Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Well since we're on the subject...

[quote name="Mischief Maker"]One thing no one seems to have mentioned is the game's advanced plank-walking engine. Not since Crono Trigger have I seen such workmanship in walking planks suspended over large drops. Kratos walks planks carefully heel-to-toe with his arms out as a careful pace. You can judge how close you are to getting off balance by how far over Kratos is leaning. And even if you flub up and slip, kratos will catch himself with one hand, then realistically take a few seconds to pull himself back up onto the plank. While the rope rapelling and wall-climbing take some unrealistic license by having kratos be able to do things like whip his enemies unil they fall or grab them and bash their face into the wall a few times before dropping them to their doom, the plank-walking realistically involves no combat since Kratos' center of gravity is so narrow. Though you may not give it much notice in the early part of the game, in the later game where you face timed plank-walking challenges and plank-walking between spinning blade traps over lava and instadeath drops and the camera <I>suddenly</I> decides to do a 180, you really start to appreciate the workmanship. It's obvious someone put a lot of time and effort into designing, coding, and animating this plank-walking. And INC, when you guys start making the sequel, FIRE THAT GUY! That's time and energy that could have gone into making another gigantic kickass boss fight in a game with so precious few. How the fuck did this plank walking idea make it through the planning stage while competing with ideas about gory fire-sword combat and tits? But seriously, folks. It's got the graphics of Ninja Gaiden with blink-and-you-miss-it load times. It's got huge pitched battles against varied enemies without any camera issues. Blood flies from every single enemy, even skeletons. DMC3 is a kickass game, and a close second, but GOW is probably the most well made and funnest game I've ever played on the PS2. Not counting the plank-walking parts.[/quote]