God of War: Clash of the Titans on 'roids. And Crank. And Some Mountain Dew

God of War does a lot of things really, really well. The graphics, sound and gameplay (the "Big 3") are all top notch. Save for some creature animations that were a little bit underwhelming and some repetitiveness to the fight sequences; this game certainly raises the bar for action-adventure titles everywhere on any platform.

The slight tendency to button-mash is there, however I found that actually seems to depend on who is playing. Something tells me that if I had practiced all of the impressive combos that are unlocked as you power up your weapon arsenal, then I would have more fully unlocked Kratos' potential for supreme badassery. I did find myself quickly latching onto certain favorite weapons and attacks as I went along and using those far more than others.

I am sure that as I play through the dark and intriguing story a 2nd and inevitably a 3rd time that I will find all new combos to call faves. And speaking of story - -yes GoW's is awesome. It's gloomy, grim, perfectly paced, and they managed to throw in a few tiny bits of subtle humor to round it out. The extras and unlockables just for completing the game on easy mode adds a lot of tasty gravy to go along with everything else.

Graphically, I would have to nitpick pretty hard to really be critical. I think they got about as much as possible out of the PS2, with only a rare few questionable graphics. I was actually most disappointed about some of the character models that didn't make the cut. When the stuff you have to leave out is better than what most games keep in, that should tell you something.

The sound and score are appropriate and impressive. The weapons and gore make a satisfying 'gish' when fools need some gishing (which is often) and the orchestral accompaniment transports you into Rome as your quest unravels. I think I heard only one repeated sound bite which would be when Kratos yells, "ARES!!" on a couple different occasions and that was about it. All the other voice acting is superb as well.

Technical accomplishments aside; I think my favorite aspect of GoW is that it did that little something extra that not a whole lot of games these days can. It managed to incite in me that old school, can't-wait-to-get-home, giddy sense of anticipation to play it. You know that feeling you got when you were in 4th grade and you finally convinced your parents to buy you Super Mario Bros. 3 on a Sunday afternoon?

Then you had that ultra-hyper, butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling all the next day at school and you got in trouble for not paying attention in Social Studies because you were drawing Mario pictures. You know that feeling.......I call it the nos-effect. Any game that can successfully recapture that old time sensation while maintaining current-gen standards of awesomeness gets high praise from me any day.