God Of War Research Paper
God of War: Redefining Hack and Slash The hack and slash genre of video games has been around for several years. The concept of endlessly going through level after level tearing countless waves of enemies apart has become a cultural phenomenon. After several years of the same repeated concepts, hack and slash started to lose its touch, until Sony released a redefined hack and slash that would change the genre forever. This new hack and slash was God of War. God of War was released in 2002 for the Sony PlayStation 2. The series brought the typical hack and slash to a whole new level. The game added a stellar storyline, added a ridiculous amount of gore, and lots of nudity and sex. The storyline follows a Spartan named Kratos, who after selling his soul to the god of war Ares, is trying to be forgiven of his sins by the gods of Olympus. When Ares betrays Olympus and decides to start attacking all of Ancient Greece, Kratos is chosen to kill Ares by unlocking the power to kill a god.
The storyline of God of War stays pretty solid. It portrays mythological Ancient Greece flawlessly. Kratos meets several famous characters from ancient Greek mythology, who all carry their same famous traits. Also, the enemies that Kratos kills numerous times …show more content…
over and over are minotaurs, centaurs, sirens, harpies, and several more. On top of all of the accurate creature portrayals, as the series progresses from one game to the next, numerous plot twists are added to keep the player on the edge of his seat. This adds for an unforgettable experience that most hack slash games cannot offer today.
God of War is most famous for its intense scenes of gore. Each time you hit an enemy, it gushes blood all over the place. Some enemies require special kills, in which you play a “mini game” where you perform a certain button combination that ends in Kratos ripping the enemies head off, or tearing eyes out of their sockets. This adds for an interesting experience. While it may sound unnecessary, the gore is actually what helps God of war thrive. The thought of ripping mythological to pieces is actually fun. Especially the boss fights.
The boss fights in God of War offer a real challenge to hardcore gamers. Not only are they ridiculously gory, but they are seriously hard to beat. Players will die numerous times attempting a boss, but the bosses’ bloody demise at the end makes up for all of the deaths. No boss dies the same. Kratos kills every boss differently. The boss Helios gets beaten to a pulp, and then has his head ripped completely off of his shoulders. Kratos then uses Helios’s head as a flashlight for the rest of the game.
The gore in God of War is the main selling point, and according to International Hobo, “The poster children for successful brutality in videogames are probably the Mortal Kombat, God of War and Gears of War franchises.
The G-War twins have had incredible development and marketing budgets.” God of War, by using a high budget marketing campaign, has made gore appealing to its audiences. Sony publishes commercials advertising God of War by showing the epic storyline, and how much fun it is to brutally kill people all for purpose of revenge. By doing this kind of campaign, Sony is using pathos to appeal to players looking for an adrenaline rush, or an exciting thrill to get some excitement into their seemingly boring
lives.
Finally, sex and nudity plays a big part in God of War. Each God of War game features numerous half naked women. This is not mainly to appeal to the male audience because not all women wore tops in Ancient Greece. Some of this is for historical accuracy. The sex on the other hand is to appeal to males. Sony is once again using pathos to appeal to the men who want to kill creatures and have sex with women as a reward.
Every God of War game requires you to play the “sex mini game,” where the player presses a series of buttons for Kratos to pleasure the women he hooks up with. The game does not actually show the sex, but rather shows topless women standing by, or a wall. Actually showing sex would make the game a porno, and pornos do not sell in the video game industry. The sex does provide a lot of experience, which is needed if the player wants to max out all of Kratos’s weapon levels.
By combining sex and gore, along with an epic storyline, Sony’s popular hack and slash franchise “God of War” has become a cult phenomenon. With the help of an aggressive high budget marketing campaign, Sony is still dishing out God of War games every two to three years. As long as consumers continue to buy the gory franchise, we should be seeing Kratos around for years to come. Works Cited
Chris. “What is the Appeal of Brutal Games?” International Hobo. Sept. 2010. Web. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
The storyline of God of War stays pretty solid. It portrays mythological Ancient Greece flawlessly. Kratos meets several famous characters from ancient Greek mythology, who all carry their same famous traits. Also, the enemies that Kratos kills numerous times …show more content…
over and over are minotaurs, centaurs, sirens, harpies, and several more. On top of all of the accurate creature portrayals, as the series progresses from one game to the next, numerous plot twists are added to keep the player on the edge of his seat. This adds for an unforgettable experience that most hack slash games cannot offer today.
God of War is most famous for its intense scenes of gore. Each time you hit an enemy, it gushes blood all over the place. Some enemies require special kills, in which you play a “mini game” where you perform a certain button combination that ends in Kratos ripping the enemies head off, or tearing eyes out of their sockets. This adds for an interesting experience. While it may sound unnecessary, the gore is actually what helps God of war thrive. The thought of ripping mythological to pieces is actually fun. Especially the boss fights.
The boss fights in God of War offer a real challenge to hardcore gamers. Not only are they ridiculously gory, but they are seriously hard to beat. Players will die numerous times attempting a boss, but the bosses’ bloody demise at the end makes up for all of the deaths. No boss dies the same. Kratos kills every boss differently. The boss Helios gets beaten to a pulp, and then has his head ripped completely off of his shoulders. Kratos then uses Helios’s head as a flashlight for the rest of the game.
The gore in God of War is the main selling point, and according to International Hobo, “The poster children for successful brutality in videogames are probably the Mortal Kombat, God of War and Gears of War franchises.
The G-War twins have had incredible development and marketing budgets.” God of War, by using a high budget marketing campaign, has made gore appealing to its audiences. Sony publishes commercials advertising God of War by showing the epic storyline, and how much fun it is to brutally kill people all for purpose of revenge. By doing this kind of campaign, Sony is using pathos to appeal to players looking for an adrenaline rush, or an exciting thrill to get some excitement into their seemingly boring
lives.
Finally, sex and nudity plays a big part in God of War. Each God of War game features numerous half naked women. This is not mainly to appeal to the male audience because not all women wore tops in Ancient Greece. Some of this is for historical accuracy. The sex on the other hand is to appeal to males. Sony is once again using pathos to appeal to the men who want to kill creatures and have sex with women as a reward.
Every God of War game requires you to play the “sex mini game,” where the player presses a series of buttons for Kratos to pleasure the women he hooks up with. The game does not actually show the sex, but rather shows topless women standing by, or a wall. Actually showing sex would make the game a porno, and pornos do not sell in the video game industry. The sex does provide a lot of experience, which is needed if the player wants to max out all of Kratos’s weapon levels.
By combining sex and gore, along with an epic storyline, Sony’s popular hack and slash franchise “God of War” has become a cult phenomenon. With the help of an aggressive high budget marketing campaign, Sony is still dishing out God of War games every two to three years. As long as consumers continue to buy the gory franchise, we should be seeing Kratos around for years to come. Works Cited
Chris. “What is the Appeal of Brutal Games?” International Hobo. Sept. 2010. Web. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/