God of War

I received a demo disc of God of War in the mail a couple of days ago, but I didn't play the game until today. I wasn't quite sure what to make of a muscular, pallid "Spartan" who sported bright red war paint and swords that hardly looked Greek at all. But because I wasn't engrossed in any games at the moment, I thought "What the heck, I might as well give it a spin." What I saw didn't disappoint.

The game opens with a short but breathtaking cinematic of the protagonist Kratos, who apparently wants out of being the Gods' lackey. Afterwards, you are thrust in the midst of an attack on a flotilla of Greek ships by what appears to be a Hydra with demonic soldiers thrown in the mix.

Game play was decidedly action-oriented and quite easy to jump into, with repeated presses on the square button unleashing spectacular, fiery swaths on your opponents and the triangle button serving up a more forceful, powerful attack. But what at first would seem to devolve into just a satisfying button-mashing frenzy proved to include quite a variety of techniques-pressing the L1 button to block then the square button causes Kratos to pummel the enemy like a lethal whirling dervish.

Once you defeat the foot soldiers, you descend into the holds of the ship, where you finally get to duke it out with the Hydra-one of its heads actually. After Kratos deals a few blows, the hydra seems to get the wind knocked out of it, and that is when you'll want to get more intimate with the thing. Follow the screen prompts telling you when to press the face buttons-done correctly, Kratos then slams the hydra against the sides of the ship and deals a few more devastating attacks.

The demo didn't end there however. You walk across beams exposed by your fight with the hydra and make your way to the other ships, fighting as you go. To make it across the deck of one ship and make it to the level where archers are taking their shots at you and the sailors, Kratos kicks a crate to the other end while taking shelter behind large boxes set in intervals, and timing is key.

God of War also has you climbing rope ladders as more of the demonic horde claw their way beside you, while you lash out at them with your weapons. You can also just reach out and bash them against the taut rope, which has to be the more satisfying way to get rid of the stragglers-on.

In one of the ships you also get to speak to the disembodied manifestation of Poseidon god of the sea, which introduces you to a new attack, Poseidon's rage (which I had forgotten to use).

The last level has Kratos square off against three hydra heads, one of which seems to be larger and nastier than the others. It was in this fight that I discovered that God of War also employs a fair bit of strategic thinking. After going mano a mano with the two lesser heads-which prevented access to the chief hydra, and not making progress, two tiers of large crates arranged to form steps on either side of the monsters caught my attention. Each led to platforms attached to large anchor-like hooks, and jumping on them caused the hooks to plummet down, which I took to mean they are meant to keep the minor heads down once I deplete their health. Perched on the crates at hydra head level, it was a piece of cake to bash them into submission and pin their writhing bulk to the deck. Happy that I figured out how to dispatch the subordinates, I made my way up the mast to confront the head Hydra-and that's when the demo ends.

It sure looks to me that God of War is well on its way to become another classic; hopefully the finished game proves to be more of the same-a fiery, fun romp through Greek mythology.