It's hard to think of many games that take their inspiration from the myths, legends and history of ancient Greece. The superb RPG/action platformer Actraiser on the SNES springs to mind, but that really is about it. The Spartan warriors of ancient Greece are due to make appearances in no less than two titles in 2005. Creative Assembly, now under the ownership of SEGA, are working on Spartan, a slash 'em up using their celebrated Total War engine. Then there's God of War, a polished-looking game developed in-house by Sony of America.
God of War does, it's fair to say, take a fair bit of license when it comes to its depiction of ancient Greece, but looks very interesting nonetheless. Players step into the sandals of Kratos, an ex-soldier of Sparta who is charged with stopping the rogue eponymous God of War Ares from destroying the city of Athens. Tortured by a murky past, Kratos is a formidable kind of chap, with two axe-like 'Blades of Chaos' on chains grafted to his arms. As dangerous as they look, the blades won't be enough to defeat this immortal god. For that you'll need the box of Pandora, a super-weapon that is feared by all the gods of Olympus. What follows is a quest across several lavishly detailed environments, fighting all manner of monsters lifted from the pages of ancient myth ? the nine headed hydra is merely the first of these that you will meet, and minotaurs, harpies and cyclops follow.
Gameplay takes the form of a blend of fighting action and puzzle-solving, with both components blended and integral to the game. Satisfying attacks and combos animate smoothly into one another with blood flying all over the shop, whilst some of the puzzles are lengthy, intricate and challenging in their complexity. Bosses are huge and intimidating, with the end of game boss setting new standards. As the game goes on, you'll also get more and more of an insight into what makes the savage leading man tick. A well made, intriguing and graphically very impressive game, God of War is the latest thinking man's slasher on PS2.
