God of War: Greek chic

Ancient Greece just isn't cool as it used to be. As kids, we loved watching Jason and the Argonauts -- but the main character's attire was a nappy and sandals, and his heroics involved waving a tiny sword at Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion monsters. It's probably why there hasn't been a videogame based on the movie -- unless your protagonist's sword is 2m long and you can see the brain matter splatting on the screen as you swing it around, the kids just aren't interested. And let's not even talk about Brad Pitt in Troy. Classical pouting, anyone?

To get noticed then, God of War needed to be just about the most violent game ever made. And it succeeds with style -- the box to Sony's in-house PS2 title carries an '18' rating like a badge of honour. If you thought GTA: San Andreas' cartoon violence was a bit shocking, wait until you see the amount of strawberry jam that's splattered around in God of War.

As Kratos, a moody Spartan, you swing your dual axes around, cutting enemies to shreds, you wrestle monsters to the ground and tap X to plunge a sword into their face, or you pick up the smaller minions and tear them apart with your bear hands. And at the beginning of the second level, you can even play a mini-game where you 'enjoy' the company of two women to earn power-ups. So much for GTA: San Andreas' recent 'X-rated' furore.

Having said that, thanks to a complete lack of hype, God of War is one of the most guiltily enjoyable games in a while -- like Prince of Persia on steroids. You can read our gushing review of the game here. -GC