The last time I played any of the 3 games from the God of War trilogy was nearly 2 years ago, but the experience still lives vividly in my mind; they offered among the greatest gaming experiences I ever had. I haven't played any of the other 4 games in the series.
I have known about the first game for years, before playing it, and it was among the top of my wishlist. The appeal was simply the imagery of the angry lead character (Kratos), the giants he was portrayed to battle, the setting (ancient Greek mythology), as well as the title.
When I finally managed to get my hands on the games (about 2 years ago), they did not disappoint. The epic feel of it all, the character design (the best ever that covers ancient Greek mythology), and (as regards God of War III) impressive realism, makes for a fantastic series. Sadly, this trilogy is only available for PlayStation (2 & 3).
My favorite characters:
- Hercules (demigod, son of Zeus), who appears in the 3rd game of the trilogy, is a mini-giant with a massive muscle structure and an interesting attitude, not to mention armed with some awesomely large and powerful weapons, that the playable character (Kratos) luckily gets to play with. The moment where this Hercules character appears is among my most favorite battle scenes in the whole trilogy.
- Hades (God of the Underworld), who we also only get to fight in the 3rd game of the trilogy, is another great design, and his underworld the best environment of the whole trilogy. His assortment of weapons is also quite impressive, but the battle involving him, though quite good, could be more epic.
- The Centaur General (human-horse being) were quite a presence. Not only were they rather tough to beat, but they were also the most charming characters in the whole trilogy. One wishes they had a greater screen time. Note that there were other Centaurs in the trilogy, but these particular ones were most interesting, and their slaying most... beautiful. They appear first time in the 3rd game in the trilogy.
- Poseidon (God of the Sea), is an interesting one. His represents the most complex (and hardest) fight sequence in the entire trilogy, it it also happens on the third installment of this fine trilogy. It's not exactly my favorite, but his character has a certain level of charm, and the final kill is particularly brutal.
- Kratos, the protagonist, was most impressive in the first game, but he was getting less interesting later on and the novelty of his anger was wearing off. He was also getting petty at times, and too bloodthirsty to be convincing. Regardless, he is a work of superb character design, and this well-enhanced by the pale color and red stripes on his skin, as well as a body that makes him look like pure lethal.
- Stone Talos are a one-of-a-kind character... muscular stone statues that come to life to incur damage on our protagonist.
Awesome as it is, the series does have weaknesses:
- There is one notable bad work of character design, which is Ares, the original god of war (a title Kratos took from him after defeating him). He is totally uninresting (and clumsy), and the battle in which the two fight is the worst in the trilogy.
- One other horrible character was the goat-snake-lion combo character. It was probably a first in gaming history, but it was a real stupid idea.
- There were also some particilarly hard stages to pass, where I had to ask for help from a friend to proceed to the next level. I hate stuff like that... I normally pick the easiest difficulty level in games, for I hate to struggle for too long.