God of War
We spend a little time with the first level of Incog’s epic action masterpiece.
Published: February 17, 2005
When you hear game developers talking about how amazingly great their game is going to be in a promo piece or read some PR megaspin on some very simple bulletpoints that almost all games seem to share, it’s hard not to roll your eyes and just tune the whole thing out. With God of War, however, it’s not just hard to shut out all the slightly pompous chest-beating ricocheting around the promotional materials Sony has provided, it’s nearly impossible because of one very important fact: this game effing rocks.
Or at least that’s the impression we’re resting on right now, after seeing more than a few preview movies of the game, getting a little hands-on time at events and, more recently, pouring incessantly over every last second and every deliciously combo-ready smattering of enemies that will be presented upon initial play-throughs of the first level of the game. A one-level demo that Sony kicked our way recently (and one that should be available in stores, or at the very least open to PlayStation Underground members) has hooked us like few demo disks ever have.
This is due mainly to how amazingly solid God of War’s combat system is. Kratos, a mortal who made a pact with Ares that would eventually drive him completely mad, is so incredibly fluid in the way that he controls that it’s an absolute joy to direct him in unabashed tear-ass fashion throughout the lovingly rendered levels that developer Incog Inc. (yes, of Twisted Metal: Black and the slightly less amazing Downhill Domination fame) has crafted.
If you haven’t been keeping up, we’ll help you zip to the head of the class as easily as possible. GoW is told as a flashback, recounted mere milliseconds before Kratos, our follically-challenged hero, goes splat after hurling himself off a cliff to end his tortured existence. Ol’ baldy was once the champion of the gods, blessed with powers a mere mortal would kill for, but something transpired to get him all riled up and in the mood for killin’ – specifically the god of war himself. Kratos of course does plenty of killing his divine gifts, and often directs them at enemies that are many times his size, which is part of the game’s appeal, but more on that in a second. The game’s real mystery is sussing out exactly what happened in between Kratos’ dying wish to save him from death and his own self-inflicted demise 10 years later, and exactly why he’s hell-bent on killing Ares before he does it.
That of course will remain for anyone who manages to pick up the game (and even if we did know, we wouldn’t spoil it for you), but we can take you through the first few events of the game’s first level and subsequent battle with the multi-headed sea serpent, the Hydra.
Arriving on the bow of a war-torn ship, Kratos lets out a guttural sneer in the general direction of your garden variety creepy crawlies infesting the ship. Armed with his twin Blades of Chaos, our Mr. Clean stand-in can attack with a light blow (the square button) or a heavy one (the triangle button), and just about any combination of the two. Keeping attacks going builds up the combo chain, which in turn means more powerful attacks as more hits are racked up. If an enemy happens to get a lick in edgewise... tough luck, back to zero for you.
It’s hard to really put into words why the combos work, but what best works is probably a comparison to Devil May Cry’s fluidity in combat. Kratos can link together any combination of his moves (though they will terminate after a half-dozen or so hits, usually with a huge finish), and link combo attacks further still into a massive run, tossing in jumping attacks and shoulder charges for a little flair. The smoothness in transitions and complete control you have at all times is the cornerstone of the game’s near-instant hook. Linking a shoulder slam/dash (R1) into an uppercut (triangle) into a flurry of spinning attacks (L1+square), up (X) into a downward charging kick (R1 again) and finally finishing with a huge round-about sequence of slashes and a massive area-clearing slam (X, X, X, triangle) that ejects all nearby enemies into the air for further combos is literally as easy as hitting all those buttons.
It’s not all mindless button mashing, though. Sure, there’s a ton of apparent depth in the moves (we weren’t even able to test out the weapon upgrades), but actually traversing the levels and using the environment is just as important. Mid-way through the level, a massive fight with one of the Hydra’s heads in a closed cabin meant a frantic flurry of attacks until the beast was weakened, and then one of the game’s best combat mechanics came into play: tapping the face buttons as prompts on the screen popped up resulted in a massive ass-kicking on the part of Kratos, where he used the blades to quite literally smack the ever-loving crap out of the Hydra head against every wall of the ship’s cabin before the head finally retreated.
After that, a quick sequence where a block could be used for cover from incoming arrow fire from a sextet of archers or kicked ahead to allow for a stepping stone to finally climb the netting to reach the snipers’ perch showed that there may be some interesting plays off of what objects are scattered around a level. A could of short sequences where the left analog stick was used to steer Kratos around some thin beams and downed masts also showed a nice bit of variety. Throughout both sequences, the controls were completely effortless and utterly fluid.
After a brief climb to the top of one ship via the rigging and a cool sequence where weapon attacks were used to knock approaching enemies off the netting, not to mention more than a few opportunities to just outright rip them off (after a couple of nice, solid face bashes, of course), a quick zip line ride down to another ship and a couple quick fights let you square of against another Hydra head, this time out in the open. Without the vicious snaps and the required dodging (done with a simple but slightly unintuitive tap of the right analog stick) from the first head’s close-quarters fight, the combat moved to a mixture of blocking (holding L1) and countering.
A bit more climbing and the climax of the level was finally reached, where all three heads of the Hydra finally showed themselves. Two heads blocked any access to the rigging to allow an attack on the main head (which incidentally heals the other two), so we had to take turns beating the snot out of the lower heads until they keeled over. Once incapacitated, we vaulted up some stacked boxes and dove onto a waiting crane, dropping the heavy hook right into the necks of the dazed heads, allowing a clean approach up the main rigging to the fight with the main head...
And promptly ending the demo.
It wasn’t nearly enough of a taste of what to expect from the main game, but like all good acts, it left us wanting more. Much more. Luckily, we won’t have to wait much longer for the game, as it hits next Month. For now, feel free to check out some of the incredibly detailed screens, as well as a brief look at the second level in the game, Athens, lovingly provided by the boys and girls at Incog and Sony. We’ll have updated impressions of the game as soon as we can get our hands on more final code.
Or at least that’s the impression we’re resting on right now, after seeing more than a few preview movies of the game, getting a little hands-on time at events and, more recently, pouring incessantly over every last second and every deliciously combo-ready smattering of enemies that will be presented upon initial play-throughs of the first level of the game. A one-level demo that Sony kicked our way recently (and one that should be available in stores, or at the very least open to PlayStation Underground members) has hooked us like few demo disks ever have.
This is due mainly to how amazingly solid God of War’s combat system is. Kratos, a mortal who made a pact with Ares that would eventually drive him completely mad, is so incredibly fluid in the way that he controls that it’s an absolute joy to direct him in unabashed tear-ass fashion throughout the lovingly rendered levels that developer Incog Inc. (yes, of Twisted Metal: Black and the slightly less amazing Downhill Domination fame) has crafted.
If you haven’t been keeping up, we’ll help you zip to the head of the class as easily as possible. GoW is told as a flashback, recounted mere milliseconds before Kratos, our follically-challenged hero, goes splat after hurling himself off a cliff to end his tortured existence. Ol’ baldy was once the champion of the gods, blessed with powers a mere mortal would kill for, but something transpired to get him all riled up and in the mood for killin’ – specifically the god of war himself. Kratos of course does plenty of killing his divine gifts, and often directs them at enemies that are many times his size, which is part of the game’s appeal, but more on that in a second. The game’s real mystery is sussing out exactly what happened in between Kratos’ dying wish to save him from death and his own self-inflicted demise 10 years later, and exactly why he’s hell-bent on killing Ares before he does it.
That of course will remain for anyone who manages to pick up the game (and even if we did know, we wouldn’t spoil it for you), but we can take you through the first few events of the game’s first level and subsequent battle with the multi-headed sea serpent, the Hydra.
Arriving on the bow of a war-torn ship, Kratos lets out a guttural sneer in the general direction of your garden variety creepy crawlies infesting the ship. Armed with his twin Blades of Chaos, our Mr. Clean stand-in can attack with a light blow (the square button) or a heavy one (the triangle button), and just about any combination of the two. Keeping attacks going builds up the combo chain, which in turn means more powerful attacks as more hits are racked up. If an enemy happens to get a lick in edgewise... tough luck, back to zero for you.
It’s hard to really put into words why the combos work, but what best works is probably a comparison to Devil May Cry’s fluidity in combat. Kratos can link together any combination of his moves (though they will terminate after a half-dozen or so hits, usually with a huge finish), and link combo attacks further still into a massive run, tossing in jumping attacks and shoulder charges for a little flair. The smoothness in transitions and complete control you have at all times is the cornerstone of the game’s near-instant hook. Linking a shoulder slam/dash (R1) into an uppercut (triangle) into a flurry of spinning attacks (L1+square), up (X) into a downward charging kick (R1 again) and finally finishing with a huge round-about sequence of slashes and a massive area-clearing slam (X, X, X, triangle) that ejects all nearby enemies into the air for further combos is literally as easy as hitting all those buttons.
It’s not all mindless button mashing, though. Sure, there’s a ton of apparent depth in the moves (we weren’t even able to test out the weapon upgrades), but actually traversing the levels and using the environment is just as important. Mid-way through the level, a massive fight with one of the Hydra’s heads in a closed cabin meant a frantic flurry of attacks until the beast was weakened, and then one of the game’s best combat mechanics came into play: tapping the face buttons as prompts on the screen popped up resulted in a massive ass-kicking on the part of Kratos, where he used the blades to quite literally smack the ever-loving crap out of the Hydra head against every wall of the ship’s cabin before the head finally retreated.
After that, a quick sequence where a block could be used for cover from incoming arrow fire from a sextet of archers or kicked ahead to allow for a stepping stone to finally climb the netting to reach the snipers’ perch showed that there may be some interesting plays off of what objects are scattered around a level. A could of short sequences where the left analog stick was used to steer Kratos around some thin beams and downed masts also showed a nice bit of variety. Throughout both sequences, the controls were completely effortless and utterly fluid.
After a brief climb to the top of one ship via the rigging and a cool sequence where weapon attacks were used to knock approaching enemies off the netting, not to mention more than a few opportunities to just outright rip them off (after a couple of nice, solid face bashes, of course), a quick zip line ride down to another ship and a couple quick fights let you square of against another Hydra head, this time out in the open. Without the vicious snaps and the required dodging (done with a simple but slightly unintuitive tap of the right analog stick) from the first head’s close-quarters fight, the combat moved to a mixture of blocking (holding L1) and countering.
A bit more climbing and the climax of the level was finally reached, where all three heads of the Hydra finally showed themselves. Two heads blocked any access to the rigging to allow an attack on the main head (which incidentally heals the other two), so we had to take turns beating the snot out of the lower heads until they keeled over. Once incapacitated, we vaulted up some stacked boxes and dove onto a waiting crane, dropping the heavy hook right into the necks of the dazed heads, allowing a clean approach up the main rigging to the fight with the main head...
And promptly ending the demo.
It wasn’t nearly enough of a taste of what to expect from the main game, but like all good acts, it left us wanting more. Much more. Luckily, we won’t have to wait much longer for the game, as it hits next Month. For now, feel free to check out some of the incredibly detailed screens, as well as a brief look at the second level in the game, Athens, lovingly provided by the boys and girls at Incog and Sony. We’ll have updated impressions of the game as soon as we can get our hands on more final code.