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12/01 - The Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link
28/01 - Tony Hawk's Underground
02/02 - Max Payne
03/02 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Hero Mode)
07/02 - Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
14/02 - Max Payne 3
23/02 - Splatoon 3: Side Order (first clear)
28/02 - Splatoon 3: Side Order (all Palettes cleared)
05/03 - Alan Wake
08/03 - Alan Wake's American Nightmare
17/04 - Skye
27/04 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD (Hard)
04/05 - Star Wars: Republic Commando
13/05 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
23/05 - NieR: Automata (endings A-Z)
01/06 - Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements
03/06 - Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1
03/06 - Off-Peak
15/06 - God of War Ragnarök
18/06 - God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
22/06 - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
26/06 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
30/06 -
God of War HD
The last time I did a marathon of all these games, I skipped this one for some reason, so I was a little apprehensive to see how well it would stand up. Usually I have put this game near the top of my rankings of this series, but since it had been so long since I last played it, I wasn’t sure if it would stay there coming back to it this time. Thankfully it holds up pretty well. It’s still a very fun time with bombastic action, impressive set pieces and presentation. It has great art design and a really chunky, visceral combat system.
When it comes to the specifics of those mechanics, I did have quite a few thoughts about them. One of the reasons I used to hold this game up above its sequels is how the moves you activate by holding L1 and hitting a face button are unique to this game, and were replaced in GoW2 with moves that the series mostly still uses up to this day. I always missed the specific versions from this game. It was fun to use those again this time around, although I’m not sure how they actually compare to their replacements any more. I don’t think they’re necessarily better or worse here after all. But this is something I want to keep an eye on as I keep going through these games.
I also got more use out of some more unexpected moves this time around, as I was trying to dig in to these systems a bit more than I have before. I ended up finding the shoulder barge move surprisingly useful, as it’s a great distance closer and can stagger a fair number of enemies too. The roll in to jump move was also pretty good for similar reasons. A bit more finicky to use, but has greater stagger potential for specific enemies. The hold square combo was also good as an alternative to the basic square combo and came in handy. I also got a bit more use out of parrying than I have in this game before. I have always heard how overpowered this mechanic is supposed to be in this series, although more so from GoW2 onwards, but I’ve never felt like it was as universally useful as it’s made out to be. The same ended up being true here. Occasionally helpful, but not really as practical or reliable as its reputation.
The Blade of Artemis is cool though. This used to be my favourite secondary weapon in a series that tends to struggle to make them compelling. It’s also interesting that this is the only traditional sword in any of these games that you are able to use without massive restrictions, when swords are usually so common in action games. It has a very satisfying weighty feel to it, it does good damage, and has a lot of hyper-armour that can be very helpful at times. But its range and mobility are limited, and its move set doesn’t feel particularly conducive to being strung together in combos. It’s fun, but it definitely feels basic compared to the Blades of Chaos. I’m interested to see how it compares to the spear from Ghost of Sparta as that is the other contender for the best secondary weapon of the series.
Although the combat overall is very fun, it does have some janky elements to it that are perhaps a sign of this being the first attempt at these systems. There are some enemy behaviours and interactions that feel a little unfair or unpolished. Like a couple that don’t have the most readable animations, or larger enemies that have a reach longer than your dodge roll distance. Sometimes grabbing an enemy to do a finisher could be really picky about being in the exact right spot too. But other than those few niggling issues, it’s mostly a good time. I also found the bosses to be more enjoyable than I remember them being too, for as few as there were. They are actually pretty engaging in terms of attack patterns, rather than just being a gimmicky set piece or damage sponge.
There was also more variety in the non-combat gameplay than I remembered. And perhaps more than later games too, although I need to refresh my memory on that. They tend to be pretty hit-and-miss though. There are some cool ideas here and there, but other times they can be a pain that I’m glad they ditched later on.
Sound design is another reason that I used to have for preferring this entry, so it’s something I was also paying attention to this run. It’s still good, but it wasn’t exactly how I remembered it. It’s got a very hefty and crunchy feel to it, but it doesn’t have that almost overbearing presence to it that I remember it having. Although I think that might be because my memories of that were from playing the original PS2 version that may have had worse audio quality, and so had bit-crushed or clipping sound effects that aren’t as such in this remaster version. I’m not necessarily disappointed though, this version still sounds good, and if I were to go back to that old version I might not like it as much as my nostalgia tells me anyway.
The soundtrack of this game also has a pretty interesting synth heavy element to it. Of course it has all the bombastic orchestral stuff for fights and big moments, but during quieter sections it goes in to this more electronic stuff that gives a sort of mystical tone to the game. It almost feels like a retro callback in a way, like something you would hear in fantasy media from the ‘80s. It gives the game a sense of being almost like a historical record, rather than being solely a product of the time it was released in.
I think I’m going to pause this marathon for the moment though. I definitely want to continue with it, but I don’t want to get burned out on these games either. So I’m taking a short break before I move on to the next one.
