Kratos raises his blades, ancient Greece shakes, and vengeance moves forward without ever looking back.

With no gut pick in the data, we read the profile straight, criterion by criterion. And this first God of War stands mostly on the side of mechanics. Its feel in the hand sits ahead of 75% of games, its soundtrack ahead of 74%, its art style ahead of 70%, but careful, these lines rest on very few duels, so the early votes only suggest. Where it drops is attachment: behind, ahead of only a quarter of other titles. There is the gap. A game of fury and spectacle, strong with a controller, less built around the intimate bond you weave with its heroes.

Against the beat'em ups of its time, it imposes choreographed brutality and mythological breath. Fun itself stays around the middle, on more votes.

So, who is it for? For you if you love action that hits, the feeling of power, Greek excess. Much less so if you want a hero to grow tenderly attached to rather than a vengeance machine.