Well, the game is definitely a AAA title in terms of the general gaming public, although maybe not as far as you're concerened because of the button mashing. I didn't feel the camera was intrusive or hindered gameplay at all though.

You don't think pivoting a camera around while you're trying to balance on a beam with an analog stick is intrusive? How about in the Hades level where you're jumping from one platform to the next and the camera swings around mid jump? How about making you jump into a foreground that is largely off-screen? How about making you do massive puzzles and not letting you look at them from a distance?

And don't even get me started on collision detection...ugh. I can't even count the number of times I'd land on the edge of something and then fall to my death. I'm either on the edge, or I'm not.

The game is well worth the price of entry as a GH title, but it's pretty much getting by on flash and content. The actual core gameplay isn't nearly as polished as folks seem to think. If this were a Mario, a Zelda, a Castlevania, hell even a Ratchet and Clank...the gameplay mechanics would be unforgivable.

I beat this game half a year ago, and don't recall ever getting angry at the game for those issues to the point of frustration, both as far as the camera goes or collision detection. If anything, i would have considered the camera work as good, if not better then most.

Yep, that's why I said I only like to play personal AAA title.

The GTA series is a AAA series mainstream wise, when I'd rate it a D as I just don't enjoy them.

My tastes are FAR removed from mainstream US gamers to the point that I've nearly quit gaming several times.

Only the DS is keeping me going at the moment.

I'm playing it right now...should be finished in a day or two.

I guess it's just a bit of a pet peeve for me and it's honestly only in a few spots. In all, I think I just found the platforming elements to be lacking in general. The fighting elements looked awfully cool, but aren't really my cup of tea. The puzzles are truly creative, and the presentation and story are fucking awesome.

Like I said, it was well worth the GH price, but any comparison to a truly polished game (RE4 for instance) is a bit off.

Back to playing this again. I might actually finished this time before switching games. I went from the desert area all the way through to the maze of madness. Feels like I have been playing all day. Well I guess I have been. The only bitch moments were walking on those beams and having to dodge spinning blades. The best moment was taken out the giant minotaur.

Lots of great stuff to look at like Hades turnable head and the giant zeus statue giving you a hand. The cut scene with Aries giving the blade of chaos wasn't bad also.

The first time I played this game I felt dirty. The guy just isn't a hero. Now that I know what type of game this is I don't feel as bad, so I'm pretty sure I'll see it through to the end.

Actually, Kratos being an anti-hero was one of the things I liked most about God of War. Kratos doesn't give a shit about saving the world. He just wants to get revenge on Ares plain and simple, and he will kill anyone that gets in his way of that goal. It was a refreshing change from the typical goody-twoshoes hero of the typical game/movie.

Just finished it last night. Think I'll past on God mod and the challenge of the gods. Whoever thought up those spinning blades should be shot.

Now the question is once you defeat a god what do you do next? Run around with Mickey and Donald or become a dragon warrior. Or take a trip to Racoon City or find the secret of code veronica. Maybe crack open that guitar box and start jamming. I have way to many unplayed games.

I'm late to the party(being a new PS owner) I'm towards the end and it seems the game has gotten very cheap on me. Time to vent.

I did the Challenge of Hades the other night, the section where you have to do some Cirque du Soliel bullshit tightrope walking, without seeing where you are going because of the auto-camera, pissed me off to no end. Kratos can cross caverns on ropes and ledges with his hands, but somehow at this point he lost that ability and has no choice but to do a balancing act while avoiding blades you can't see because of the fixed camera angle? Design flaw.

Now I'm on the Cliffs of Madness trying to get a crate over a spiked floor to a ledge before I'm impaled in a certain time frame. 15 minutes on this stupid room and I'm near the breaking point again. Again, because of the fixed camera I'm dying needlessly. Design flaw.

Both challenges fail on a design level for the same reason. Fixed camera. I've noticed it throughout the game, but on these two challenges, it became glaringly obvious. What a poor design choice. When it works, it works great, but when it fails, it truly fails and blemishes the game as a whole, IMO.

I see this game has a 93% on gamerankings and got a couple perfect scores... seriously? I even noticed some of that in this thread. I recently finished Bioshock and that game is a 10, through and through. This game, not so much. The game is good, but not that good. I could understand if this came out early in the PS2s life, but for a game two years removed? 2005? No way.

After the first boss battle, it's hack and slash to the second boss battle... 12 levels down the road. They shot their wad too early with the Hydra. The first level rocked, then you have that amazing fight and then everything after pales in comparison. Especially not having another boss for 12 more levels. And what's with using the R2 button as a rapid button masher? I don't think I've seen anything more preposterous. Just open the door already.

The puzzles are well crafted, Kratos is a good character and the story is great(it's hard to go wrong when the bulk of your game is built on stories that have been around for thousands of years), but I'm not seeing the attraction. If you take out the mythology setting, the game would be average at best.

I'd definitely rate Heavenly Sword higher despite the length and lack of puzzles. I only have a couple levels left, but barring some killer boss and ending, this is a solid B, maybe B+ title. Also, why isn't progressive scan and widescreen automatic? Why do I have to go into the menu everytime I play to set it? I didn't even know it was there until I was halfway through the game.

I'm still down for the sequel, but how similar is it to part I?

I have the same complaints. I was so frustrated I gave the game away to a friend. I just don't see what makes this game--or its sequel--so great.

And the R2 to open doors is plain stupid.

Part 2 is pretty much the same, but they tweaked it a little bit. While hitting R1 doesn't automatically open the door, they remapped the mashing button to O instead of R2, so that's less frustrating. Overall, I found the sequel to be a little bit easier, as there were less frustrating parts. There's another tight rope walking puzzle, but it wasn't nearly as bad as in part 1. The camera is pretty much the same, but I think I got used to it by the time I got to the sequel.

As far as a killer boss in part 1, you might wind up lowering your grade of it from a B to a B- or C+ because it was one of the most frustrating boss fights I've gone through as far as I can remember. Its a long battle, and I had to actually put the game down for a couple hours because I couldn't handle it anymore.

Duly noted on the grading. I'll probably bump part II down on my Netflix queue. Playing Heavenly Sword and this back to back has given me my button mashing fill for a while. I think Ninja Gaiden Sigma is up on my queue too, I'll have to bump that one down as well.

Actually after a few more tries I made it past that crate puzzle and just entered Hades and I'd say the plot just got a whole lot more interesting. Wow. I figured Kratos was pale because he was undead reincarnated. Boy was I wrong. That part was truly creative.

So at this point I'd say the plot and characters far exceed the game itself. I'm looking forward to the ending.

If you thought those platforming bits were tough, you haven't seen anything yet. Wait until you get to the tower with rotating blades that you have to climb...

I agree that mashing a button to open every door and chest is lame. Just freaking open it with one tap like every other game in existence.

I also agree that GoW 2 is more of the same, so if you don't particularly care for the first one, you won't care for the second one either. GoW 2 does improve slightly with less infuriating platforming bits and more boss battles, but it is still the same game underneath.

I have a feeling that if you have that much of problem with the camera in GoW, you won't like Ninja Gaiden either. The camera in that game is just as bad.

I think you made a mistake, but I just wanted to make sure: you meant Gamefly instead of Netflix, right? If you really did mean Netflix, that may sway me to switch over from Blockbuster.

Oh man, I totally forgot about that damn tower! Was that from GoW1 or 2? I'm guessing part 1, because 2 always felt like an easier game to me.

It was in GoW1 towards the end of the game.

yes. I meant Gamefly. Sorry. I wish Netflix did games as I get them within a day of them shiiping them out vs. three for Gamefly.