Pros:
+ Kratos is a one-note but badass, well-designed protagonist
+ cinematic presentation is excellent and was revolutionary for its time
+ story is simple but effective
+ combat areas are large and backgrounds are always busy
+ combat feels intuitive, quick and satisfying
+ meaty sound effects and mostly great voice acting
+ lots of secrets to discover in every stage
+ camera perspectives are smartly used to emphasize and hide secrets
+ upgrade points can be individually allocated
+ most enemies have specific weak points and demand individual approaches
+ enemies can catch friendly fire
+ plenty of post-game content and bonus features
Cons:
- only three, rather bland boss fights
- optional weapons are nice to have but unnecessary to use
- some areas like the desert are pretty tedious
- all the balancing challenges are clunky and out of place
- one hit death traps are just bad game design
- lack of a sprint button makes backtracking tedious
- even the standard enemies are damage sponges
- enemies blocking attacks ends a combo
- evade moves don't always register in time
- quick time events are not transparent and get pretty tough towards the end
- underwater stages are tedious and controlling them is difficult
- the low-poly, low-frame-rate cutscenes are jarring and not implemented well
- the final fight is a real letdown and not introduced well
Magic Moment: The penultimate boss fight, which combines Kratos' repressed guilt and destructive rage in a satisfying and smart way.
Playtime: 8 hours on Normal difficulty, plus roughly an hour extra thanks to countless deaths to the one-hit-kill traps. Played on the PS2 emulator on PS4.
Verdict:
This is it, the start of Kratos' journey and the initial spark to one of Sony's biggest IPs, and as a first timer 20 years late to the party, there is plenty of entertainment to be found here. While the action has aged pretty well and the setting and presentation are as hyperbolic as ever, it is really the Spartan's memorable design and characteristic, indiscriminite rage that elevates the game beyond its fun and varied mechanics. The story, which is told in a non-linear style, holds more surprises than expected, and the settings and areas offer new ideas and gameplay elements at regular intervals, even if some elements like the balancing challenges are huge design flaws that should have been excised completely.
Even though the unavailability of this game on modern consoles is a problem, any fan of the series should play this at least once to understand where the character came from and how it evolved over time. I'm looking forward to the second one.
+ Kratos is a one-note but badass, well-designed protagonist
+ cinematic presentation is excellent and was revolutionary for its time
+ story is simple but effective
+ combat areas are large and backgrounds are always busy
+ combat feels intuitive, quick and satisfying
+ meaty sound effects and mostly great voice acting
+ lots of secrets to discover in every stage
+ camera perspectives are smartly used to emphasize and hide secrets
+ upgrade points can be individually allocated
+ most enemies have specific weak points and demand individual approaches
+ enemies can catch friendly fire
+ plenty of post-game content and bonus features
Cons:
- only three, rather bland boss fights
- optional weapons are nice to have but unnecessary to use
- some areas like the desert are pretty tedious
- all the balancing challenges are clunky and out of place
- one hit death traps are just bad game design
- lack of a sprint button makes backtracking tedious
- even the standard enemies are damage sponges
- enemies blocking attacks ends a combo
- evade moves don't always register in time
- quick time events are not transparent and get pretty tough towards the end
- underwater stages are tedious and controlling them is difficult
- the low-poly, low-frame-rate cutscenes are jarring and not implemented well
- the final fight is a real letdown and not introduced well
Magic Moment: The penultimate boss fight, which combines Kratos' repressed guilt and destructive rage in a satisfying and smart way.
Playtime: 8 hours on Normal difficulty, plus roughly an hour extra thanks to countless deaths to the one-hit-kill traps. Played on the PS2 emulator on PS4.
Verdict:
This is it, the start of Kratos' journey and the initial spark to one of Sony's biggest IPs, and as a first timer 20 years late to the party, there is plenty of entertainment to be found here. While the action has aged pretty well and the setting and presentation are as hyperbolic as ever, it is really the Spartan's memorable design and characteristic, indiscriminite rage that elevates the game beyond its fun and varied mechanics. The story, which is told in a non-linear style, holds more surprises than expected, and the settings and areas offer new ideas and gameplay elements at regular intervals, even if some elements like the balancing challenges are huge design flaws that should have been excised completely.
Even though the unavailability of this game on modern consoles is a problem, any fan of the series should play this at least once to understand where the character came from and how it evolved over time. I'm looking forward to the second one.