God of War

Zeus, Cerberus, minotaurs, cyklopeses, the Sisters of Fate etc. Do these ring a bell? Of course they do, they are all found in Greek mythology. I really love mythology especially the Greek because it has everything you need to tell really nice stories: creatures, heroes, gods, titans etc. We seen these in quite few movies too. I was often thinking about it what if they were real. What if there was a realm where this is all as real as breathing?

Movies can’t really give this feeling back but games can. Since I am a fan of mythology and a gamer this would have been The Game for me. Then in 2005 a game came out with the title God of War. It was a playstation 2 exclusive so I didn’t know about it because back than I didn’t have a PS2. I got one for Christmas and I also bought this game about a month ago.

A game which plays in ancient Greece is expected to have a classical hero like Hercules. But he isn’t who this story is about. We control a guy named Kratos (picture on the right), who is not a hero at all. He is not driven by valor but by rage, a rage which can be described the best as capable to destroy Olympus.

The story of Kratos begins in Sparta. He was the youngest and boldest captain of the Spartan army. Thousands followed him, entire cities fall before him. Until a fateful day which will change him forever. During a fight his army met an enemy they could not defeat. His men were being slayed and his own life was in danger. In this moment he made a mistake that will haunt him. He called out for help to Ares (God of war in Greek mythology) to destroy his enemy and for doing so he will serve him. The sky split in two and Ares stepped through destroying the enemy of Sparta.

The Blades of Chaos were attached to Karatos’ body (picture on the right) and he became a servant of Ares. For 10 years he has served him, his humanity robbed he became nearly Death itself. Ares made him kill his own family which is the turning point in the whole story and the source of Kratos’ rage. From this moment on he lives for revenge. He will kill the god of war.
Athens was under siege by the army of Ares and Athena (God of wisdom and Athens godess) offered a deal to Kratos. His sins will be forgiven if he is to destroy Ares. This is about the prologue, the rest is up to you to discover.

In the journey that follows you will meet classic Greek mythological creatures, some of the gods, and can explore amazing environments. The story itself is also really nice. The creative team of the game did really a remarkable job. God of War is one of the best action-adventure games of all time. It features an unique fighting system great music and voices. What I like about it is it’s duality, it’s a hack’n’slash game but also has nice puzzles.

I really wouldn’t be surprised if there will be a God of War movie soon.

What stays forever

There are always things in one’s life that will stay with him or her forever. It just so happens that it is different, it is special, and it has that little something. It’s like falling in love in a way. I think you all know what I’m talking about. Probably there are also some images flashing before your eyes. There you are, again, reliving that moment…it’s really nice isn’t it? I had one of these moments lately too. It can be caused by many things, for example by this dejavu feeling, I think we are all familiar with it, or a movie and the list could go on much further. For me lately it was called forth by a movie.

I was watching videos on YouTube and I bumped into a video of Lion King 2 with a really nice song. I loved the first one. When I was a child we went to the cinema to watch it about 4-5 times. It’s one of the kind of films that change who you are. Since then I was waiting for a sequel. It came in ’98 but somehow I missed it and slowly forgot all about it. Until that very day, that’s almost 14 years! Wow, I never really realised it’s been THIS long. So I decided to watch it, I sort of owned that to my little self.

There is something about sequels, the succession of them is for me somehow measurable in absolutes. They are whether great or a piece of garbage. I experienced both, actually in the same movie franchise, Spider-man. You know: first one great, second even better, third disappointment. Since I love both Spider-man and The Lion King very much I had this “what if it happens again?” feeling in me. Well I simply had to take a shot.

On Saturday I got the movie, and finally watched it. I’m not going to write about what happened in it because you all have probably seen it, or would like to. It’s really a great movie, a sequel definitely worth watching. I was invited of a little time trip: to my childhood, and to a time when there were nice animated films, like this one, not just these CG garbage movies we got to see nowadays. I really miss those “good old days”.