God of War
God of War is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment(SCE). First released on March 22, 2005, for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console, it is the first installment in the series of the same name and the third chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, it is set in Ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. The goddess Athena tasks Kratos with killing Ares, the God of War, who is responsible for Kratos accidentally killing his family. As Ares besieges Athens out of hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to find the one object capable of stopping the god: the legendary Pandora's Box. After an epic quest, Kratos is successful and replaces the defeated Ares as the new God of War.
The gameplay of God of War focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and a secondary weapon acquired later. It features quick time events that require the player to complete various game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options. It also features puzzles and platforming elements.
God of War sold more than 4.6 million copies worldwide. Regarded as one of the best action-adventure games for the PlayStation 2, it won several "Game of the Year" awards. In 2009, entertainment website IGN named God of War the seventh-best PlayStation 2 game of all time. In addition to its gameplay, it has been highly regarded for its graphics, sound, presentation, and story. The game and its first sequel, God of War II, were remastered and released in November 2009 as part of the God of War Collection, and in 2012, the remastered version was re-released as part of the God of War Saga, both for the PlayStation 3 (PS3). A novelization of the game was published in May 2010 and a film adaptation has been in development since 2005.
God of War is a third-person single player video game viewed from a fixed camera perspective. The player controls the character Kratos in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle game elements, and battles foes who primarily stem from Greek mythology, including undead soldiers,harpies, minotaurs, Medusa and her Gorgons, cyclopes, wraiths, satyrs, centaurs, cerberuses, and boss opponents—the Hydra and a giant minotaur known as Pandora's Guardian.[4] Platforming elements require the player to climb walls and ladders, jump across chasms, swing on ropes, and balance across beams to proceed through sections of the game. Some puzzles are simple, such as moving a box so that the player can use it as a jumping-off point to access a pathway unreachable with normal jumping, but others are more complex, such as finding several items across different areas of the game to unlock one door.[5]
Throughout the game world, the player finds chests colored green, blue, or red, and each chest contains orbs of the corresponding color. Green orbs replenish the player's health, blue orbs replenish magic allowing further usage, and red orbs provide experience for upgrading weapons and magic—allowing new, more powerful attacks—and replenishing the Rage meter, which, if full, allows for the usage of the Rage of the Gods ability. Red orbs are also collected by killing foes and destroying certain inanimate objects.[6] The player can also find Gorgon Eyes and PhoenixFeathers in unmarked chests. The Eyes and Feathers increase the length of the Health and Magic Meters, respectively; finding eighteen of an item maximizes a meter and in turn, the player's power.[7]
Kratos' main weapon is the Blades of Chaos: a pair of blades attached to chains that are wrapped around the character's wrists and forearms. In gameplay, the blades can be swung offensively in various maneuvers. Later in the game, Kratos acquires a secondary weapon called the Blade of Artemis: a large sword that offers alternative combat options.[8] Kratos also learns to use four magical abilities, (such as Zeus' Fury: allowing lightning bolts to be thrown at distant targets) which allow the character to kill both individual and multiple targets. Other magical abilities include Medusa's Gaze, Poseidon's Rage, and Army of Hades.[9] A relic called Poseidon's Trident is also acquired, allowing Kratos to breathe underwater and navigate through this environment.[7] Early in the game, Kratos also acquires a special ability called Rage of the Gods, which provides temporary invulnerability and increased attack damage.[10]
In combat, a quick time event (QTE) feature, also called context sensitive attacks, is initiated when the player has weakened a strong foe. The player performs a sequence of actions on the game controller shortly after an image of its circle button appears as an on-screen prompt. This allows for limited control of Kratos during a QTE cinematic sequence, which, if successful, ends the battle; failure usually results in damage to the protagonist.[11] Similar in function is a quick time sex mini-game in the form of an encounter with female twins, which has become a regular feature throughout the series.[12]
When the game is completed, a challenge mode—ten trials called the Challenge of the Gods—is unlocked; this requires players to complete a series of specific tasks (e.g., “Kill all cyclopes before time runs out”). The player may unlock bonus costumes for Kratos, behind-the-scenes videos, and concept art of the characters and environments, as rewards. Completion of each difficulty level unlocks additional rewards.[13
God of War is set in an alternate version of Ancient Greece, populated by the Olympian Gods, Titans, and other beings of Greek mythology. With the exception of flashbacks, the events are set between those of the games Chains of Olympus (2008) and Ghost of Sparta (2010). There are six locations explored, including fictional versions of the real world Aegean Sea and ancient city ofAthens, and fictional locations of the Desert of Lost Souls, the Temple of Pandora, the Underworld, and a brief scene on Mount Olympus.[14]
The Aegean Sea setting includes a mass of shipwrecked vessels.[14] Athens is a war-torn city under assault by Ares, the God of War;[15] beyond the city is the Desert of Lost Souls, a vast and windy desert of ancient ruins. The majority of the game occurs in Pandora’s Temple, which is chained to the back of the Titan Cronos, who crawls through the desert.[16] The massive temple, constructed by the architect Pathos Verdes III, is filled with traps and monsters, and has three sections dedicated to the Titan Atlas and gods Poseidon and Hades, respectively.[17] The Underworld is a fiery realm with spiked pillars full of souls and flaming versions of previously encountered enemies. Athens is the scene of the final battle before a denouement on Mount Olympus in the God of War's throne room.[14]
The protagonist of the game is Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. Other characters include a host of Greek gods, such as Athena (Carole Ruggier), the Goddess of Wisdom and Kratos' ally and mentor; Ares (Steven Blum), the God of War and main antagonist; Poseidon (Fred Tatasciore), the God of the Sea; Aphrodite (Carole Ruggier), the Goddess of Love and Sexuality; Zeus (Paul Eiding), the King of the Gods; Artemis (Claudia Black), the Goddess of the Hunt; and Hades (Nolan North), the God of the Underworld. Several of the gods aid Kratos with magic or weapons. Minor characters include the Oracle of Athens (Susan Blakeslee), the gravedigger (Paul Eiding), the body burner (Christopher Corey Smith), and the boat captain (Keith Ferguson). Other characters appear in flashbacks, including Kratos' wife Lysandra (Gwendoline Yeo), his child Calliope, the Barbarian King, and a Village Oracle (Susan Blakeslee). The game is narrated by Linda Hunt.[18][19]
Kratos is a warrior who serves the Greek gods of Olympus. Flashbacks reveal that he was once a successful captain in the Spartan army and led his men to several victories before being defeated by a barbarian king. Facing death, Kratos called on the God of War, Ares, whom he promised to serve if the god would spare his men and provide the power to destroy their enemies. Ares agreed and bonded the Blades of Chaos, a pair of chained blades forged in the depths of Tartarus, to his new servant. Kratos, equipped with the blades, then decapitated the barbarian king.[20]
Kratos waged war at the behest of Ares, eventually leading an attack on a village occupied by worshipers of Athena. Ares had secretly transported Kratos' wife and child to the village; during his frenzied attack on its temple, Kratos accidentally killed them. Although Ares believed this act would free Kratos to become the perfect warrior, the Spartan instead renounced his pledge of servitude to the god. The oracle of the destroyed village cursed Kratos by bonding the ashes of his dead family to his skin, turning it ash-white and earning him the nickname, "Ghost of Sparta". Plagued by nightmares of his horrible deed, Kratos vowed to serve the other gods in hope of ridding himself of the visions.[20]
When the game starts, Kratos has been serving the gods for ten years. He kills the Hydra on behalf of Poseidon, but grows tired of his service and suffering. He summons Athena, who states that if Kratos performs one final act—the murder of Ares—he will be forgiven for killing his family. Ares is waging war on the city of Athens out of hatred and jealousy of his sister Athena, who assigns Kratos to destroy Ares because Zeus has forbidden divine intervention. Athena guides Kratos to the war-torn Athens. After a strange encounter with a gravedigger who encourages him to continue his task, Kratos battles his way to Athens's oracle, finds her, and learns that the only way to defeat Ares is with Pandora's Box, a mythical artifact that grants the power to kill a god.[20]
Kratos enters the Desert of Lost Souls, and Athena tells him Pandora's Box is hidden in a temple chained to the back of the Titan Cronos—a punishment by Zeus for Cronos' role in the Great War. Kratos summons Cronos, climbs for three days before reaching the Temple entrance, overcomes an array of deadly traps and an army of monsters, and eventually finds the Box. But Ares, aware of his former servant's success, kills Kratos as the latter is leaving the Temple. While harpies take the Box to Ares, Kratos falls into the Underworld. He battles his way through the fiery realm, and with help from the mysterious gravedigger, who tells him Athena is not the only god watching over him, he escapes and returns to Athens.[20]
Kratos recovers Pandora's Box from Ares, opens it, and uses its power to become godlike. Despite Ares' best efforts to destroy Kratos physically and mentally, including stripping him of the Blades of Chaos and all magic, he survives and kills Ares with the Blade of the Gods. Athens is saved, and although Athena tells Kratos his sins are forgiven, the gods cannot rid him of his nightmares. Forsaken by the gods, he tries to commit suicide by casting himself into the Aegean Sea, but Athena intervenes and transports him to Mount Olympus. As a reward for his services to the gods, she provides Kratos with a new set of blades and the seat as the new God of War.[20]
Santa Monica began development of God of War in 2002, and unveiled it two years later at SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America) Santa Monica Gamers' Day 2004.[21] In a meeting with GameSpot at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the developers said there would be 15 to 25 different attacks with the player's main weapon in the final game, with a free-form combo system that would allow players to combine moves in almost any order. GameSpot said the developers described the gameplay "as merging the action of Devil May Cry with the puzzle-solving of Ico" and noted that players would be able to "sunder enemies with a single move, such as by ripping them in half".[22]
Game Director David Jaffe confirmed the game would be a cinematic presentation. He said that at E3, they got to see where players were having issues with the camera system and said, "we are doing extensive focus tests, and using data compiled from E3, to find and fix the problem areas" of the cameras. He said he had the confidence that the team would fix the problems before the game's release. However, he said if players "hate cinematic camera systems, nothing we can do will help you like the God of War cameras".[23]
Although the game is based on Greek mythology, the development team gave themselves "lots of freedom" to modify the myths, and Jaffe said they took the "coolest aspects of the subject" and wrote a story around those elements.[23] In an interview for Eurogamer, he said while the idea for God of War was his own, the concept owed a debt to Capcom because he had played Onimushaand said "let's do that with Greek Mythology". He was inspired in part by the 1981 feature film, Clash of the Titans, saying, "the real high concept for me was ... merging it with Heavy Metalmagazine". He said he liked both "the kids stuff ... with Greek Mythology" and the idea of adding more adult themes such as sex and violence.[24]
After E3 2004, Jaffe told IGN that the creative team's goal was to "make the player feel brutal, letting their inner beast free and just going nuts". He said the game's combat system would have an unparalleled degree of freedom. The team designed two systems of combat: a "macro" system, which gives players the choice between normal combat, magical attacks, or using the QTE feature to kill a foe; and a "micro" system, where players press a sequence of buttons to perform different attacks.[23] Puzzles were implemented, including self-contained ones that incorporate up to three rooms of the game, and global puzzles that spread across four or five areas. Jaffe compared the game to the popular Prince of Persia series—which also incorporates puzzle and platforming elements—and said that while each puzzle in that series is a slight variation of the last, "each puzzle in God of War is its own beast".[23]
Frank Cifaldi of Gamasutra covered a speech by Jaffe on the development of God of War at the 2006 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. Cifaldi said "God of War was a rare opportunity for a game designer" because Sony gave Jaffe nearly complete creative control to develop a game on his terms with a substantial budget. He stated that Jaffe wanted to make the game "out of passion, not fear, and that it would be a game that [Jaffe] himself, as a game player, would want to play". Jaffe said the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark also inspired the development of God of War; he wanted to make players feel like he felt as a child watching that film, but did not want to put the player in the role of an adventurer, referencing The Legend of Zelda games. He elaborated that God of War was designed to be simplistic and forward-moving, but the game "is not innovative or unique, and that's intentional". Jaffe said that their system was shallow and "it forced the team to constantly create new content to trapeze the player from one area of interest to the next".[25] He said he understood modular game design—the need to have great looking, high-detail levels without having to build and texture every minuscule piece of the environment[26]—but "[he] was going to get bored" if they did not step outside of those boundaries.[25]
The demo of God of War, entitled God of War: The Hydra Battle, was released on January 1, 2005. It featured Kratos battling various opponents and ended with a portion of the Hydra battle that opens the main game.[27] The game was released on March 22 in North America,[28] July 8 in the United Kingdom, and November 17 in Japan.[29] By the end of July, it was the sixth-best-selling game of 2005 up to that point.[30] In 2006, it became available in the PlayStation 2 lineup of Greatest Hits.[29] In June 2012, Sony reported that the game sold more than 4.6 million copies worldwide.[31]
The game and its sequel, God of War II, were released in North America on November 17, 2009, as part of the God of War Collection, featuring remastered ports of both games for the PlayStation 3 platform, with upscaled graphics and support for PlayStation 3 Trophies.[32][33] It became available in Japan on March 18, 2010,[34] Australia on April 29,[35] and the UK on April 30.[36] The God of War Collection was released as a digital download on the PlayStation Store on November 2, 2010, and was the first product containing PlayStation 2 software available via download.[37]PlayStation Plus subscribers can download a one-hour trial of each game.[38] By June 2012, God of War Collection had sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide.[31] On August 28, 2012, the remastered version of God of War—along with God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta—was included in the God of War Saga, under Sony's new line of PlayStation Collections for the PlayStation 3 in North America.[39]
God of War: Original Soundtrack from the Video Game, composed by Gerard K. Marino, Ron Fish, Winifred Phillips, Mike Reagan, Cris Velasco,Winnie Waldron, and Marcello De Francisci,[18] was released on CD by Sony Computer Entertainment as an exclusive product for the Sony Connect Music Store on March 1, 2005. Several of the tracks feature voice-over passages from the video game. Dave Valentine of Square Enix Music Online rated it 8 out of 10 and praised the composers for avoiding the production of "a neverending dullness of action themes". He complimented the soundtrack for having "a large number of well-developed orchestral themes, with a noticeable creative use of ancient and ethnic instrumentation".[40]Spence D. of IGN gave the soundtrack 6.9 out of 10 and also praised the use of ancient and ethnic instrumentation, but criticized the uneven transitions between tracks.[41] In March 2010, the soundtrack was released as downloadable content as part of the God of War Trilogy Soundtrack in the God of War III Ultimate Edition.[42]
God of War is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment(SCE). First released on March 22, 2005, for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console, it is the first installment in the series of the same name and the third chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, it is set in Ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. The goddess Athena tasks Kratos with killing Ares, the God of War, who is responsible for Kratos accidentally killing his family. As Ares besieges Athens out of hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to find the one object capable of stopping the god: the legendary Pandora's Box. After an epic quest, Kratos is successful and replaces the defeated Ares as the new God of War.
The gameplay of God of War focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and a secondary weapon acquired later. It features quick time events that require the player to complete various game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options. It also features puzzles and platforming elements.
God of War sold more than 4.6 million copies worldwide. Regarded as one of the best action-adventure games for the PlayStation 2, it won several "Game of the Year" awards. In 2009, entertainment website IGN named God of War the seventh-best PlayStation 2 game of all time. In addition to its gameplay, it has been highly regarded for its graphics, sound, presentation, and story. The game and its first sequel, God of War II, were remastered and released in November 2009 as part of the God of War Collection, and in 2012, the remastered version was re-released as part of the God of War Saga, both for the PlayStation 3 (PS3). A novelization of the game was published in May 2010 and a film adaptation has been in development since 2005.
God of War is a third-person single player video game viewed from a fixed camera perspective. The player controls the character Kratos in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle game elements, and battles foes who primarily stem from Greek mythology, including undead soldiers,harpies, minotaurs, Medusa and her Gorgons, cyclopes, wraiths, satyrs, centaurs, cerberuses, and boss opponents—the Hydra and a giant minotaur known as Pandora's Guardian.[4] Platforming elements require the player to climb walls and ladders, jump across chasms, swing on ropes, and balance across beams to proceed through sections of the game. Some puzzles are simple, such as moving a box so that the player can use it as a jumping-off point to access a pathway unreachable with normal jumping, but others are more complex, such as finding several items across different areas of the game to unlock one door.[5]
Throughout the game world, the player finds chests colored green, blue, or red, and each chest contains orbs of the corresponding color. Green orbs replenish the player's health, blue orbs replenish magic allowing further usage, and red orbs provide experience for upgrading weapons and magic—allowing new, more powerful attacks—and replenishing the Rage meter, which, if full, allows for the usage of the Rage of the Gods ability. Red orbs are also collected by killing foes and destroying certain inanimate objects.[6] The player can also find Gorgon Eyes and PhoenixFeathers in unmarked chests. The Eyes and Feathers increase the length of the Health and Magic Meters, respectively; finding eighteen of an item maximizes a meter and in turn, the player's power.[7]
Kratos' main weapon is the Blades of Chaos: a pair of blades attached to chains that are wrapped around the character's wrists and forearms. In gameplay, the blades can be swung offensively in various maneuvers. Later in the game, Kratos acquires a secondary weapon called the Blade of Artemis: a large sword that offers alternative combat options.[8] Kratos also learns to use four magical abilities, (such as Zeus' Fury: allowing lightning bolts to be thrown at distant targets) which allow the character to kill both individual and multiple targets. Other magical abilities include Medusa's Gaze, Poseidon's Rage, and Army of Hades.[9] A relic called Poseidon's Trident is also acquired, allowing Kratos to breathe underwater and navigate through this environment.[7] Early in the game, Kratos also acquires a special ability called Rage of the Gods, which provides temporary invulnerability and increased attack damage.[10]
In combat, a quick time event (QTE) feature, also called context sensitive attacks, is initiated when the player has weakened a strong foe. The player performs a sequence of actions on the game controller shortly after an image of its circle button appears as an on-screen prompt. This allows for limited control of Kratos during a QTE cinematic sequence, which, if successful, ends the battle; failure usually results in damage to the protagonist.[11] Similar in function is a quick time sex mini-game in the form of an encounter with female twins, which has become a regular feature throughout the series.[12]
When the game is completed, a challenge mode—ten trials called the Challenge of the Gods—is unlocked; this requires players to complete a series of specific tasks (e.g., “Kill all cyclopes before time runs out”). The player may unlock bonus costumes for Kratos, behind-the-scenes videos, and concept art of the characters and environments, as rewards. Completion of each difficulty level unlocks additional rewards.[13
God of War is set in an alternate version of Ancient Greece, populated by the Olympian Gods, Titans, and other beings of Greek mythology. With the exception of flashbacks, the events are set between those of the games Chains of Olympus (2008) and Ghost of Sparta (2010). There are six locations explored, including fictional versions of the real world Aegean Sea and ancient city ofAthens, and fictional locations of the Desert of Lost Souls, the Temple of Pandora, the Underworld, and a brief scene on Mount Olympus.[14]
The Aegean Sea setting includes a mass of shipwrecked vessels.[14] Athens is a war-torn city under assault by Ares, the God of War;[15] beyond the city is the Desert of Lost Souls, a vast and windy desert of ancient ruins. The majority of the game occurs in Pandora’s Temple, which is chained to the back of the Titan Cronos, who crawls through the desert.[16] The massive temple, constructed by the architect Pathos Verdes III, is filled with traps and monsters, and has three sections dedicated to the Titan Atlas and gods Poseidon and Hades, respectively.[17] The Underworld is a fiery realm with spiked pillars full of souls and flaming versions of previously encountered enemies. Athens is the scene of the final battle before a denouement on Mount Olympus in the God of War's throne room.[14]
The protagonist of the game is Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. Other characters include a host of Greek gods, such as Athena (Carole Ruggier), the Goddess of Wisdom and Kratos' ally and mentor; Ares (Steven Blum), the God of War and main antagonist; Poseidon (Fred Tatasciore), the God of the Sea; Aphrodite (Carole Ruggier), the Goddess of Love and Sexuality; Zeus (Paul Eiding), the King of the Gods; Artemis (Claudia Black), the Goddess of the Hunt; and Hades (Nolan North), the God of the Underworld. Several of the gods aid Kratos with magic or weapons. Minor characters include the Oracle of Athens (Susan Blakeslee), the gravedigger (Paul Eiding), the body burner (Christopher Corey Smith), and the boat captain (Keith Ferguson). Other characters appear in flashbacks, including Kratos' wife Lysandra (Gwendoline Yeo), his child Calliope, the Barbarian King, and a Village Oracle (Susan Blakeslee). The game is narrated by Linda Hunt.[18][19]
Kratos is a warrior who serves the Greek gods of Olympus. Flashbacks reveal that he was once a successful captain in the Spartan army and led his men to several victories before being defeated by a barbarian king. Facing death, Kratos called on the God of War, Ares, whom he promised to serve if the god would spare his men and provide the power to destroy their enemies. Ares agreed and bonded the Blades of Chaos, a pair of chained blades forged in the depths of Tartarus, to his new servant. Kratos, equipped with the blades, then decapitated the barbarian king.[20]
Kratos waged war at the behest of Ares, eventually leading an attack on a village occupied by worshipers of Athena. Ares had secretly transported Kratos' wife and child to the village; during his frenzied attack on its temple, Kratos accidentally killed them. Although Ares believed this act would free Kratos to become the perfect warrior, the Spartan instead renounced his pledge of servitude to the god. The oracle of the destroyed village cursed Kratos by bonding the ashes of his dead family to his skin, turning it ash-white and earning him the nickname, "Ghost of Sparta". Plagued by nightmares of his horrible deed, Kratos vowed to serve the other gods in hope of ridding himself of the visions.[20]
When the game starts, Kratos has been serving the gods for ten years. He kills the Hydra on behalf of Poseidon, but grows tired of his service and suffering. He summons Athena, who states that if Kratos performs one final act—the murder of Ares—he will be forgiven for killing his family. Ares is waging war on the city of Athens out of hatred and jealousy of his sister Athena, who assigns Kratos to destroy Ares because Zeus has forbidden divine intervention. Athena guides Kratos to the war-torn Athens. After a strange encounter with a gravedigger who encourages him to continue his task, Kratos battles his way to Athens's oracle, finds her, and learns that the only way to defeat Ares is with Pandora's Box, a mythical artifact that grants the power to kill a god.[20]
Kratos enters the Desert of Lost Souls, and Athena tells him Pandora's Box is hidden in a temple chained to the back of the Titan Cronos—a punishment by Zeus for Cronos' role in the Great War. Kratos summons Cronos, climbs for three days before reaching the Temple entrance, overcomes an array of deadly traps and an army of monsters, and eventually finds the Box. But Ares, aware of his former servant's success, kills Kratos as the latter is leaving the Temple. While harpies take the Box to Ares, Kratos falls into the Underworld. He battles his way through the fiery realm, and with help from the mysterious gravedigger, who tells him Athena is not the only god watching over him, he escapes and returns to Athens.[20]
Kratos recovers Pandora's Box from Ares, opens it, and uses its power to become godlike. Despite Ares' best efforts to destroy Kratos physically and mentally, including stripping him of the Blades of Chaos and all magic, he survives and kills Ares with the Blade of the Gods. Athens is saved, and although Athena tells Kratos his sins are forgiven, the gods cannot rid him of his nightmares. Forsaken by the gods, he tries to commit suicide by casting himself into the Aegean Sea, but Athena intervenes and transports him to Mount Olympus. As a reward for his services to the gods, she provides Kratos with a new set of blades and the seat as the new God of War.[20]
Santa Monica began development of God of War in 2002, and unveiled it two years later at SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America) Santa Monica Gamers' Day 2004.[21] In a meeting with GameSpot at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the developers said there would be 15 to 25 different attacks with the player's main weapon in the final game, with a free-form combo system that would allow players to combine moves in almost any order. GameSpot said the developers described the gameplay "as merging the action of Devil May Cry with the puzzle-solving of Ico" and noted that players would be able to "sunder enemies with a single move, such as by ripping them in half".[22]
Game Director David Jaffe confirmed the game would be a cinematic presentation. He said that at E3, they got to see where players were having issues with the camera system and said, "we are doing extensive focus tests, and using data compiled from E3, to find and fix the problem areas" of the cameras. He said he had the confidence that the team would fix the problems before the game's release. However, he said if players "hate cinematic camera systems, nothing we can do will help you like the God of War cameras".[23]
Although the game is based on Greek mythology, the development team gave themselves "lots of freedom" to modify the myths, and Jaffe said they took the "coolest aspects of the subject" and wrote a story around those elements.[23] In an interview for Eurogamer, he said while the idea for God of War was his own, the concept owed a debt to Capcom because he had played Onimushaand said "let's do that with Greek Mythology". He was inspired in part by the 1981 feature film, Clash of the Titans, saying, "the real high concept for me was ... merging it with Heavy Metalmagazine". He said he liked both "the kids stuff ... with Greek Mythology" and the idea of adding more adult themes such as sex and violence.[24]
After E3 2004, Jaffe told IGN that the creative team's goal was to "make the player feel brutal, letting their inner beast free and just going nuts". He said the game's combat system would have an unparalleled degree of freedom. The team designed two systems of combat: a "macro" system, which gives players the choice between normal combat, magical attacks, or using the QTE feature to kill a foe; and a "micro" system, where players press a sequence of buttons to perform different attacks.[23] Puzzles were implemented, including self-contained ones that incorporate up to three rooms of the game, and global puzzles that spread across four or five areas. Jaffe compared the game to the popular Prince of Persia series—which also incorporates puzzle and platforming elements—and said that while each puzzle in that series is a slight variation of the last, "each puzzle in God of War is its own beast".[23]
Frank Cifaldi of Gamasutra covered a speech by Jaffe on the development of God of War at the 2006 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. Cifaldi said "God of War was a rare opportunity for a game designer" because Sony gave Jaffe nearly complete creative control to develop a game on his terms with a substantial budget. He stated that Jaffe wanted to make the game "out of passion, not fear, and that it would be a game that [Jaffe] himself, as a game player, would want to play". Jaffe said the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark also inspired the development of God of War; he wanted to make players feel like he felt as a child watching that film, but did not want to put the player in the role of an adventurer, referencing The Legend of Zelda games. He elaborated that God of War was designed to be simplistic and forward-moving, but the game "is not innovative or unique, and that's intentional". Jaffe said that their system was shallow and "it forced the team to constantly create new content to trapeze the player from one area of interest to the next".[25] He said he understood modular game design—the need to have great looking, high-detail levels without having to build and texture every minuscule piece of the environment[26]—but "[he] was going to get bored" if they did not step outside of those boundaries.[25]
The demo of God of War, entitled God of War: The Hydra Battle, was released on January 1, 2005. It featured Kratos battling various opponents and ended with a portion of the Hydra battle that opens the main game.[27] The game was released on March 22 in North America,[28] July 8 in the United Kingdom, and November 17 in Japan.[29] By the end of July, it was the sixth-best-selling game of 2005 up to that point.[30] In 2006, it became available in the PlayStation 2 lineup of Greatest Hits.[29] In June 2012, Sony reported that the game sold more than 4.6 million copies worldwide.[31]
The game and its sequel, God of War II, were released in North America on November 17, 2009, as part of the God of War Collection, featuring remastered ports of both games for the PlayStation 3 platform, with upscaled graphics and support for PlayStation 3 Trophies.[32][33] It became available in Japan on March 18, 2010,[34] Australia on April 29,[35] and the UK on April 30.[36] The God of War Collection was released as a digital download on the PlayStation Store on November 2, 2010, and was the first product containing PlayStation 2 software available via download.[37]PlayStation Plus subscribers can download a one-hour trial of each game.[38] By June 2012, God of War Collection had sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide.[31] On August 28, 2012, the remastered version of God of War—along with God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta—was included in the God of War Saga, under Sony's new line of PlayStation Collections for the PlayStation 3 in North America.[39]
God of War: Original Soundtrack from the Video Game, composed by Gerard K. Marino, Ron Fish, Winifred Phillips, Mike Reagan, Cris Velasco,Winnie Waldron, and Marcello De Francisci,[18] was released on CD by Sony Computer Entertainment as an exclusive product for the Sony Connect Music Store on March 1, 2005. Several of the tracks feature voice-over passages from the video game. Dave Valentine of Square Enix Music Online rated it 8 out of 10 and praised the composers for avoiding the production of "a neverending dullness of action themes". He complimented the soundtrack for having "a large number of well-developed orchestral themes, with a noticeable creative use of ancient and ethnic instrumentation".[40]Spence D. of IGN gave the soundtrack 6.9 out of 10 and also praised the use of ancient and ethnic instrumentation, but criticized the uneven transitions between tracks.[41] In March 2010, the soundtrack was released as downloadable content as part of the God of War Trilogy Soundtrack in the God of War III Ultimate Edition.[42]
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