God of War is not just a game; it's an epic. It chronicles the fantastic journey taken in the last weeks of life by the fallen hero and bound servant to the gods, Kratos. When we join him, our anti-hero has been forced to do the dirty work of the divine for some time. Tortured by the memories of the gruesome acts he's committed, Kratos attempts one last near-impossible feat for the gods in the hope of being forgiven for his sins. The task is one at which no mortal has ever succeeded: the assassination of a god. Specifically, Kratos must kill Ares, the god of war, to stop the torrent of destruction that he is releasing upon Athena's beloved city.

The presentation in God of War is astounding and by far the game's strongest characteristic. The gorgeous, detailed graphics and cinematic sequences, along with dramatic music and solid voice acting, create an intense atmosphere for an intriguing tale. The story itself is not very complex, but it is told so well that it's gripping even in its simplicity. I found myself unable to stop playing the game, simply because I wanted to witness the next cinematic. This is a fabulous accomplishment for an action game. Never have I been so engrossed in a button-masher and it's a refreshing change.

God of War is set in mythical Greece, where creatures such as minotaurs and gorgons roam the earth, as faithful servants to Ares. Kratos, a Spartan, is no stranger to the brutally of this era and ruthlessly kills his victims in any manner necessary for victory. Severed limbs, pools of blood and gruesome fatalities are common occurrences. The viciousness of the fighting really makes the game's ancient Greek setting more real to the player, as this type of gore is characteristic of the time period. In fact, the game does such a great job of connecting you to Kratos and his world that the extreme violence feels like acting out a part in a blockbuster movie.

An intense and challenging action title, God of War borrows heavily from Capcom's Devil May Cry. You travel from place to place in a relatively linear fashion, fighting hordes of enemies at every stop along the way. The fighting is deep and involving, allowing the player to string together a series of punishing moves against multiple enemies to build up massive combos. The collection of red orbs from fallen enemies to purchase upgrades and new abilities is also borrowed from DMC, as is the ability to morph into "God Mode" (Devil Mode) after you have done enough killing to charge up your meter. In this mode your attacks do more damage, you can perform new attacks and Kratos is invincible. All of this ends of course when the meter empties and you must once again begin the task of refilling it.

God of War isn't just a carbon copy of Dante's first demon hunt though; the focus here is on the hacking and slashing of groups of goons, not on boss battles like DMC. In fact, there are very few boss battles in the game. Instead, the individual enemies are extremely well varied and tough to defeat. You have to take the time to fight each enemy differently and when you run into mixed groups of enemies, the challenge of the fights increases dramatically. Combos are much easier to achieve in God of War than in DMC and it's not uncommon to pull off a series of 50 hits on your foes (my highest so far is 497) [Show off! Ed]. In some ways this makes pulling off a huge combo less satisfying, since it happens so much more frequently. Also, the enemies require many hits to take down, so a massive combo rarely results in clearing the room. You're still going have work to do.

An additional aspect of God of War uncommon in the genre is the depth of its puzzles. At first the tasks you're faced with are painfully simple; push a block, walk on a narrow beam, etc. But once you get to Pandora's Temple (the largest portion of the game), the puzzles become much deeper and more involved, usually requiring thought, exploration and trial and error. This deepens the game dramatically and is a critical departure from Devil May Cry, where action is the only focus.

Controlling Kratos through his blood thirsting is intuitive and easy to master. The left analogue stick is used to move and the square and triangle buttons are weak and strong attack respectively. These are the two buttons you'll be mashing the most and depending on the order and timing you use to press them, you can pull off a variety of attacks. The L1 button blocks and can also be used in conjunction with the attack buttons to perform special moves. Moving the right analogue stick causes Kratos to perform an evasive roll in the direction pressed and is the one part of the control scheme that causes problems. Not only does dodging require you to take your thumb away from the attack buttons, but also the dodge is not particularly effective unless you use it to move out of range of an enemy. Some of the coolest and most satisfying moves in DMC involved slick rolls to the back or side of an enemy that gave Dante an open window to strike. The ineffectiveness of the dodge brings down the combat a little and can be a big issue in intense battles.

Kratos' initial weapon, two blades tethered to his arms with chains, is one of the coolest I've ever seen, as the blades can be swung around in a variety of ways. You get one other weapon later on in the game - a sword - but the majority of your moves work only with the blades. At first Kratos doesn't have many moves that he can perform and the combat can feel pretty stale, as you find yourself mostly just pounding the square button. Killing enemies, however, allows you to accumulate those red orbs and upgrade your current abilities, including your weapon, which gives you more moves to include in combos. New abilities like medusa's gaze are given to you along the way and these are upgradeable as well. Overall there just doesn't seem to be enough variety in Kratos' repertoire and it would have been cool to see him with a variety of weapons, each with its own set of moves.

God of War's visuals are gorgeous. Kratos, the enemies, the backgrounds, all are drawn with an unbelievable attention to detail. Every monster in the game is recognisable as a mythological creature, but all of the designs have been modified so they look new. The backgrounds feel huge, both indoors and outside, while all of the statues and architecture are exactly what you would expect from ancient Greece; you truly feel like you have entered a different world.

The sound in God of War is also phenomenal; every scene is appropriately accented with overwhelming orchestral music, making battles more intense, story segments more dramatic and exploring new areas more nerve-wracking. It's just amazing and I even found myself humming the music when I wasn't playing the game. The score is as much a part of the atmosphere as the graphics and it does just as fantastic a job of placing you in ancient Greece as the visuals. Sound effects are effective and satisfying, especially the noises made by the monsters, but they aren't the towering achievement that the background music is.

Unfortunately, the action in God of War doesn't quite match that of DMC. The longer tangles you have with the tougher enemies can get tiring. Often times it becomes a game of scoring a few hits, then ducking out of the way to evade an attack. This makes the fights go on too long and they aren't always fun. Additionally, the action here isn't as fluid as its competitor. Combos just don't feel as smooth and the action is slower overall. Finally, some of the non-fighting sequences are unbearably frustrating. You will find yourself on a handful of occasions having to repeat the same section of the game over and over, whilst angrily grinding your teeth. Besides these sections, there is an extremely generous checkpoint system so dying during a fight will never put you very far back from where you were.

When it comes to shelf life, God of War tries very hard to keep you interested beyond your first play through. A lot of cool features about making the game are unlocked after you beat the game, along with an extremely challenging difficulty level (God Mode). There are also addition story cinematics that can be unlocked if you complete the game in God Mode. However, as much as I loved the story and wanted to see those extra plot elements, I simply couldn't bring myself to play through the game again; at least not yet. By the end I really felt like the action was becoming monotonous and frustrating, so while I wanted to finish to see what happens to Kratos, I also just wanted the game to be over. Of course, I also plowed through the game for the sake of writing this review, so I may have just had too much at once.

God of War is a great game. Its engaging story, astounding visuals, rousing soundtrack and non-stop action are more than enough to bring you in and keep you playing to the end. It has a convincing atmosphere and a central character that truly comes to life as you play. However, there isnt' quite enough variety to make this classic and after the ten to fifteen hours it takes to beat the game, the monotonous fighting feels overly arduous. But the satisfaction in having completed this amazingly theatrical adventure is enough to make it worthwhile. Rent it, beat it, enjoy every painstaking hour that went into creating it and if you decide it's a must-buy then by all means buy it and tell your friends just how wrong I am.

Reviewed by Greg Gale for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).