5/31/2005

God of War: Good game, bad philosophy

We all would like to be a god, but up to this point the closest we could hope to come was overdosing on cough syrup at Disney land. Yet there was once a young Spartan Captain, in a semi-Greco-Roman myth land, that through his ability to solve simple puzzles by moving things and performing awesome death combos, became a god. It is all very entertaining, but as Mrs. LoveJoy would plead "what about the children." The answer is they can fend for themselves, don't worry TV has taught them well, but the question " is this philosophically and socially sound?" remains a resounding no.
Kratos, the young captain we spoke of earlier is a poor palette for any future god A) He hates cloths- seriously you would think a man whose skin marks him as a vile murderer might want to cover that up with, oh, lets say...Armor, I mean to keep with that whole "I'm a soldier, not a underwear model" motif. B) He is perfectly willing to sell his soul - Thankfully, many fine writers have told us of the dangers of selling our soul to things, from Dr. Faust to Damn Yankees we have been trying to teach people " Whatever it is your getting its not worth it." This game comes along and say " Not only can you get your soul back but in the process you just might become a deity." In games like GTA and Mortal Combat you may kill a lot of people, but none of their souls by contract are going automatically to hell. C) He is willing to kick people into places of unpleasantness for no good reason- if this needs explaining then you need to be killed, prepare my kicking foot we're going to the pits of Crakoon ( the home of the Sarlacc) .
As you can see this game should not be used in classrooms as a learning tool.