There’s always hesitation when approaching anything labelled as a ‘classic’
for the first time, whether it’s a movie, an album, or a video game. Will it
live up to its famed status? Has it aged well?
When that classic has also undergone an HD facelift, it throws up an additional
question. Will it still be good despite the tinkering? (I’m thinking of the
terrible Star Wars Special Editions here.)
In the case of God of War I feel that I can safely answer “Very much
so!” for all three questions.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I’m baffled as to how I missed it when it
first came out. It does almost everything right. Fun, exciting combat, good
progression of weapons and magical abilities, excellent level design, puzzles
that are rewarding rather than frustrating, and a rousing score that carries
you through the frantic hack and slash mayhem.
There were a couple of annoying bits, the last boss fight was a little
cheap, and in the final third there’s a filler side trip to Hades that was full
of infuriating platforming coupled with the game’s most annoying enemies, the dive-bombing
Harpies. But that bit was short-lived and didn’t detract too much from the
overall greatness of this game.
I’m very impressed with the work done by Bluepoint Games, who’ve
overseen the HD updates for this game and the one that I’d completed previously,
Metal Gear Solid 2. They’ve done a fantastic job with these titles. So, a tip
of the hat to those fellows.
And one of the things I liked most about God of War was the score. It
reminded me of many things. Sometimes in the midst of battle it urged me on
with cues that sounded like they came from Lord of the Rings, in other dark and
dingy moments it reminded me of an old Orbital tune. Every now and then there’d
be a puzzle section without any combat, and in these pensive lulls the music
reminded me of the moody synthesiser soundtrack to the movie The Warriors.
Considering that there’re a few classics in my pile I’m glad I started
with one that has delivered. I can now approach those other famous moments in
gaming history a little more optimistically than I had been previously.
But first, I’ll embark upon another odyssey with Bluepoint Games, in the
form of Metal Gear Solid 3:Snake Eater.
14 down. 36 to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment