighting the same enemies over and over again, too many blocked attacks, some weak enemies taking way too many hits, etc...