Gameplay

God of War is a third-person action video game, focused on the player using melee attacks, magic abilities, and combinations of the two to defeat foes. The player controls Kratos' movements, including jumping, swimming, and climbing, as well as his attacks. Kratos' primary weapons are the Blades of Chaos, which can be used in a number of different types of attacks, varying in power, speed, and range of damage. Throughout the game, Kratos also gains the abilities of several magical artifacts, such as the head of Medusa that can be used to turn foes into stone. Damaging and killing an enemy will release one of three types of orbs: red orbs can be redeemed to power up Kratos' attacks, and green and blue orbs immediately restore Kratos' health and magic, respectively. As the player fights, a meter reflecting the "Rage of the Gods" begins to fill; when the meter is full, the player can activate the power by simultaneously pressing the L3 and R3 buttons. Kratos is engulfed by electricity, and the power of his attacks are temporarily increased. Should Kratos lose all his health, the game is over, but the player has the option of restarting at the last checkpoint; the game will also offer the player the opportunity to attempt the game at a lower difficulty level if they have restarted from the same checkpoint several times in a row. The lower difficulty only changes the enemies skill, and does not help in the many puzzles throughout the game.

When certain enemies, in particular certain boss battles and larger foes, are low in health, the player can initiate a special Quick Time Event killing sequence as indicated by a marker over the enemy's head (the Circle button symbol). This starts a sequence of moves by Kratos that will display a controller button or an analog-stick action briefly on the screen during the attack; the player must hit that button or move the analog stick as indicated within a short time for the killing sequence to continue, otherwise the sequence will be broken and the enemy will grab Kratos and toss him away. However, if the player successfully responds to each sequence, then Kratos will finish off the enemy in a bloody and spectacular fashion, and gain a higher yield of orbs. Most bosses can only be killed using these "fatality" minigames, increasing the cinematic feel of the game.

In addition to the melee aspects of the game, the player will also need to solve environmental puzzles, such as sliding boxes or statues around to depress switches, turning levers to open doors, or similar moves. Chests are scattered about the levels, and can be opened to reveal orbs, gorgon eyes, or phoenix feathers, the latter two can be collected to expand Kratos' health and magic capacity, respectively. Destructible environmental objects can also be broken to retrieve red orbs. Each of Kratos' abilities can be improved using the red orbs; each of the abilities have several levels that improves that ability's effectiveness as well as introducing new combination moves the player can use.

Most of the foes in the game are inspired by creatures from Greek mythology, including Medusa, the Minotaur, and the Lernaean Hydra, among others.