Now that I’ve given myself some time, I’ve been able to more or less collect my thoughts on God of War so that I can reassemble them into a much more appetizing appraisal of the game. While I was in the midst of writing these pieces, originally, the feedback I’d gotten was valuable, but everybody seemed to believe I was genuinely disliking the game as a whole. Perhaps my style of criticism tends to focus on the negative aspects of the game, but by no means do I believe its faults outweigh what it has going towards its favor. GoW is a good game, probably a great game, and quite possibly the best expression of what this particular genre of beat-em-up action-adventure titles has to offer in the 3D era. It is not, however, the absolute masterpiece that many of its supporters have made it out to be, especially when it comes to certain key elements of storytelling. Narratively, Jaffe’s work is both appropriate and appaling, while mechanically it is both infuriating and inspiring. Just like any of my favorite games, films, books or deities for that matter, God of War is full of contradictions, and its in those moments where the game is in conflict with itself that it shines brightest, often. However, it’s important to note that there’s something far more dangerous and dissapointing that a creator can stoop to, and unfortunately it is that condition which defines pretty much all of GoW’s most grevious drawbacks.
The problem with God of War isn’t the contradictions– it’s the compromises.