God of War (2005)

Finally got around to playing this Devil May Cry ripoff with quick-time events. Or at least that's how I always obnoxiously derided it as a young teenage fanboy of the DMC series. Turns out it's not far off the mark but also selling it short.

From a gameplay perspective that's pretty close. It's got a fun, fluid, fast combat system similar to DMCs though it only has 2 different weapons and then throws in some abilities. I will say I actually enjoyed the combat. They spice it up with some abilities you can use that consume like a MP type pool. Yes, there are quick-time events, but there usually only during executions and some boss fights so it's not over done. Another thing that sets this apart from DMC is the addition of some Zelda-like puzzles. They're not overly complicated but there are a fair amount of them. I actually saw this as a con because I hate puzzles, though they're not nearly as annoying or prevalent as the new God of War remake.

From visuals and presentation perspective it's in another league from DMC. There are numerous really cinematic fights and camera angles that zoom out to show giant monsters or big beautiful vistas and cities. It's honestly a gorgeous game even almost 20 years later.

Add to that a pretty badass story in the form of Kratos' origins and eventual apotheosis and I was hooked. It might not be as "anime cool" as DMC but it's definitely extremely cool. I love the brutality of Kratos. Wantonly murdering and killing filled with violence and intent to complete his goal. He's really a huge piece of shit, with them showing him wrenching a key off a guy's neck who's about to fall and then letting him fall to his death even though it'd be trivial for one of his strength to save the man. This juxtoposed with his origins as a bloodthirsty Spartan general who sacrifices everything to Ares to win a battle and ends up slaying his own family...it's good.

Now, the main reason I'm dinging this from an 8 or a 9 is in no small part because I'm playing it for the first time in 2021. While I enjoyed my time for the most part I found there to be too much combat, too much repetition of fighting the same enemy types over and over. And really the big thing is the FUCKING bladed pillars in Hades. You have to climb up these giant spinning pillars that are covered in blades. You can only move slowly left/right/up/down and if you get hit by a blade you have to start the sequence all over. And the sequences are long enough that I literally probably failed 50-100 times before I completed them. It was genuinely an awful point of the game. It comes down to the same reason I disliked the God of War remake: stop breaking up the fun combat with dumb puzzles and platforming.