POT:

The game begins with main protagonist Kratos standing at the edge of a cliff, on the highest mountain in Greece, Mt. Olympus. Lamenting that the gods have abandoned him, he throws himself off the cliff into the waves below. The game then shifts to events of Kratos' past, using flashbacks to reveal his history and the events of the three weeks prior to his apparent suicide.

More than ten years in the past, Kratos was a young and ambitious Spartan captain. He became a servant to Ares, the god of war, during a battle against a barbarian horde. Realising that he could not win, Kratos offered his life to Ares in exchange for salvation. Ares heeded this plea, and subsequently saved Kratos and his men from massacre. He then instructed Kratos to rebuild his army and use it to conquer areas of Greece, as a display of devotion and piety to the god. He granted Kratos great strength, and also gave him the "Blades of Chaos", short-bladed swords connected to long, whip-like chains seared to Kratos's arms.

Soon afterwards, Kratos and his army began a bloodthirsty rampage through Greece, destroying villages and killing many innocent people. In one particular village, Kratos broke into the village's temple and, in a frenzy, slaughtered all the people inside, including his wife and daughter. It is later revealed that this move was orchestrated by Ares, who believed Kratos' family was the final barrier preventing him from becoming a great soldier. Realising what he had done, Kratos immediately renounced his service to Ares and began to wander the Aegean Sea, offering service to the other gods of Olympus in exchange for redemption for his sins.

The action then moves forward to three weeks prior to the present. Kratos, having served the gods for the previous ten years, is constantly tormented by recurring nightmares of his past deeds. He is asked by Poseidon to kill the Hydra, a giant sea serpent who has been terrorizing his seas. Shortly after killing the Hydra, Kratos learns from the goddess Athena that Ares is moving a numberless army of monsters and undead soldiers through Greece, in order to take over Athens. She requests that Kratos stop him, since the other gods cannot intervene. She tells Kratos that the defeat of Ares is the final deed he must complete in order to gain absolution.

Arriving at the war-torn city, Kratos begins fighting his way to the Temple of the Oracle, where he was told he could gain knowledge on how to defeat Ares. On his journey, he meets an ominous gravedigger who has knowledge of Kratos' past. Upon arrival at the temple, Kratos learns from the Oracle that the only way to defeat Ares is to use an object known as Pandora's Box. The Oracle explains that this Box can give any mortal the power to kill a god. However, it is locked deep inside the Temple of Pandora, placed there by the gods to prevent anyone from gaining its power. The Temple is located on the back of the Titan Cronos, who was ordered by Zeus to forever wander the Desert of Lost Souls until the sands rip the flesh from his bones, as punishment for his past deeds.

Kratos proceeds to travel across the Desert, and successfully enters the Temple to retrieve Pandora's Box, circumventing the deadly booby traps and monsters that guard the Temple. However, this event does not go unnoticed by Ares. As Kratos drags Pandora's Box towards the exit of the temple, Ares senses Kratos' success. Picking up a broken pillar, he hurls it through the Desert and into the entrance of the Temple as Kratos is leaving, impaling and killing him.

While falling through the Underworld, Kratos manages to grab onto a ledge, and climbs onto solid ground. He begins making his way through the Underworld, returning to the world of the living with the help of the gravedigger that he met earlier. After escaping, Kratos returns to the destroyed Athens to confront Ares, who is threatening the gods with Pandora's Box. Kratos uses his magic power, "Zeus's Fury", to retrieve the Box. He then uses the power of Pandora's Box to grow to the size of Ares. The two engage in a furious sword fight. When Kratos proves superior, Ares uses his godly power to suck Kratos into another dimension, where he is subjected to images of his family, inside the temple where he had originally murdered them. Kratos is pitted against monstrous versions of himself inside the temple. While he is attacking the monsters, the walls of the temple start to fall apart, revealing that the temple is floating in a void. Kratos defeats the army of monsters, and Ares, in a fury, strips Kratos of the Blades of Chaos.

Kratos is transported back to the battleground where he had been fighting Ares. He discovers the Blade of the Gods, a sword serving as a giant bridge within Athens, and uses it to once again duel with Ares. After another vicious fight, Kratos defeats Ares by impaling him with the sword, ignoring Ares' pleas for mercy. Athena thanks Kratos for killing Ares; however, she explains that, although they can forgive his sins, they cannot remove Kratos's nightmares of his past. Believing that his toil has been for nothing, Kratos wanders to the top of Mt. Olympus and throws himself off, returning to the point at which the game began. It is revealed that Athena appears at the last moment to save Kratos, telling that they cannot let one die that has done such a great service to the Gods. Kratos is then transported to the temple on Mt. Olympus, where he becomes the new God of war.

WORK: Photoshop & Illustrator CS3