This game came out well before God Of War, but it is very similar in nature to the more well known game. Your hero swings a weapon around and you are fighting mythical creatures and such. That being said, it is just an okay game. It is not really anything all that special as it has pretty good graphics for the time; however, there are issues with camera angles and that is unforgivable unless this game had come out on the first Playstation console. There are other issues as well, but I shall get to them later. Rygar was first scene in the arcades and in a very good NES port. The game was fun to traverse and though you had to complete it in one go, took some time to get through. I remember having to leave my NES on overnight paused so I could continue. This game is rather short, even by PS2 standards. This is the console that housed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas so I know the system and discs could hold a lot more than this game that took me just under four hours to complete. I do not want to be totally negative though as these days it is nice to have a game you can win in a sitting or two.
The story has evil forces arising and attacking the kingdom of Argos. The princess Harmonia is kidnapped and it is up to Rygar to save the day with the help of a weapon called the Disc Armor. He must traverse many temples and fight mighty titans on his quest to rescue the princess and put a stop to the villain Icarus' plans to destroy Argos by resurrecting the king of all titans, Cronus!
The game play consists of going through temples and such for the most part using your Disc Armor weapon to attack enemies and defend yourself from their attacks. It is pretty basic and easy to pick up. You also can perform a type of summon to inflict damage upon the enemies too. You also solve a few puzzles in this one as you collect more abilities and such along the way. You can level up your Disc Armors (there are three different types) to make the game a bit less challenging. For the most part it is straightforward, though there are times you must backtrack to certain areas as there is an area that is a bit like a staging ground that leads to the various levels. The music is disappointing as it is not really all that impressive, I would say the NES version had the better music and that is just sad.
So this game may have been a bit of an inspiration for God of War, but it is not as good. If only they had put a bit more effort into voicing those cut scenes that could have helped a lot as they are very goofy sounding at times. It is pretty much a standard hack in slash with some light puzzle solving and platforming in it as well. Though the platforming is rather pointless as it does not really affect you if you fall off a cliff or something, just have to start at a checkpoint and do it again. More annoying than anything. That being said, overall, it was a pretty fun game made during my favorite era of gaming as they did more back in the day than they do now as it is all sequels and such these days. Fun, but nothing too special is my final verdict.
