God of War

I tried playing God of War last year, as a rental but didn't get too far. I ran into a bit of a puzzle-block in the early part of Athens and didn't manage to solve it before the game was due back at the store. What I did play, I enjoyed, so earlier this year I grabbed up a used copy of the game from the discount bin at the video store. Around Christmas, I fired it up on the new Playstation 3 and started over again.

This is an example of a game that, near as I can tell, gets everything right. The main character, Kratos, is not a very good man – he has a definite habit of slaying "cowards" and civilians who get in his way. This means we have the dark, troubled loner thing going on. The action is violent, fast and over-the-top. Kratos wields a pair of blades on chains that slice-n-dice every monster or thing that gets in their way. There are elements of RPG in the set-up, as we use experience from our kills to power up the blades or various powers we're given by the Gods of Olympus. There's action-platforming, as we jump from place to place or balance along precarious beams. Puzzle-solving comes into it, as various obstacles in the game have to be overcome using items, levers, and buttons in the environment. The game uses the mythology of Greece as its driving engine, so there are recognizable monsters to fight. The plot involves taking down a rampaging Ares, who we discover may be the cause of Kratos' current broodiness.

Okay, so the game is near perfect. I'm playing on "Easy" mode, since I've slowly realized over the years that one element of modern console gaming I dislike is the difficulty ramp up at Normal. Even on easy, my aging reflexes guarantee I die more than a few times trying to get places. Plus, I mostly play these kinds of games to enjoy the stories and graphic design, which is hard to see if you get bogged down on a Boss Monster in level 1, as I have a few too many times for my liking.

The interesting bit is that I'm also playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which has many similar characteristics. It's a blend of action-platforming, puzzle-solving and action-adventure. The story and characters are cliché, but done in such a way that you enjoy the stereotype, rather than resent it. The hero, Drake, isn't entirely a good guy – but he's trying, which is nice. The only downside so far to the game is that the action-adventure part is mostly shooting people, which is not something I find easy to do on a console… working the two analog sticks to aim just makes me long for the mouse and keyboard. This is one element God of War gets right, with the melee fights in that game mostly involving inventive button-mashing to unleashing amazing displays of gory, fiery doom on your enemies. Unfortunately, in Uncharted, you mostly spend your time desperately trying to line up a head shot as the fastest way to get out of what feels like an endless stream of bad guys.

Even with that downside, Uncharted is a ton of fun. I'm not allowed to play without Holly on the couch with me, though, as she wants to see what happens next. It's actually replaced our normal movie nights.