God of War: FAQ/Walkthrough by A I e x

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|                   Author: A I e x                                          |
|                   Began: March 26th, 2005                                  |
|                   Completed: March 27th, 2005                              |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
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O============================================================================O
|                              Table of Contents                             |
O============================================================================O

** In order to navigate this guide I have implemented a Ctrl+f system, which 
means you press ctrl+f in your browser or word processer to bring up the 
search menu, then enter the letters in brackets on the right of the section 
that you're looking for.

1. Controls............................................................(0000Z)
2. Full Walkthrough....................................................(00000)
     i - Aegean Sea....................................................(00001)
     ii - The Gates of Athens..........................................(00002)
     iii - The Road to Athens..........................................(00003)
     iv - Athens Town Square...........................................(00004)
     v - Rooftops of Athens............................................(00005)
     vi - Temple of the Oracle.........................................(00006)
     vii - The Sewers of Athens........................................(00007)
     viii - Desert of Lost Souls.......................................(00008)
     ix - Pandora's Temple.............................................(00009)
     x - The Rings of Pandora..........................................(0000A)
     xi - The Challenge of Atlas.......................................(0000B)
     xii - The Challenge of Poseidon...................................(0000C)
     xiii - The Challenge of Hades.....................................(0000D)
     xiv - The Cliffs of Madness.......................................(0000E)
     xv - The Architect's Tomb.........................................(0000F)
     xvi - The Path to Hades...........................................(0000G)
     xvii - Temple of the Oracle.......................................(0000H)
3. Final Note..........................................................(0000I)
4. Version History.....................................................(0000J)
5. Legal...............................................................(0000K)
6. Credits.............................................................(0000L)

O============================================================================O
|                                  Controls                          (0000Z) |
O============================================================================O

O========================o===================================================O
| Menu Controls          | Function                                          |
O========================o===================================================O
| Start                  | Access Menu Screens                               |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Select                 | Pause Game / Options Menu                         |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Left analog / D-pad    | Highlight / menu item                             |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| X                      | Select menu item                                  |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Triangle               | Previous screen                                   |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L1 / R1                | Scroll Menu Screens                               |
o------------------------o---------------------------------------------------o

O========================o===================================================O
| On Ground Controls     | Function                                          |
O========================o===================================================O
| Left analog            | Walk / Run / Climb                                |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Right analog           | Evade                                             |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| X                      | Jump                                              |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| X + X                  | Double Jump                                       |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Square                 | Normal Attack                                     |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Triangle               | Heavy Attack                                      |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Circle                 | Grab Enemies                                      |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L1                     | Block (Parry if block at right time)              |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| D-Pad                  | Select Magic (when acquired)                      |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L2                     | Use Item / Magic                                  |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| R2                     | Action / Interact with world                      |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L3 + R3                | Rage of the Gods (When rage meter full)           |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Triangle (Hold)        | Launch and follow enemy into the air              |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| X (After enemy launch) | Super Jump                                        |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Circle (Enemy in air)  | Chain Grab                                        |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Start                  | Access Menu Screens                               |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| R2 (Hold) + X (Charge) | To Kick Objects                                   |
o------------------------o---------------------------------------------------o

O========================o===================================================O
| In Air Basics          | Function                                          |
O========================o===================================================O
| Square                 | Horizontal Attack                                 |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Triangle               | Vertical Attack                                   |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Circle                 | Air Grap                                          |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L1                     | Block                                             |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| D-Pad                  | Select Magic (When acquired)                      |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| L2                     | Use Item / Magic                                  |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| R1                     | Hercules Stomp                                    |
|------------------------+---------------------------------------------------|
| Circle (Hold)          | Rope Swing (when hanging on a rope)               |
o------------------------o---------------------------------------------------o


O============================================================================O
|                              Full Walkthrough                      (00000) |
O============================================================================O
  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                         Aegean Sea                         |
 \_/   (00001)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

At the very beginning of the game you're given control of Kratos, a man who 
wields two swords attached to the end of very long chains.  Using a 
combination of the square (weak attack) and triangle (strong attack) buttons 
you can perform numerous different combos at the start.  To save you the time 
of learning everything progressively with the tutorials you can also throw 
enemies with circle, block attacks with L1 and evade by moving the right 
analog stick.  Get yourself accustomed to the controls by smashing through all 
the enemies in this area.  Note a fun little tip, when you press the circle 
button to grab enemies you can perform three different throws.  While holding 
the enemy press either circle, triangle or square to do one of the three 
different throws.  After all the enemies have been disposed approach the trap 
door in the upper left corner and press the R2 button to grab hold.  Continue 
to press the R2 button over and over again until the trap door opens then drop 
down.  There's a treasure chest right here when you land, hold the R2 button 
to grab on and open it.  Inside a number of green orbs will refill your 
health.  You can break many of the objects in this area to get red orbs as you 
continue North down the hallway.  Head down into the next hallway.

Here you will be ambused by a large "miniboss."  It's the head of a hydra and 
it's extremely angry.  To defeat this boss you need to run up to it and attack 
using a combination of square and triangle attacks to dish out as much damage 
as possible.  The boss will be constantly attacking and size that's virtually 
impossible to dodge you need to block it instead.  When the head moves back to 
strike just stand where you are and hold the L1 button to protect yourself 
from the attack and go in swinging madly after each one.  Continue this 
process over and over until you've knocked out about half its health.  At that 
point it will fall down and the option to play a minigame appears.  To 
initiate the minigame press the circle button when you see the circle icon 
appear over the beast's head.  Now you have to press the button that appears 
on screen quickly, if you see a triangle press the triangle button and so on.  
Doing this will treat you to a rather violent and brutal scene.

Once the monster is gone continue forward and begin to cross over the pit on 
the beams that extend overtop.  It's quite a balancing act but if you happen 
to slip you can usually just tap the X button to climb back up again.  If you 
fall entirely just swim back to the start and give it another try.  Break the 
barrels on the other side to get all the red orbs and then jump through the 
crack in the wall to the left.  There's a man in the cage at the end of the 
path, you can speak to him using the R2 button.  Climb the stairs on the right 
and open the treasure chest to receive a whole bunch of red orbs.  Continue 
down the hall past the wooden barrier and kick open the door with the R2 
button.  Outside you'll find a huge chaotic scene of violence involving some 
nasty winged creatures ripping men apart.  Return the favour by using the 
circle button to rip their wings off completely, this will occur for many 
enemies throughout the game, special throws based on the type of enemy they 
are.  It's an unfortunate truth that the innocent men running around on deck 
will drop health when killed, so if you need it then just start swinging 
madly.  After defeating a few of the creatures and thinning them out a little 
run to the opposite side of the deck where you will find two doors.  Approach 
one of them and open it by tapping the R2 button, it will reveal a chest 
containing red orbs as will the second one.  Head back and continue your 
slaughter of the winged cratures, eventually a boss will appear.

This actually isn't so much a boss as a miniboss again.  It has a few basic 
attacks, first there's a generic bite attack which bites down on the spot 
wherever you are stand, simply block this attack.  The second attack the 
monster will pound its head down on the left side followed by the right side 
followed by the middle so knowing this pattern be sure to avoid it entirely.  
Finally the creature has a swiping attack where it uses its head to swing 
around on the ground and swipe you to the side.  This one can by jumping if 
you double jump and time it correctly.  The last one is an attack you actually 
want it to perform.  It grabs you in it's mouth but using the circle button 
and tapping it as fast as you can you can break free and do some serious 
damage to the creature in the process, so it's actually beneficial to be hit 
by this.  While you're not in its mouth however just stick with normal 
triangle and square attacks to defeat the creature, you must drain all its 
health this time rather than just a partial amount to kill it.

After defeating the miniboss drop down into the water where its head had 
popped up from since there is now a hole in the ship.  Swim up down the 
corridor and grab hold of the mesh net at the end.  Start climbing up and jump 
back onto the ship when you reach the top.  The game will now teach you a new 
attack, hold the triangle button to do an upward swing and launch an enemy 
into the air.  You will automatically jump up along with him so while airborne 
press the circle button to do an air throw, this manoeuvre can be pretty 
helpful at times so keep it in mind.  Start tiptoeing across the pole leading 
off the upper right side of the ship, if you fall then you die but the 
checkpoint was quite recently don't worry.  When you reach a fork take the 
right branch to find a chest containing red orbs.  Go back and take the left 
branch to reach another ship.  Head up to trigger a cutscene.

Following the scene open the nearby chest to reveal a whole bunch of healing 
green orbs.  Left of the chest is a glowing save point, while standing on the 
save point press the R2 button to bring up the save menu and then you can save 
your game.  Back on the ship drop down and run up to find a crate behind the 
first box on your right.  Using the R2 button you can grab hold of the crate 
and either push or pull it in any direction.  You can also hold the X button 
to charge up and kick the crate in the direction you are facing.  What you 
need to do is get this crate all the way down to where the archers are 
shooting at you because the ledge is too high to jump up to.  The problem is 
that the arrows can actually destroy the crate, and while another one will 
respawn you have to go back and try again so the easiest way to do it is 
charge up a kick when no arrows are coming at you and release right before 
they hit.  Kick the crate all the way to the end underneath the archers and 
use it to double jump up and grab hold of the ledge.  Kill off all the archers 
and then open up the treasure chest containing green orbs.  Head down to the 
end of the hall and you'll find a locked door but you cannot open it.  Your 
only option is to climb up the ladder on the opposite side and leave them.

There's a large net here and it is your only means of going further.  Approach 
the net to automatically grab hold of it and begin to climb.  Note as you are 
climbing that you can attack and grab still while on the net.  Grabbing is 
going to be most helpful, the best grab is the one you do while holding up on 
the left analog stick since it's fast and effective.  The other grab is good 
if there's multiple enemies around.  Note that as you climb you can hold up 
and press the X button to climb up faster.  On the way up there's a platform 
but still more net to climb after that, when you reach the very top head down 
and balance across the large pole.  At the other side of this pole is a lone 
chest containing a stash of red orbs.  Now head back across and jump up to 
grab that long rope leading from the top of the pole down to the other ship.  
Break open the left and right wooden blockades to reveal a chest containing 
red orbs on the left and a Gorgon Eye on the right.  Collect a total of six 
Gorgon Eyes to permanently increase you maximum health (so in other words, you 
just got a Blue Orb Fragment.)  Break through the middle and approach the 
glowing blue flame down at the end.  Here you will meet the one of the many 
Greek gods who assists you with your quest by granting you a special power 
which in this case comes in the form of a magic spell.  Using the L2 button 
you can crate a huge blast of lightning around you and deal heavy damage to 
foes.  It's quite an effective attack in large groups and for bosses actually.  
Use Poseidon's Rage here to take out the enemies that spawn around you, 
there's now a blue bar below you health which represents your magic power and 
using Poseidon's rage drains this bar, but you can refill your magic by 
defeating some enemies or finding chests with blue orbs in them.  Head through 
the door that Poseidon's head was blocking and make your way outside again.  
On your left is another save point which may come in handy here; on the right 
are two treasure chests which will fully restore both your health and your 
magic power.  Climb the net and get ready for a boss fight.

There are three Hydra's here, two babies and one absolutely enormous Hydra 
which you cannot even access because when you try to climb up the net in the 
middle the two smaller Hydras will automatically knock you off every single 
time.  So here's what you need to do in order to kill this boss.  First of all 
you should fight these two smaller Hydras the same way you fought the previous 
one with the exception that they will not grab you in their mouths, but one 
very large advantage you have now that you didn't have before is Poseidon's 
Rage.  Regardless kill the smaller Hydras however you see fit but you'll 
notice that once they go down you cannot hurt them anymore and after a certain 
amount of time they will come back to life with almost full health again.  
There's a special trick here, when one of the Hydras is down notice that there 
are a bunch of crates piled up beside them.  Hop up these crates and there 
above their heads is a large anchor-like object under a suspended platform.  
Jump on top of this platform and it will break and descend into the beast's 
neck, pinning it in place permanently.  Now all you have to do is the exact 
same thing with the Hydra on the other side and both of them will be pinned 
down so that they cannot prevent you from climbing up to reach the real boss.

The real boss too is a Hydra but far larger than any your have ever seen 
before.  It has a few basic attacks mostly involving large biting motions.  It 
has a weaker bite attack which it pulls it's head back and bites the middle of 
the platform you're on.  The best way to avoid taking damage is to double jump 
and hold the block button, the teeth won't hurt you.  Blocking isn't so 
effective when he pulls his head back to the side and does a more powerful 
chomp on either the left and right side of you platform.  Your best bet is to 
predict which side he's going to chomp and jump away from it while holding the 
block button in the air.  The final one is a big stupid roar meant to blow you 
off the top but in the end as long as you're holding the block button the 
attack can do no such thing.  Your main goal is to use the opportunities when 
the monster bites down on the platform to start hacking and slashing away and 
while you can hack and slash at it while it's in the normal stance as well, 
magic should only be used right after the creature bites down, run up to its 
head and zap it then move into a combo of square and triangle attacks which 
should actually refill your magic pretty well.  Now you'll also want to know 
how to actually damage the boss.  When you've take off about a third of his 
life the minigame circle icon will appear.  Press circle and you'll be given 
the chance to tap as fast as you can and end up slamming the monsters head 
against the pole.  His life refills as this point and it seems like nothing 
happened but if you look close you'll see the pole has actually splintered.  
You need to do this a total of three times before the pole actually breaks.  
Now once its broken damage the boss for about one third of its health and 
there's a chance to do a new minigame, I won't spoil it, but it's awesome.

Note that I have received a good amount of email from people claiming that no 
matter how hard they try, they cannot slam the boss' head against the pillar, 
no matter how fast they press circle it does not work.  I'm telling you know 
in all honesty that I cannot help you, I have never experienced this problems 
personally.  Obviously it's either one of two things.  First, these people 
just aren't tapping circle fast enough, tap it faster!  Second considering the 
volume of people having this problem there's always a chance it could be a 
glitch in the game, it's not free of them that's for sure.  In this case all I 
can recommend is starting over, you're still near the beginning, it shouldn't 
take you too long to get here again and hopefully then you can get it.

When the boss is dead you need to actually run into his mouth and down his 
throat.  There's a man hanging on for his life at the end, press the R2 button 
to trigger a quick scene.  Now you've got the key to that locked door from 
before.  Exit the monsters innards and climb up the crates on the right side 
of the ship.  You can jump and grab the mesh netting at the top, there's two 
chests here containing health and another Gorgon Eye.  Jump up into the air 
and grab onto the sliding rope.  You'll drop in a familiar place, you can use 
the save point to save your game and then run down the lower area to reach the 
crate which is still in position.  Double jump up to the ledge and head 
through the hall to reach the locked door.  Approach the door and use the key 
by pressing the R2 button, run to the end of the hall and use the R2 button 
once again to kick down the door.  This scene marks the end of the first area.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    The Gates of Athens                     |
 \_/   (00002)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

When you start off in this area you can speak to the women in your bed using 
the R2 button.  Be sure to jump up on the bed and "interact" with them.  Yeah.  
Anyway you can read your diary over in the corner of the room if you wish.  
Leave this place and break all the objects along the way as you go to find 
numerous red orbs.  There's a save point down at the far end of the hall.  
Continue along and open the chest to refill your magic entirely and then get 
the green orbs as well before you ascend the ladder.  You can speak to the 
statue at the front of your ship using the R2 button if you wish.  Use the 
plank leading from the right side down onto the docks.  At the end you'll 
encounter some new enemies, these are more difficult than the ones you've 
faced previously, you cannot grab them normally you must first damage them to 
the point where the circle button icon appears above their head and then you 
can use a throw to finish them off.  You're taught once again that the L1 
button is block for good reason, these things have a nasty habit of slashing 
you up, so be sure to block regularly between attacks.  Run down to the end of 
the path where you will find a huge cracked hole in the wall.  Jump through 
this to land in the water on the other side.  Jump up to the door and head 
down the hall where you'll encounter a bunch of enemies but also find a chest 
in the corner containing a Phoenix Feather.  Collect a total of six of these 
to permanently increase your magic bar.  At the end of the hall back outside 
again there's a chest with green orbs inside.  Jump up onto the crates and 
drop down to find yourself back at the beginning again.  Return to where the 
large crack in the wall was but this time jump across the gap to find a lever 
on a platform.  You can pull this lever using R2 and ride the elevator up.

At the top there's a chest containing green orbs but if you just got the one 
before coming up here leave it for now because you may nee it after.  You're 
about to encounter a new type of enemy, the minotaur.  To defeat these enemies 
first you must use normal attacks and blocks to damage it to the point where 
the circle button icon appears above its head.  If you press circle at this 
point you'll be thrust into a minigame where you have to tap the circle button 
as fast as you can to finish the beast off.  It is possible just to attack 
normally and kill it like that, but as the games notes doing it this way will 
mean that the enemy drops healing green orbs every single time.  Down at the 
end of this path is a chest to refill your magic power, and don't forget the 
healing chest you may have left prior to fighting the three beasts.  Follow 
the path along and ride the next elevator up.  You will find yourself in a 
large area guarded by a powerful enemy who fires a large spiked ball out of 
his hand.  Blocking this yields rather unfortunate results so your best bet is 
to dodge it entirely using the right analog stick to evade.  Jumping is also 
quite an effective dodging technique.  When the monster has take enough damage 
press circle to initiate the minigame where you must correctly hit a random 
button that appears on screen quickly in order to keep up with the animation 
and finish the monster off.  You'll need to fight a total of three of them in 
this area, when you've got two of them coming at you at once try letting loose 
a Poseidon's Rage between them for massive damage to both.  

After the large creatures are dead there are a couple of things to check out.  
First run to the upper right corner to find a hidden chest full of red orbs.  
You'll also note that there is a chest with green orbs near the door, and 
another one if you jump over the edge at the lower right corner.  You probably 
won't need both of them right now and since you'll be back here again make 
note of where they are but save at least one of them for later.  You should 
note however that the one near the door changes colours, press the R2 button 
while it is the colour of the orb you wish to get and it will remain that 
colour when opened.  Follow the hall up past this magic chest to reach a large 
room with crates piled up high.  Here's what you want to do, first notice that 
two of these stacks of crates actually have wooden crates holding them up at 
the bottom.  Break these two wooden crates to shorten the height of the stacks 
and reveal the exit to the room.  Don't be too hasty however.  First double 
jump onto the crate at the lower left corner.  From here jump diagonally uper 
and right to reach the central crate stack.  Now across from you there is a 
platform with a ladder and a treasure chest, resist the urge to jump there for 
now and instead jump right to grab hold of a taller crate stack.  From here 
you can see an opening in the wall with two chests inside, one refills your 
magic entirely and the other nets you another Gorgon Eye.  Jump back across 
and this time land on the stack with the ladder, inside the chest you'll find 
a whole bunch of red orbs.  Climb the ladder and start to shimmy across to the 
end of the small ledge.  When you reach the end hold left on the analog stick 
(the opposite direction you're facing) and double jump to grab hold of the 
mesh net on the nearby crate stack.  Get on top of this stack and jump left to 
reach the door, but you aren't done yet.  Jump up onto the crate opposite the 
door and then across once again to the next one where you'll find another 
chest with red orbs inside.  Now you can jump back and go through the door.

Open the chest in this room if you really need it, but not if you only "kind 
of" need it because almost guaranteed you WILL need it soon.  Approach the 
flaming door and watch the scene.  Now it's time to face off against the 
leader of the Gorgons, Medusa.  She has a couple of basic attacks, but the 
most notable is the stone gaze.  Now and then she will fire a green beam out 
and if you are caught in this beam for too long you will turn to stone.  You 
don't die instantly when turned to stone but even the slightest tap will 
shatter you and kill you, if you happen to be turned to stone throw the left 
analog stick around like crazy to get out of it.  Anyway the main thing to 
keep in mind is that you never want to jump while she is doing this attack, if 
you are turned to stone in mid-air you will shatter when you land.  Instead 
you have two options, the first is to roll around using the right analog stick 
which is a fairly effective tactic, the second works even better.  When the 
Medusa begins to use this attack simply run up to her and cast Poseidon's 
Rage.  Combo her using the square and triangle attacks as much as possible to 
keep knocking her down, that's the best way to avoid damage from her normal 
attacks and eventually the circle button icon will appear over her head.  
Press it to grab her and initiate the minigame.  What you need to do is press 
the left analog stick in the direction of the tail of the arrow you see on 
screen and rotate it in the direction shown.  Doing this correctly two times 
will have you rip off the beast's head and give you the Medusa's Gaze.  Now 
you can cycle between Poseidon's Rage and Medusa's Gaze with the D-Pad.  The 
stone beam uses up magic power but catch enemies in the beam long enough and 
they will be turned to stone, at that point you can quickly shatter them with 
a normal attack.  Hold L2 and press square to fire the beam at enemies, kill 
all of the minitaur's that appear in this room with the gaze to continue.

Head through the door that was previously blocked by Aphrodite and defeat all 
the enemies in this hallway.  There's a large ladder to climb up at the end, 
climb up this ladder to the point where you're just about at the top.  Now 
double jump backward in the opposite direction and you should land on a 
platform archway with a treasure chest on it.  Open this chest to get a stash 
of red orbs.  From here you can also jump into an opening in the left wall to 
find even more red orbs.  Return to the ladder and ascend it all the way to 
the top.  Immediately as you start moving you will find a lever in front of 
you, avoid pulling it for the moment.  Instead approach the crossbow in the 
middle and hold R2 to grab onto it.  While holding R2 hold down on the left 
analog stick as well until Kratos fires it automatically.  This reveals breaks 
a hole in the wall and reveals two chests.  Ignore it for now.  Open the chest 
with the green orbs if you need it and then save your game at the nearby save 
point.  Head back down and bit and pull the level to turn the crossbow to face 
another direction.  Before doing anything pull it a second time to make the 
crossbow facing to your left.  Go forward and fire it, this breaks a hole in 
the wall and allows you to get the chest containing another Phoenix Feather.  
Pull the lever one final time so that it faces straight up and fire to break 
down the door.  Shooting another arrow accomplishes nothing at the moment.

Follow the newly opened hallway and make a left at the fork.  Drop down to the 
bottom and defeat all the enemies here, there's a chest beside the gate with a 
Gorgon Eye inside.  Tap the R2 button while standing beside the gate to open 
it, but now you need to go back.  Turn around and climb up the ladder where 
you just came from.  At the fork you will see a ladder on the right wall 
leading up, climb this ladder now.  Outside you'll be ambushed by a bunch of 
normal enemies, just wipe them all up before you try the following.  See where 
there is a partial ladder?  Start climbing up the wall there.  Part way up the 
stack of crates on your left will end and you can actually stop and stand on 
top of them.  Drop from this stack of crates onto the red roof of the building 
on your left.  From this building you can jump straight up and land in the 
area where you broke the wall away using the crossbow and open up the chests 
to get a whole bunch of red orbs.  Drop down and head through the gate you 
opened just recently and climb up the two ladders to reach the area with the 
wall you started to climb.  This time climb up further and start making your 
way across to the right, note that you can jump sideways as well as up.  Watch 
out for all the enemies as you go, take your time and smash them to avoid 
being pulled off.  When you reach the right side climb down slowly until you 
hit ground below.  There's a thin walkway leading along the left side, follow 
it to reach a huge statue.  An R2 icon appears when you get up to it so begin 
tapping R2 as fast as you can to knock the statue over.

Beyond the statue is a chest with green orbs inside and a ladder leading down.  
Climb down the ladder and jump up onto the head of the broken statue, you can 
now jump to reach the bottom of the ladder.  Up top there are a couple of 
normal Gorgon enemies to fight which are just weaker versions of the queen 
Medusa.  Check the left side for a chest containing green orbs and then climb 
further up the ladder to reach the next level.  You can damage the two pillars 
on the left side and use them to jump on to reach the top level.  Use the 
crossbow here to fire an arrow with a rope tied to the back off to the other 
side of the area.  Walk around to the front of the crossbow and double jump to 
grab onto this rope.  It's not a sliding rope but rather a hand-over-hand rope 
for you to go across.  The triangle button allows you to do a range attacks 
while the square button does a quick attack and the circle button does an 
instant kill grab attack.  Just make your way across sticking with the circle 
button grab most of the time even though you'll take a bit of damage, just 
don't underestimate the obnoxiousness of the enemies coming from behind you 
and start spinning the left analog stick wildly if one of them grabs you.  
Drop down on the other side and open the chest to refill your health entirely 
and go down the hall to the left.  Open this door by tapping the R2 button and 
return to the crossbow.  Save your game here and then fire the crossbow in the 
direction you just came from to break open the door.  With the door opened a 
whole bunch of enemies swarm into the hall.  Rather than going up to fight 
each one individually simply keep using the crossbow and fire four arrows to 
instantly kill four minotaurs, pretty sweet.  Run to the end of the hall and 
climb up the ladder to find a red orb and green orb chest.  After that drop 
down to the bottom of the ladder and follow the path outside for a scene.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                     The Road to Athens                     |
 \_/   (00003)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Ascend the stairs and watch the quick scene at the top.  Use the save point on 
your right and then follow the left path down into the city.  The main path 
becomes blocked so head left into the tunnel here.  The gate blocks you in so 
you're left with a couple of hammer wielding minotaurs.  The important thing 
to note in here is that there is a button on the ground below you where if you 
press it then the gate at the other end opens, but if you step off it then the 
gate closes.  If the solution to this is not already obvious then listen 
close, lure one of the minotaurs onto the button and then use the Medusa's 
Gaze to freeze him there.  Now you can run to the end and get through the gate 
while it's still open.  Don't worry if you happen to run out of magic while 
doing this, the blue orb chest near the top automatically refills after you 
empty it.  Open the chest past the gate to refill your health and then follow 
the tunnel out into the the city area where everyone is running wild.

Jump up onto the roof of the second house of your right.  You can break down 
the door here and check inside the house to find a chest full of red orbs.  
Break down the front door of the house across the street to find another stash 
of red orbs.  Next door you can jump up and grab the ledge above the front 
door, and from here jump onto the roof where you will find a chest containing 
more red orbs.  Check inside the next house down the road on your left to get 
a Phoenix Feather.  From here continue to follow the road until it curves to 
the left, when it does the house on the curve (on the right side) has a chest 
containing red orbs if you jump up onto the roof and break down the door.  Go 
one house down still on the right side and through the front door is another 
chest full of red orbs.  A couple of houses down on the left side go through 
the front door and open both the chests to find a Gorgon Eye and a Phoenix 
Feather.  A couple more houses down on the right side is a chest containing 
red orbs.  Check the second and third last houses on the left side to get two 
more stashes of red orbs.  Now smash through those blockades at the end.

Double jump across and grab the rope that is hanging down from above.  Hold 
the circle button to begin swinging and when you come to the highest point of 
the swing press the X button to jump and you should be able to grab onto the 
other rope.  Before swinging across however hold up and the left analog stick 
to climb.  At the top you can jump left to find a treasure chest with many red 
orbs inside.  Now from here you can just double jump and land on the ground on 
the other side.  Continue from here down into the Athens Town Square.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                     Athens Town Square                     |
 \_/   (00004)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

There's people running around like crazy here and you know what that means, 
free health whenever you want and that's good because your about to face off 
against the cyclops, a new type of enemy.  This whole section is extremely 
frustrating for one reason and one reason only, but I'll get to that in a 
minute.  To defeat the cyclops simply stick with square button attacks and 
dodge their attacks with the R3 stick rather than trying to block them.  Once 
enough damage has been done the circle icon appears and allows you to smash 
their face on the ground, it's not an instant kill but it does good damage.  
The frustrating thing is that half the time you're actually trying to do this 
you're going to end up grabbing some stupid townsperson instead and miss a 
perfectly good opportunity, it's annoying as hell but at least it makes me 
feel less bad about picking them off for health.  Kill all the enemies here.

Take the hallway at the upper left side of the town square and follow it to a 
nice wide open room with pretty reflecting floors.  In this room there are 
three wall panels you can break open to reveal an urn, a chest with blue orbs 
and a chest with a Gorgon Eye inside.  Climb to the top of the stairs and open 
the chest with green orbs inside.  Jump across the gap and follow the woman up 
the stairs for a scene.  (Incidentally if you drop down where you jumped the 
gap you can find some objects to break for red orbs and a magic green/blue orb 
treasure chest.)  There's a save point at the top here and if you jump left 
you'll find a chest with a Phoenix Feather inside.  Drop down where the lady 
fell and examine her body to get a Key.  Now climb all the way back up to 
where you just dropped from.  On your way there you'll find a bunch of enemies 
with special yellow shields, these shield can be broken by doing a couple of 
normal square attacks followed by a triangle attack.  Jump to the right of the 
save point and use the key to unlock the trap door.  Tap the R2 button to open 
it and jump down inside.  Use the save point here and follow the tunnel along 
until you reach a gate.  Open it by tapping the R2 and climb the stairs.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                     Rooftops of Athens                     |
 \_/   (00005)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

There's a large vine growing up the side of the wall on the right side, this 
is where you need to start climbing up.  When you reach a point where you 
can't climb any higher press the left analog stick in the opposite direction 
and double jump across to grab the vine on the other side.  Continue up and 
then do this again, finally jump across to the left when you reach the top and 
get the chests containing blue and green orbs,  when you go outside you'll 
encounter a new type of enemy.  This enemy moves about underground and bursts 
up dealing damage to you in the process, to defeat them you should always 
block when they are approaching from underground and then start attacking when 
they pop out.  Soon after some rather obnoxious guys with bows will appear on 
the stairs, take the time to run over and kill them otherwise they'll probably 
end up really pissing you off while you're trying to fight.  Grab the chest 
with the green orbs after the battle and start to climb up the stairs.  This 
part can get rather difficult so stay on your guard and only attack when it's 
safe, you need to fend off a bunch of those skeleton warriors as well as the 
large beast with the spikey ball.  After the battle grab the chest with the 
green orbs at the top and then go back down and through the door.

Head down at first and you'll find a chest full of red orbs.  Now start to 
cross the bridge where all those soldiers met their end and double jump across 
to the platform.  From here you can double jump and grab hold of the vines 
that line the side of the pillar in the middle.  Shimmy around to the right 
side and then jump to the next pillar.  Try to time your jumps between the 
arrows fired from the enemies so that you aren't struck in mid air and fall to 
your doom.  On the second pillar climb around to the right side and jump 
across.  Open the chest here and get the red orbs.  You'll come to a fork up 
the path, at this fork is a chest that changes colour, refill either your 
health or magic whichever needs it more.  Take the right path at the save 
point and save your game in the next room.  Ascend the ladder at the top.

You'll find a ladder at the upper right corner of the roof, go up and get the 
two treasure boxes here for eithe magic or health and a Gorgon Eye.  Drop down 
again and jump across to the other building on the left side.  Here you'll 
find a multicoloured chest again and if you jump across to the left you can 
grab onto a rope.  Swing and jump to reach the other side where you'll find a 
treasure trove of health, magic and red orbs which you can barely open thanks 
to those stupid archers in the background.  It's possible to kill them later 
and come back for these so you can do that if you wish.  Head back and smash 
the wooden barrier beside the chest so that you can jump across to the next 
building.  Break the barrier and this building and double jump across, you 
certainly won't make it to the ledge but you will grab onto the vines that 
adorn the wall.  Climb up and open the chest to refill your magic power.  

There's a shiny object on the ground up the ramp, press the R2 button for a 
quick scene and then continue along the path to a ramp which you can kick down 
with the R2 button.  Head back down to the save point room and go out the 
door, this time take the upper left path.  You'll come to a large ballista
(crossbow thing) which you can grab hold of with the R2 button.  Push and kick 
this thing down into the next room.  Now in this room you will notice an odd 
panel on the floor, go to the door beside it and use the R2 button to pull it 
open.  Inside a ton of enemies spawn but you can take them all out quickly 
using the Poseidon's Rage.  After they're taken care of go out and place the 
ballista on the gear shaped panel in the floor, now pull the lever.  Leave the 
room and grab the ballista which has been turned 90 degrees and pull it off 
the panel.  Pull the lever once again to reset it and put the ballista back 
on.  Turn it one more time and it will be rotated to face toward that 
immovable door.  Set it in the middle of the room, then pull back and fire.

Before going through the door that you just smashed open, climb up the ladder 
that the lever brought down and get the chest containing red orbs.  Pull open 
the door at the upper right as well to find a multicoloured chest.  Now head 
through the door in the centre and follow the path to find another of the many 
gods.  He grants you the magic power Zeus' Fury.  Head through the door that 
Zeus blocked previously and cross the bridge.  While standing on the bridge 
with Zeus' Fury equipped you can hold down the L2 button and press square to 
fire lightning bolts at the archers in the background.  Destroying all of them 
opens up the door that had the red forcefield before down the hall to the 
right of where you came out of the Zeus door.  Through there is a large room 
with a crumbling wall at the top end, break down this wall to find three 
chests containing magic refill, a Gorgon Eye and a Phoenix Feather.  Head back 
across the bridge and make a right at the fork, save your game here.

Head up the ladder to the roof again and jump across.  You now have the 
ability to kill those damn archers in the background and get all those chests 
across the swinging part if you wish.  When you're ready jump across and 
return to the part where the guy wouldn't put the bridge across for you.  Take 
aim with your Zeus' Fury and eliminate his face off.  You'll find two chests 
in the first room on the other side containing a Gorgon Eye and a Phoenix 
Feather.  Follow the path down the hall to the room at the end where you'll 
find another two chests both with sashes of red orbs.  Stand on the circular 
button for a second to ride the elevator down to the area below.  Start 
running and as you cross the bridge a cutscene will occur.  Balance your way 
across the bridge support beam and save your game at the save point on the 
other side.  Ascend the stairs to the top where you'll need to fight your way 
through a number of normal enemies.  You can break a hole in the wall to 
reveal a chest full of red orbs around here.  Keep climbing the stairs until 
you finally reach the Temple of the Oracle.  Open the two chests here 
containing green orbs and blue orbs then start to cross the bridge.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    Temple of the Oracle                    |
 \_/   (00006)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

At the end of the bridge you'll be thrown into a battle with a ton of those 
flying nuisances and a couple of gorgons, defeat them all to open up the 
blocked paths.  There's a scene here as well afterward, when it's over climb 
the stairs and grab the chests on the left and right side of the temple 
entrance for a Gorgon Eye and a Phoenix Feather.  Inside the actual temple run 
to the top end and grab the staties there, you can pull them out to reveal two 
chests, both multicoloured.  These statues actually serve a purpose, you may 
have noticed by now that the swarm of harpies is literally unending, and for 
that reason you cannot continue any further (you'll see why if you climb the 
stairs.)  What you need to do is drag the left statues down and use it to 
block the left hole, then drag the right statue down and use it to block the 
right hole.  Now take out any remaining harpies and voila, you're free.  Take 
the lower left gate next to yet another multicoloured chest and lift it up.  
Before going up the stairs jump up onto the ledge to your right, here you will 
find a chest with another Gorgon Eye.  On the adjacent side there's a chest 
full of red orbs.  Now climb the stairs and begin to make your way across the 
ceiling beams Head left to find one at the end leading up that doesn't 
collapse then follow along to the right until you find another one.  Head up 
and jump off beside the save point here.  Save your game and head left.

Follow this hallway all the way to the end past the normal enemies and watch 
the scene there.  All right here's what you need to do.  First of all head 
right and notice that there is an elevator there that goes down when you stand 
on it.  Beside the door where you came from are two statues.  What you need to 
do is go and get one of those statues and then place it on the elevator.  Now 
after doing that go and get the other and set it beside the elevator but not 
on it.  Stand on the elevator so that it goes down but jump back so you don't 
go with it.  When the elevator hits the bottom push the second statue on top 
of the first one.  Now jump down yourself and drag it off the elevator.  
Notice that in the background there is a large platform held up by four pillar 
and beside it a smaller structure with a treasure chest on top containing red 
orbs.  Well here's the first thing to do.  Push the pillar over to these two 
structures and place it on the right side a good few feet from the tall thing.  
In order to follow this you'll need to have an idea of what I'm trying to do.  
If you double jump into the air to the right of these two structures you 
should see two treasure chests up top of the rock ledge.  Well what you need 
to do is jump onto the small structure with the chest, and from there jump 
onto the taller platform.  Now from here jump over to your two-story statue 
and then to the rock ledge with the two chests, trust me, it works.

After opening all the chests drop down.  Make your way around in a clockwise 
direction staying alongside the walls, you'll notice two place where there is 
a cracked wall surrounded by a kind of archway.  Break these cracked walls 
with normal attacks to reveal two chests, one with a Gorgon Eye and then other 
with red orbs.  Now it's time to save that stupid lady.  Drag the statue 
pillar over to the left side in between the tall platform and the fountaing.  
Now jump up and get on top of the tall platform via the smaller one and jump 
to your pillar.  From here you can jump across and grab hold of the vines.  As 
you start to shimmy across to the left a scene occurs and a time limit starts.

You have approximately 70 seconds to get from here to saving the girl, before 
you start I'll dispell your main worries and say that if you fail you'll 
automatically restart at the beginning of the timed challenge so don't worry 
too much.  Head across the vines and position yourself for a jump, be sure to 
wait for each rotation of these things to finish before you actually make the 
jump yourself.  Use techniques like the sideways and upward jump to get across 
the vines faster.  Double jump from the highest vine to reach the rope and 
swing across to the other side.  You'll need to balance along the thin beams 
here but you can save time by double jumping when you're about half way there.  
Jump across to the rope and from the rope to the large fountain, when you move 
toward the girl a scene automatically cuts in.  Now leave through the door.

When you come out you'll find a save point and have the choice of two paths.  
If you take the stairs up beside the save point it's a long path leading to a 
large emblem and a cliff.  The main reason to come up here is the treasure 
chest behind the emblem containing a Phoenix Feather.  Return to the save 
point and head right across the large sword.  Descend the enormous spiral 
staircase and open the chest at the bottom to get another Phoenix Feather.  
When you jump over the barrier here you're officially down in the sewers.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    The Sewers of Athens                    |
 \_/   (00007)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

There are two chests on either side of you, both multicoloured.  Follow the 
sewers further down and defeat all the enemies that attack you  If you jump up 
to where all the archers are attacking from you'll find not only a 
multicoloured chest but one with a stash of red orbs in the left corner as 
well.  Drop down and head along the path until you reach a metal barrier, 
double jump up and climb onto the ledge.  There's a bunch of minotaurs you 
need to defeat here but if you've levelled the Blades of Chaos up to three by 
now note that the triangle button combo is extremely effective against them 
since they're so slow.  Open the multicoloured chest on the right side and 
then continue down the sewers.  Two more chests can be found here and an 
additional two at the end, both containing red orbs.  Jump up and get ready 
for a huge enemy-fest.  You'll start by having to take down a couple of 
cyclops enemies which is much easier now that there aren't a million other 
townspeople to accidentally target, afterward a bunch of minotaurs and normal 
enemies to take care of all while being picked at by arrows from above.  
Ascend the ladder and take out the archers up there.  Do it again on the next 
curve as well and grab the red orb chest while you're at it.

Follow the sewers to another metal gate and jump up on top of it.  Ahead of 
your is a ladder leading up to a chest and some spiral stairs.  Pull the lever 
at the top of the stairs to form another set of stairs leading back up to 
somewhere familiar.  Head up to the platform where you first saw Ares 
destroying the city, indeed he is still there.  This time take the right path 
instead of the left path and save your game while you're at it.  The enormous 
door is now open, proceed through and immediately turn right to find a chest 
containing a Gorgon Eye.  On the left is a multicoloured chest, use it to 
revitalize yourself before entering the Desert of Lost Souls.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    Desert of Lost Souls                    |
 \_/   (00008)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Head down into the desert and watch the scene when you arrive.  Now here's the 
first thing to note, from the statue if you run directly up and angle yourself 
slightly to the left you'll find a treasure chest containing a bunch of red 
robs beside a large pointed rock, don't worry if you can't find it, they're 
just red orbs.  Return to the desert entrance and head East of the statue.  
Follow the lower edge all the way along for quite a long way until you finally 
reach the lower right corner of the desert.  From here run directly Northwest 
and you should start to hear singing.  North of the grassy area where the 
singing gets louder is a large temple.  In front of this temple beside the 
multicoloured chest is the first siren, use magic primarily to destroy her as 
she is quite agile.  Once she is dead then only two more remain.  These aren't 
going to be easy to find, they're wandering around in the central area of the 
desert.  Since they move around the only real help I can offer is general 
areas.  If you find the stage-like section in the middle of the desert you 
should be able to find the first Siren (very) roughly South of there and the 
second (very) roughly North of there.  Both of them are accompanied by two 
minotaurs as well.  Once they are defeated the path opens in the East temple 
and you can go inside to save your game.  Open the two chests here and then 
head down the stairs beside the save point.  Down here you will find a 
conveyer belt, first of all the most important thing to note is to avoid those 
spikey things at the end.  What you need to do is tap the R2 button to open 
the door on the wall and pull out the large block (there's a chest behind it 
as well.)  Kick the block all the way left until it hits the wall and then use 
it so that you can jump high enough to reach the ledge.  From here head 
through the door and go out onto the steps.  Blow into the large horn for a 
scene and then follow the path, don't miss the chests and before you can blow 
on the next horn suddenly you are ambushed by quite a few sirens.  Even after 
defeating them more appear, about fifteen or so in all so it's quite a task.  
In fact this may be a good time to use your Rage of the Gods.  After the 
battle the horn reappears and you can blow into it to trigger a scene.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                      Pandora's Temple                      |
 \_/   (00009)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Save your game and begin heading across the bridge.  You will find two 
multicoloured chests on the other side, one on the left and one on the right 
side of the main door.  Head left and take the sloping path that leads down 
and around to the other side.  Here you will find a wall with a handle on the 
bottom, use the R2 button to grab on and pull the wall out as far as it can go 
before it won't move anymore.  Now when you let go it's automatically going to 
start moving in again so you need to jump up it as fast as possible.  At the 
top there's a scene, after the scene the gates are opened so drop down and 
head toward the door.  As you go two new types of cyclops attack, they're just 
larger version of ones you've fought before so as usual the triangle combo 
works exceptionally well against them.  After the battle climb the front 
stairs.  Go left at the top and open the chest to find another Gorgon Eye.  On 
the right side is a Phoenix Feather in the chest.  When you're ready to 
proceed turn the lever in the middle by grabbing and walking around in an 
entire 360 degree turn.  When you get inside the door closes behind you.  
Battle your way through a ton of undead skeleton warriors here, you must 
defeat all the enemies in this room before you can proceed any further.  
Following the battle examine the eye in the centre of the large wall, one at a 
time the characters highlight and when they all have, the path opens.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    The Rings of Pandora                    |
 \_/   (0000A)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Follow the hallway either up or down until you come to a door in the wall.  
Head through it to find some rather unpleasant crunching spike machines.  Wait 
until they are opening and then use the right analog evade roll to ensure you 
make it through each one of them in one piece.  At the other end some enemy 
archers are waiting to tear you apart, why not show them the same courtesy.  
Open the multicoloured chest as well as the other one at the top which has a 
stash of red orbs inside.  Pull the lever in the centre of the left wall to 
lower down another lever outside the room.  Run back out and begin to turn 
this round and round and round until you see a bright red flame.  Approach it 
to meet with the next god and acquire a new weapon, the Blade of Artemis.  
After acquiring the new weapon continue on past where Artemis used to be.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                   The Challenge of Atlas                   |
 \_/   (0000B)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Head down the hall and save your game along the way.  The next room offers you 
the perfect chance to try out your new weapon by throwing a ton of the easiest 
enemies in the game at you,this doesn't last long however as you are also 
attacked by a number of more difficult Gorgons.  Following the battle jump up 
and grab onto the bottom of the stairs at the upper right corner of the room 
and head around the path.  Use Zeus' Fury to take out the archers in the 
background and then balance across to that side.  In the corner there you'll 
find a chest containing a Gorgon Eye.  Drop down and head through the hall at 
the lower right corner of this room.  Follow the path and make sure all the 
enemies in the next area are taken care of, then go back to the fork in the 
hall and grab that box of rocks or whatever it is.  Notice that when you step 
on the button in the main room the thing at the top spins around, then spins 
back when you step off.  Well drag the box of rocks up near the spinning thing 
along with your and then charge up a kick to kick it toward the button.  While 
it's sliding jump up toward the spinning thing and it will flip you around.

On this side there are a number of enemies you need to defeat, as well as two 
chests above you, one multicoloured and the other full of red orbs.  The third 
is a blue or chest on the left side.  When you're done climb the ladder and 
jump across to the left side where you can pick up the Shield of Zeus.  Drop 
down to the room below and examine the door on the lower left side to place 
the shield into the carving.  Leave this area and return to the previous one, 
jump up and grab onto the stairs at the upper right corner.  If you already 
cleared this place out then you're set, if not then you'll have to do some 
fighting.  Get to the other side and pull the lever with the R2 button (the 
icon will not appear on the screen.)  When the weight comes down grab hold of 
the rope and slide down with it.  Get on the horizontal rope and start making 
your way across.  On the other side are full health and magic healing chests.

Now nearby is also the Shield of Hades.  When you grab it be prepared for an 
absolute ambush, this is far more enemies at once than you've ever seen 
anywhere else in the entire game.  Not only that the wall on the left side is 
closing in on you so it's just going to get tighter and tighter as you go 
along.  Some effective attacks for this battle are obviously Poseidon's Rage, 
along with the L1 + Square Blade of Artemis attack and also doing a double 
jump and pressing triangle in the air with the Blade of Artemis works well.  
Defeat all the enemies and a path opens up to a couple of healing chests.  
Jump across to reach the rope you came down from and climb back up again.  
Return to the door where you put in the Shield of Zeus and now put in the 
Shield of Hades as well.  This unlocks the door and allows you to pass.  

Descend the stairs and save your game in the hall at the bottom.  Climb up the 
ladder and head through the door, prepare for some rather dangerous 
circumstances.  It's hard not to notice that there are crazy death saws making 
their way back and forth, and while it seems like a crazy random assortment 
note that each path only has one saw on it so it's easy to get through without 
being hit as long as you wait for the saw to pass before moving forward.  
Ignore the levers in this area and head through the door on the right side.  
Defeat the enemies here and get onto the conveyer belt.  There's some nasty 
chompers in here but nothing the evade roll can't get past.  Follow the path 
up the stairs and across the bridge.  On your left in this area is a 
multicoloured chest, and on the right is a wall that you can climb up.  It's 
quite the trek to make it to the other end of this wall, you'll be moving in 
all directions.  Your best bet is to move quickly using the X button to help 
you with that get to the other end and heal yourself, then pull the lever to 
drop the chain down which acts as a quick way to get back where you started.

This next room is extremely difficult, what you need to do is destroy all the 
enemies before time runs out and the ground gives way beneath you.  Most of 
the enemies carry those shields so you'll need to use triangle attacks with 
the Blades of Chaos to destroy them.  Perhaps if I had gone into this with any 
magic power I could have done it normally but regardless I had to use Rage of 
the Gods after being unable to do it after a few tires, basically the enemies 
at the start are easy to take out but those stupid sirens just become 
extremely difficult to hit without magic.  When every last enemy has been 
dispatched run to the top and grab the Handle of Atlas.  Now you can exit the 
room and drop down the chain, a new save point has appeared there.  Return to 
the room with all the moving saws and pull both the levers quickly then run 
through the door at the top, you have to be fast for this.  Slowly make your 
way along the wall here and lift the door up.  After defeating all the enemies 
in this room examine the object at the top and place the handle on it.  Now 
turn the lever around so that the large ball is on Atlas back.  Head through 
the opening on the right side and start ascending the stairs.

Fight your way past all the enemies here and check left when you reach the top 
to find a chest containing Phoenix Feather.  Run around to the right and open 
the chest on the left side of the lever to get a Gorgon Eye.  Now pull the 
lever and watch the scene that follows.  Jump down and head out the newly 
created entrance.  Grab the handle on the coffin here with the R2 button and 
pull it down.  When it's off completely jump on the coffin and tap R2 as fast 
as you can to acquire The Architect's Son's Head.  The coffin moves and a hole 
appears underneath, drop down this hole and open the multicoloured chest at 
the bottom.  Make your way along the decrepit hallway and watch the scene.  
Through the door at the end of the hall is a room you've seen before.  Save 
your game here and head down the hall.  Defeat the enemies along the way and 
examine the door with the large skull in it, you can use the Architect's Son's 
Skull to unlock it.  In this room there is a huge cylinder rolling around in 
the hall bent on crushing you.  Along the path are numerous places where you 
can press up and hide from it, but really the thing is actually moving slower 
than you are so a little caution is all that's necessary.  Either wait for it 
to pass and go up (which is faster) or run down and all the way around to find 
a staircase.  Go up the stairs and wait for it to come around again then jump 
on top of it.  Walk in the opposite direction that it's rolling so you don't 
fall off and when it gets around to the ladder jump up and grab hold.  Climb 
up to the top where you will find numerous chests including full magic and 
health, red orbs and a Gorgon Eye.  Even a save point to boot.  Run down the 
hall past the save point until you find yourself at the Challenge of Poseidon.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                  The Challenge of Poseidon                 |
 \_/   (0000C)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Walk forward and a scene takes over almost immediately.  There's a fight 
against a new type of enemy here, of course the three headed dog Cerberus.  
Also fighting along side it are little mini-cerberuses which get rather 
annoying quickly.  I recommend using the Blade of Artemis here for heavy 
damage.  Here's the main thing you're going to want to keep in mind, you 
absolutely must kill these little cerberus things regularly, indeed it is 
possible for them to fully grow and become large versions, having a whole 
bunch of these on the field at once is just death plain and simple so try and 
catch them in a Poseidon's Rage spell as often as possible.  An email from 
Justin L has suggested using the Medusa Head here to make defeating the 
Cerberus easier, sounds like an effective tactic if you ask me.  Once it has 
been taken care of open the multicoloured chest at the top and then head left.  
There's another chest here beside a large crate and some cyclops enemies 
running in from the background, dispose of them quickly.  There's about a 
million archers around the corner, I imagine that crate is used as a shield so 
you can get close to them without taking damage, but I just run up to them and 
slashed them all to death.  Whatever works for you I guess.  Run to the end of 
the path being sure to destroy the mini-cerberuses on the way and take out all 
the archers beside the red forcefield.  When they're all dead it opens.

There's a lever in the middle of the room, here's how it works.  When you pull 
the lever the room starts spinning and obviously the door where you came from 
is going to lead to different places.  Well for starters it leads to a chest 
containing red orbs but what you need to do is open the chest very fast and 
get the orbs from it, then jump back out again before the gate closes on you 
and you die.  There's four chests each containing red orbs on the way and the 
fifth one is your exit.  You'll have to fight a new type of enemy here but 
there's nothing special you really need to know, attack and block like you've 
been doing all along.  I'd recommend not spilling Coke on your controller, 
yeah, I just did that.  Anyway run to the left side where the large chain is 
and jump up the wall, you can start climbing by grabbing onto the ledges.  
When you reach the top head right and you'll find a chest, inside this chest 
is a Muse Key.  Jump back up and crawl around to the left side, you'll find 
two minotaur enemies here.  Follow the path to the top where you will find 
both full healing and full magic chests beside the save point here.

In the next room you'll find a long sloping path and a lever with no handle.  
Drop down and run up to the top of the path.  Examine the door in this room 
and pick up the handle on the right side of the room.  Run back and place it 
into the lever, begin turning to lower one of the cages.  Push him over the 
edge and start to push him up the hill.  When enemies spawn prop him on some 
of the broken concrete and fight them off.  Continue to do this until you're 
up at the top of the hill.  Manoeuvre the cage around and set it on the button 
behind the lever.  Now be a man, pull the lever and burn the flesh from him 
bones.  Doing so opens up the door.  Run down to the bottom and examine the 
shiny object in front of the statue to receive Poseidon's Trident.  Using this 
you can swim underwater by pressing the square button while swimming.  Use the 
save point behind the statue and then jump into the water on the left side.  
Climb up the ladder and open the chest to get a Phoenix Feather.  The chest on 
the other side has some green orbs inside.  To proceed further jump into the 
right pool and swim to the lower end where you'll find a waterway going down.

While underwater you can press and hold the R1 button to do an underwater 
dash, this breaks through cracked objects in your path.  Defeat all the mini 
cerberuses on the other side and then open the chest on the left to get 
another Gorgon Eye.  Open the door and pull the lever to reveal a new path 
behind the Poseidon Statue.  Return there and defeat the two large cerberus 
enemies along with all the stupid harpies that get in your hair as well.  
Climb up the newly formed stone blocks and head down the path.  Jump into the 
water at the end and start swimming along underwater through the ruins.  
You'll encounter a Nyad, press the circle button to hug it or whatever to get 
some bonuses like red orbs, feathers or Gorgon Eyes.  This was something that 
was not mentioned in the original version of the walkthrough and is the the 
topic I have received the most email about out of every last guide I've ever 
written, so there you are, give them a hug, and thanks to the dozens and 
dozens (possibly hundreds) of people who pointed this out.  Actually finally 
updating this is kind of sad, it means I won't be getting nearly as much email 
anymore, but alas, it seems I've gone too far off topic.  Swim down and 
go through the small tunnel at the upper right.  When you come to a fork turn 
right and you'll come to an opening carved into a mouth shape.  Stop at the 
entrance and charge the R1 dash to dash into the room.  Keep charging the R1 
dash to make it all the way through without being harmed.  Continue along 
underwater until you have a chance to come up.  You need to defeat all the 
enemies here in order to lower the forcefield around the lever.  Pull it and a 
gate opens.  Now jump back down into the water and swim back to the fork where 
you made a right turn, and make a left turn.  Pop out of the water and defeat 
all the soldiers here.  Break through the wall at the top to find about a 
million urns and at the end a treasure chest containing a Muse Key.

Return to the fork once again and head down.  This next area is where you 
opened the large door to you can head up now.  There's an underwater save 
point right in the next room.  Use the R1 dash to break through the wall on 
left of the save point and swim up from the Nyad to reach a room with four 
chests each full of juicy red orbs.  Head back and swim deeper down when you 
reach the Poseidon statue but not too far, stop when you see a chain right 
below you.  Attached to this chain are a number of large barriers that will 
hurt you if you come into contact with them.  The basic idea is pretty simple, 
these things and moving quickly across and will kill you if you're caught by 
them.  At the bottom are areas you can swim down into to let them pass over 
top so here's what you do.  Wait for one to pass and then swim down, charge 
the R1 dash and launch yourself to the left.  When you stop moving you'll be 
right above one of the safe areas so hold square to swim down there.  When the 
next one passes hold triangle to swim up, then do the R1 dash, when you stop 
do it one more time and swim normally for whatever distance you have left to 
cover to make it to the next safe area.  After this you can swim normally to 
the end and descend down the circular waterway.  Swim until you reach a very 
large room and surface.  There's a save point on your lower left.

Defeat the three minotaur enemies that appear here and make sure to get the 
multicoloured chests found on both the left and right sides.  There's a lever 
in the centre, pull on it to raise up a path leading up to the top.  This is a 
temporary path so when the levered is pulled, be sure to mosey along.  On the 
other side both the left and right chests contain red orbs.  Now here's what 
you need to do.  Jump back in the water and swim to the lever again.  Pull it 
but this time don't jump across the platforms instead jump into the water on 
the left side.  Swim to the bottom and the back of this whole area, at the 
bottom of the largest pillar is a secret room, when you go in there and the 
pillars descend when the time is up it acts like an elevator.  Follow the 
tunnel where it pops you out and surface at the end.  It seems that we are 
back here once again.  Save you game and leave the room, battling through the 
enemies with the yellow shields along the way.  Return to the room where the 
large cylinder threatened to crush you and climb the stairs again.  This time 
you can jump into the water on your left and swim down that circular hole 
along the path.  Follow it and you'll pop out at a rather nasty looking area.

On the right side of this field is a doorway you can break open using your 
normal attack.  Save your game in here and run to the end where you will find 
a couple of treasure chests and a ladder.  Ascend the ladder and follow the 
hall to pop out at your next challenge, The Challenge of Hades.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                   The Challenge of Hades                   |
 \_/   (0000D)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Both the left and right sides of the stairs have healing chests.  Jump up onto 
the left side of the room to find a door, when you examine it you must accept 
the challenge to make a blood sacrifice.  Do so and a new type of centaur like 
enemies will appear.  There's also a large circle area around the entrance, 
what you need to do is kill enough enemies within this circle so that the door 
opens, it's not easy.  Eventually when you manage to accomplish this the door 
is unlocked and you can proceed through it.  When you come out of the hall use 
the platform beside the door on the left side to jump up to the ledge above.  
Here you will find three chests, two with red orbs and one with a Phoenix 
Feather.  Drop down again and lift up the door on the left side.  

In this hall the floors are behaving rather erratically and it just so happens 
that underneath them there is nothing but lava.  What you need to do is time 
your jumps so that you can land on solid ground, rather than liquid magma.  
Roll past the spears in the next hall as well, then get ready to navigate 
through a maze.  At the first fork the left path only takes you to a face, so 
head right.  At the next fork make a left and you'll find yourself in an open 
area.  At the top there's a treasure chest, open it to get a whole bunch of 
red orbs.  Return to the previous fork and go straight this time, then make a 
left (if you go right, it's a health chest.)  Here you will find a lever you 
can turn.  Turn the lever to raise yourself up to the next level.  Right 
beside the elevator you can grab hold of that block in the wall and push it 
forward so that it drops down.  Run to the end before the path collapses and 
get the red orbs from the chest.  Go back and make a right at the fork, then 
make another right and push the block forward so it falls.  Defeat all the 
enemies in this room, grab the health and open the door down the hall at the 
upper left.  Since you're back here again make a left at the fork.

There's a large crushing block here.  Wait for it to go out and then follow it 
and jump on top.  Kill the enemies here in this area but you can't go through 
the door yet, it says you must kill all the enemies in the maze.  The final 
two enemies are through the door being blocked by the crushinator.  It goes 
further every time until the third time when it resets.  Wait for it to go far 
enough so that you can get through the arch door that it's blocking and kill 
the two remaining enemies in there.  Now you can pass through the door and 
find yourself back in the front hall again.  Step on the large button in front 
of your to raise the huge statue out of the ground.  Jump down and jump into 
the water where the statue came out of.  At the bottom you will find a switch 
to pull, now the head is firing a light beam.  Jump out of the water and climb 
the ladder on the side of the statue.  Turn the lever at the back of the head 
to face it around in the opposite direction and light your path.  Now jump off 
the head, save your game at the bottom of the stairs, and enter that room.

Now here's a little something interesting, all these flaming balls coming 
toward you.  Your job is to navigate between them as you progress up the path 
to try and reach the door at the end in between the slope the balls are 
rolling down.  It's not easy, but not too difficult either.  Refrain from 
using the right analog stick, it will probably do more harm than good, if your 
timing is right you can just run between all of them anyway.  Once you reach 
the end go through the opening and defeat the enemies.  Open the chests here 
to get some red orbs and a Phoenix Feather.  Don't think you're in the clear 
yet however because if you read that tablet you'll realize you need to go back 
out there.  Notice that along the way there were doors that you passed, well 
one of these many doors leads to the path you need to take.  To save you the 
time of looking obviously, it happens to be the third last door on the left.  
This means from the top follow the left wall and go past the first two doors, 
try the third.  Follow the hall to the end and get ready to fight.

A number of large minotaurs wielding deadly dual sided axes await you here.  
Defeat all four of them with your best attack combos along with the archers 
that spawn soon after in order to remove the evil forcefield.  Follow the 
upper right steps up and kill all the enemies in this area, if you're 
wondering why it's a dead end it's because the point of this area is to kill 
the archers, you can't proceed otherwise.  Return to the previous room and 
take the upper left exit.  Jump up and make your way across the rope here.  
Drop down into the arena and get ready for some massive combat against a horde 
of enemies.  After the two minotaurs are killed, or enemies other enemies that 
are the last remaining climb up the ladder and jump to the next ledge.

There's another maze here, at least somewhat.  Go straight ahead at the first 
fork and make a right at the second one to find a chest with red orbs inside.  
Take a few steps back and head left.  Make a right at the next fork and save 
your game.  In this room you have to balance across the thin beam, but as an 
added danger there's a spinning death machine around you as well.  When it 
gets to close double jump straight up into the air to avoid it.  Head up when 
you come to the first fork and then right when you reach the second.  When you 
reach the safe platform cross over on the beam to the right side where you 
will find a chest containing a Phoenix Feather.  Return to the platform and 
head up.  Balance along the next beam and head left when you come to the first 
fork to find a chest containing red orbs.  Go back and continue down.  
Continue moving right at the next fork and open the chest containing a stash 
of red robs.  Now head up at the fork, you need to wait for the one arm that 
doesn't have death blades on it, and then jump onto that one.  From there 
simply walk forward and climb up the ladder.  Balance along this beam here to 
reach the next platform but before you slide down, continue to the right to 
eventually reach a chest with more red orbs.  Head back and slide down.

Descend down the ladder at the bottom and follow the path into the next hall.  
Turn the wheel at the end for a quick scene, then head left to drop down 
somewhere familiar you've been before.  Make your way down and save your game 
along the way.  Be sure you're full healed and all that mumbo jumbo before you 
go out there, you wouldn't want to be underprepared for the... second boss.

Basically this boss does what many gigantic bosses in other games does, relies 
on a huge battlefield with all sorts of crazy stuff going on and pretty much 
confuses you to the point where you think it's hard.  Well I'm here to 
simplify everything and point out that in the end this boss boils down to one 
simple, albeit long, pattern.  First of all note that the boss is easiest to 
fight when you're on the ledge at the lower end of the room so get up there 
now.  This will make the boss come running and put his hands up on the ledge.  
The majority of this boss' attacks can be blocked, the only dangerous ones he 
was are the unblockable ones so I'll describe them first.  When he raises his 
left hand (on the right side from your perspective) then he's going to swipe 
down and grab you.  To avoid this simply double jump to the left, often if you 
do it straight up he still grabs you, so do it to the left.  The second occurs 
only after he charges, a bunch of fire comes up from below you, simply double 
jump to avoid this.  Everything else can be blocked.  Now for actually 
damaging him.  Normal attacks work fine, here's what you have to do.  When he 
runs up to your start slashing and smashing until he gets stunned and jumps 
backward.  Now he will charge at you again.  You need to stun him so that he 
jumps away approximately four or five times.  After that each time you stun 
him he will temporarily curl up on the ground and the circle item will appear 
above his head, so knowing that this will happen immediately after you stun 
him jump down and start running to the top.  Press the circle button to jump 
on top and use the left analog stick to match the screen patterns similar to 
the gorgons.  After doing this the boss will stand up in a daze.  Now is you 
chance, run back to the bottom of the area and pull the switch to load one of 
the logs into the cannon and fire it at him.  Bam.  Now the process starts 
over again, you need to do everything you just did exactly one more time all 
the way up to the point where you fire a second log at him.  After the second 
log is where things change.  Now when he runs up to your and you damage him, 
when he gets stunned bits of his armour break off.  Stun him four or five 
times now to wear off his armour completely and reveal his health bar.  At 
this point he no longer becomes stunned and it's just a matter of fighting as 
you always have been the entire time to wear down his health.  When it gets 
very low, down in the red he'll become stunned just one more time.  This is 
your cue to reach for the lever and bring and end to the long battle.

Following the fight you can now get through the large door via a crack in the 
bottom.  Climb up the spiral stairs and use the save point when you reach the 
top.  Further up you'll find three chests containing health, magic and red 
orbs.  Now examine the book in the centre of the room.  Pull the lid off the 
coffin and take The Architect's Son's Head.  Grab the head and return back to 
where you fought the minotaur, here you will find another of the gods, 
approach it to get a new magic spell, Army of Hades.  Use this magic to defeat 
all the enemies that spawn around here.  Now head through the door Hades was 
blocking and swim back to the room that had the large rolling object.  Press 
R2 underwater when you're beside the skull door to insert The Architect's 
Son's Head and the water lowers down.  Now here's what you need to do.  First 
of all find the lever near the wall, beside it is a door, tap the R2 button to 
lift this door up.  Now run into the very centre of the statue in the middle 
where you will find a lever.  Turn it around and around until it is aligned 
with the door you just opened.  Leave this room and start turning the lever 
beside the door you opened until that door is aligned with the outer hall.  
Now go out to the outer hall and make sure that door lines up too so all the 
doors are aligned with the room with the save point down at the very end.  

Here's a little update note that I believe I missed.  I'm under the impression 
that if you rotate the outer wall you can eventually find a room where you can 
use those two Muse keys you got to unlock a door filled with red orbs and god 
knows what else.  It's around this area so be sure to check it out.

With all the doors aligned head to the save point room at the end and save 
your game.  Here at the back you'll see a shiny handle you can grab, grab the 
handle at the side of the little steps, not the one in the middle but the one 
with the shiny thing on it.  When you push it a cutscene will trigger.  

Run to the very middle and pull the handle to rise up the elevator.  Leave the 
room and start to cross the bridge.  There's a quick scene and then a battle 
with a new enemy, you'll have to defeat three of them before you can proceed.  
As you cross the bridge there is another cutscene, then use the save point on 
the other side.  Read the book in the middle, then begin your trek upward.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    The Cliffs of Madness                   |
 \_/   (0000E)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Defeat all the enemies at the top and whip out Zeus' Fury to defeat those 
archers in the distance.  On your left behind some urns is a chest that will 
fully refill your magic.  Head right and jump from platform to platform until 
you reach a rope.  Cross it hand-over-hand and battle the foes that await on 
the other side.  Turn the crank to raise the ladder and save your game.  
Ascend the ladder and follow the paths along until you reach a doorway.  If 
you continue left rather than going through the door you'll find a chest full 
of red orbs.  Enter the cave area and follow the path to a crank you can spin, 
turn this in order to connect the path to the platform with all the archers on 
it.  Spin it further than you need to since it will automatically start moving 
back when you let go this will give you time to get on it and jump over to the 
other one.  When you come out of the cave at the top take the left path to 
find a multicoloured chest.  Now jump up onto the ledge on your right.

You'll need to defeat three minotaurs here, around the corner is a door with 
two head shaped crests on the sides which seems to suggest they once wore 
necklaces.  If you jump around behind the one on the right you'll find a chest 
with red orbs inside.  Head left from the chest though the cave, and jump down 
into the water.  When you pop out at the other side you can break open the 
walls behind the waterfalls to get a whole buttload of red orbs.  Return to 
the door with the face emblems on it and look for a ladder on your left 
leading down.  Descend it and follow the path to reach a chest full of red 
orbs beside a rope, slide down the rope and enter the cave.  Beyond a whole 
pile of enemies that you should kill first, is the necklace puzzle.

Your goal is to connect all the blocks together so that the gaps disappear.  
You can use the centre platform to rotate them.  Here's what you need to do.  
Grab the block at the upper right corner and put it on the rotating device.  
Now turn the device counter-clockwise exactly once, for a 90 degree turn.  
Push this block against the gate so that the lower right block which cannot be 
moved fits exactly into the little gap.  Now grab the T shaped block, rotate 
it 90 degrees in either direction and place it right in the centre so it fits 
nicely into the upper gap in the piece you placed the first time.  Get that 
little one block near the gate out of the way, you're never going to use it.  
Grab the upside down L shaped block at the top left corner and rotate it 180 
degrees.  Now place it on the left side of the gate, it should fit perfectly.  
All that remains is to fill the final two gaps, between the last two places 
you set the pieces should be a gap that's two blocks high so grab the piece 
that will fit in there perfectly and set it.  The last piece is the tall on 
the upper left side.  Set it on the right side to complete the puzzle.

Grab the necklace and leave the cave, you can now climb up the ladder on the 
right side.  There's also a save point out here now.  Go up the ladder and run 
to the right, climb across the side of the mountain until you reach the other 
side above the rope where you slid down.  Return to the place with the two 
emblems and insert Her'a necklace.  Now I know for a fact that this part is 
one of the most difficult things people have a problem with and it's quite 
likely that this is about the first sentence 99% of the people using this 
guide have read because all the want to know is where the hell to go after 
getting that stupid necklace.  Well here's the answer so listen close.  You 
need to backtrack.  A lot.  Remember that room where you rotated the two 
platforms and had to quickly jump from one to the other?  Past that.  Exit out 
the from of that cave.  Now you've got the option of either going down a 
ladder or following the path left.  Go down the ladder, then another and 
another until you reach the save point.  Yes, you must find this save point, 
there's your reference.  Get there and save your game.  Now from this save 
point go right and you'll see a dead tree, well it just so happens that you 
can jump over the rocks beside the tree to reach another path and whole other 
area.  Yeah.  There's your answer, enjoy the rest of the game.

Anyway, where were we.  Follow this path into the main cave area where you'll 
be trapped and forced to fight against quite a few enemies.  When you come out 
the other end of the cave you'll find an elevator, turn the crank to raise it 
upward.  Hop onto the weight on your right to lower a ripe down to the 
platform below, this acts as a shortcut if you need it, don't actually go down 
there.  Enter the cave and prepare yourself in advance, if you screw up then 
you die.  Notice the holes in the floor, they are what's going to kill you, 
but only if you aren't fast enough.  There's a lever here beside the gate.  
When you pull the lever another gate opens up and your time limit starts.  
Beside you is a block you can move, basically your goal is to kick this block 
down to the other side of the cave and use it as a stepping stone to reach the 
ledge before getting speared.  You're given enough time no problem, but don't 
dilly-dally.  At the top you'll find a chest, open it to get a Phoenix Feather 
and then jump across to the vines on the wall.  Grab the necklace and leave.

Return to the door with the two emblems and make sure both necklaces are in 
place.  Now the ledges are moving back and forth, wait until they extend all 
the way and jump across to gab hold.  Jump back and open the chests for some 
blue and red orbs, then jump across to the right.  Head around to the right 
and a cutscene triggers.  Follow the path to the end and swing across the 
ropes to reach the other side.  Here there's an elevator, pull the lever to 
activate it.  Follow the path at the top and enter The Architect's Tomb.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    The Architect's Tomb                    |
 \_/   (0000F)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Some rather unpleasant platform jumping awaits you here, jump between the 
moving platforms and the deadly saw blades to reach the other side.  Head to 
the right side and open the gate using the R2 button.  Fight your way up to 
the outdoor area again and defeat the cyclops here as well as all the 
cerberuses.  Be absolutely sure to defeat them before they grow, that ins't 
exactly pleasant when it happens.  There are three ladders here, climb the one 
on the side that isn't broken and smash the door at the top to find a 
multicoloured chest and a Phoenix Feather.  Next drop down and climb up the 
one in the middle and turn the lever so that the crane's weight's shadow is 
over the cracked ground.  There's a lever at the end of the crane so go and 
pull it to smash the ground.  Lift it up again using the lever and turn to 
crane so that the shadow is over the button on the other side, drop the weight 
down on the button and then jump off the edge so you're on the ground again.

Grab the statue in the back left corner and kick it all the way over to the 
other side, drop it down the no broken pit and set it on top of the other 
button.  Only one more to go.  This one is located back across where you came 
from, all you have to do is stand on it by yourself for a second to unlock the 
door.  You've got to be quick though, it doesn't say open forever.  When you 
get in there go around to the opposite side of the table and rip the head off 
the corpse.  In the next area you'll find a save point and two red orbs chests 
on the right side.  Enter the structure then descend the spiral stairs to 
reach a large room with moving conveyer belts.  Enemies attack you when you 
enter this room and you cannot leave until all of them are dead so equip the 
Blades of Chaos for the harpies and the Blade of Artmeis for the archers and 
go at it.  Take out all the archers and ones that respawn first and from there 
go into an all out harpy-hunt.  Here's a fun scientific fact, they actually 
had to declare "one bajillion" a real discrete value after seeing how many 
stupid damn harpies respawned in this room.  Just keep fighting and fighting.

Following the battle open the door and pull the handle on the large sphere in 
the middle.  Examine the box and then ride the elevator down.  Drag the box 
off the elevator and then push the box out the main door and watch the scene.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                     The Path of Hades                      |
 \_/   (0000G)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

Ahead of you are two chests and a save point.  Jump across the platforms above 
you to reach a chest with red orbs inside.  Now head right and follow that one 
to reach more red orbs.  Take the left path here up to the large platform and 
battle through the evil demons here.  Start across this dangerous spinning 
mechanism being careful to avoid the knives.  Jump to the second platform on 
the right to find a chest with a large number of red orbs inside.  At the very 
end is another chest with red orbs in it, get there quick before the archer 
spawns and fires at you.  Follow the path right and then down to reach yet 
another large stash of red orbs.  Return to the very first spinning pole and 
jump across to the left.  Now from here on it just goes nuts I'm telling you, 
if you want to take the branching path to the right and get the red orbs go 
ahead.  Other than that it's pretty linear to the end with a few ore red orb 
chests here and there, I've got my hands full just trying to navigate through 
here alive while avoiding cheap deaths.  You don't need directions, you need a 
miracle.  Okay, well it's not that hard, but you'll need some luck for this.

There's a save point and a chest at the end here.  I'm absolutely in awe at 
the stupid things that you're forced to do here.  I mean the idea of 
platforming along with guys in the background firing arrows at you with barely 
enough magic to take them all out, if even that.  Really this whole area is 
just obnoxious, I'll stop complaining now.  Get across here however you can 
and when you reach the other side it's time to put your fighting skills to the 
test.  You must defeat every last enemy in this area to unlock the door and 
there's a lot of enemies.  One somewhat helpful tactic is to use the Blades of 
Chaos to knock the minotaurs off the edge, if you're desperate it works.  When 
the forcefield disappears a large spinning thing is revealed, you can start 
climbing up this now.  Obviously watch out for the knives as you ascend.  
There are places along the way where you can get stuck with no hope of escape 
and you have to climb from the very bottom each time you're hit, but I guess 
it wouldn't be a stupid cheap area if it wasn't stupid and cheap.

At the top you'll find a chest with red orbs, jump up to the right and defeat 
all the enemies here, then get ready for another dose of fun knife wall 
climbing.  This one is worse than the last one.  Hooray.  There's a save point 
on the right at the top along with two chests.  You'll need to fight your way 
through piles and piles of the same enemy here to create the platforms in the 
distance.  Once all of them have sprung up jump across and get to the top 
where a quick scene occurs.  Now climb up the rope and prepare for the end.

  __ 
 /   od of War  /------------------------------------------------------------o
|  _ -----o-----\                    Temple of the Oracle                    |
 \_/   (0000H)   \-----------------------------------------------------------o

There's a save point here of course.  When you're ready head up into the 
temple.  Fight your way through here which pretty much just entails defeating 
hordes of normal enemies until you reach the large outdoor area where you 
rescued the girl from the rope.  Save your game at the back door and head 
through it to find a number of chests with all kinds of orbs.  When you exit 
the hall you'll find yourself outside and a cutscene triggers.

Here's the deal, for this first boss every single attack Ares uses is 
blockable so you'll need to use that to your advantage.  I'll tell you this 
now, the key to victory is the Army of Hades spell, level it up as much as you 
can before the fight.  You attacks deal very little damage to the boss and his 
deal a lot so you need to play defensively and block at any sign of an attack.  
Use whichever weapon you prefer for the fight, but keep the Army of Hades 
going, often the attack alone will blast multitudes of health and magic out of 
him so much so that casting the spell pretty much cost nothing.  You should 
also use Rage of the Gods early in the battle, because even though you'll need 
it later if you use it early then it should refill by the time the fight is 
over.  After dealing enough damage to Ares the circle button appears over his 
head, at this point grab him and start tapping.  Immediately after it 
disappears stop tapping and go into a button combination.  You need to make 
this transition quick or you'll screw up, after this a scene occurs.

Now the next part involves you protecting your family from clones of yourself.  
There are a lot of clones, more than anyone could ever count and it goes on 
for along while so you'll need to keep yourself alive.  Before actual battle 
tips it's important to note that running up to your family and holding the 
circle button transfers your health to them, you'll probably have to do this a 
couple times throughout the battle.  Anyway like before your primary weapon 
should be the Army of Hades magic.  Ares' first form dropped a ton of red orbs 
so you should be able to max out the power.  Use this often during the fight, 
the damage it does should knock out a fair bit of magic power but not enough 
to replenish it fast enough.  The solution?  Rage of the Gods which gives you 
an infinite amount of magic power when the blades are maxed, which they should 
have been a long time ago.  Have this and start using Army of Hades like mad, 
it should be enough to, if not end the battle, give you the edge you need.

After one more scene it's finally time to take on his last form.  There's one 
full health bar between the two of you, damage to him means healing you and 
vice versa.  Most of the battle complications have been removed and you're 
left with what can most accurately be described as a fighting game type battle 
on a 3D plane.  Here's how it works, all his attacks aren't blockable anymore, 
most of them are but not all.  The first is sort of a fire burst he shoot out 
of his hand, learn to see this coming and dodge it because it will hit you 
every time.  The second is easier to dodge, he'll pass through the ground and 
pop up elsewhere.  This means that four pillars are about to rise and try to 
hit you.  You can get hit by these nor can you even be standing on the ground 
if you wish to avoid damage so after he teleports start running normally, 
forget rolling.  If you're running around by the time they pop up you should 
be outside they're hit range and all that remains is for you to jump in the 
air before they crash together.  Now let's look at damaging him.  After most 
of his combos he'll stop for a moment and kind of roar, this is your chance to 
strike.  Go in with both square and triangle attacks to deal damage to him, if 
you hit him and interrupt an attack you'll get the chance to do a circle 
button tapping "tug of war" where if you win it means massive damage AND he 
gets temporarily stunned.  Good all around.  The most important things to keep 
in mind is that you must not try attacking unless he's doing the roar, if he 
blocks more than three of your attacks in a row he'll do a fire burst that is 
undodgeable and unblockable because it occurs in a little cutscene type thing, 
the point is when he starts blocking then you stop attacking.  Play more 
offensively than you did the first time, even knowing how to block and dodge 
he's likely going to hit you sometimes, and that heals him.  Good luck.

That pretty much does it, there's one more section where you have control, but 
if you need a guide for that, then... I don't know what to say.  Update: 
VjDj779 has suggested that destroying the statues in the throne room will 
unlock one of the game's secret messages, so there you have it.

You beat the game.  Good job!  

Now sit back and enjoy the ending.

                             
                                 d--(o_O)--b



O============================================================================O
|                                 Final Note                         (0000I) |
O============================================================================O

To be honest I really don't see myself going any further than the walkthrough, 
there's an extra challenge or two here and there but really the main game is 
where it's at, and I've covered that as much (and more) than I had hoped from 
the start.  If you're looking for some Challenge of the Gods info I believe an 
in-depth guide for that just went up on GameFAQs this afternoon and it looks 
pretty solid, also for another source of information, check out VampireHorde's 
FAQ on GameFAQs, with all that information combined you're sure to be set for 
everything you need.  Hope you enjoyed God of War (and the guide.) Cheerio ^_^


O============================================================================O
|                                Version History                     (0000J) |
O============================================================================O

Version 0.00 - (March 26th, 2005) - Began the walkthrough
Version 1.00 - (March 27th, 2005) - Completed the walkthrough

O============================================================================O
|                                    Legal                           (0000K) |
O============================================================================O

TThis document is copyright (c) 2007 by A I e x.

I am no longer active writing guides for video games, and thus I will no
longer any questions or update with any corrections sent through email.  It
is likely that after this point this guide will never be updated again.  I am
aware that there are errors occasionally and I apologize for those.  Please
do not email me any corrections, or ask me for any help with this particular
game, as I will not respond.

It is also not necessary to send any email to thank me for the work, I will
say right now that you are very welcome.  

Furthermore, please do not contact me about hosting this guide on your website,
I will not grant permisson.  I am still willing to take action if I find this
guide being hosted anywhere other than GameFAQs.com, IGN.com, or a very small
number of other select sites.

Finally, if you need to contact me for some reason that is not covered above, 
then you can reach me at StarOceanDC(a.t)gmail(d.o.t)com.  


O============================================================================O
|                                   Credits                          (0000L) |
O============================================================================O

VjDj779 and Justin L for some helpful hints

ASCII title is care of: http://www.rootsecure.net/?p=ascii_generator

Thanks to CJayC for continuing to keep GameFAQs running smoothly, and the same 
to Sailor Bacon.  Thanks to Sean, Mark and Jeremy here at the University of 
Guelph, thanks to everyone in the GameFAQs FAQ contributor community for being 
great people, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to send feedback.

Thank you very much finally, to anyone and everyone reading this walkthrough.

O============================================================================O