CREATIVE SHOWCASE 
Warring Gods
May 31, 2005
Zugara's "God of War" interactive website brings Ancient Greece to the screen.
Creative Notes 
Firefox compatible.
Campaign Details
Client: PlayStation 2's God of War
Creative Agency: Zugara, Inc.
Creative Agency: Zugara, Inc.
Campaign Insight
This is the Official Game Site for God of War. In God of War the game, the dark and brutal world of Greek mythology comes to life. As you take on the role of Kratos, an ex-Spartan warrior, a story unfolds with various plot twists and multiple endings that take the player through an intense, mind-boggling experience. Filled with traps, puzzles, gory combat and mysterious lands, this game is jam packed with enough action to keep your face locked to the TV screen for quite a while.
The objective of the God of War site was to introduce the new game as not just another PlayStation game, but as an epic adventure that is very story driven and features exciting and unique gameplay. One way we accomplished this objective was through the dramatic storyline and combat videos we created from playing the game. The landing page of the site took on the image of an old Greek map - one that shows all the lands that Kratos passes through in his journey. The ominous music in the background was also placed to set the mood of the game. With each area on the map clickable and interactive, consumers not only get to check out the intense cinematic clips that are integrated within the site, but they also get a glimpse of the exploratory and unpredictable nature of the highly anticipated game.
-- Julie Han, producer, Zugara, Inc.
Editor's Note
Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.
The Panel
I thought the graphics, idea and voice-over were good. But the site was very slow-loading, and there was no mute button for the (loud) audio until you got 3 layers deep in the site. The overall site's slow loading broke the flow of the experience, detracting from the effect of the graphics. There was, however, nice integration of streaming blended into the page as a tear-out section
Overall I found the site a bit over-designed, without a compelling reason to use it. The overall flow of the site was not clear, and I didnt get a clear picture of why I should care about or buy the game in my 5 minutes using it.
-- Mark Friedler, CEO, GameDAILY
The graphics are sumptuous, with full sound, and the site conveys a profound sense of plenitude: there's a whole lot of there there. I also enjoyed the story's pseudo-classic plot combined with the novelty of mythological characters less familiar than Theseus, Hercules and the other usual suspects.
If you're the type of person who loves finding DVD Easter Eggs and thinks that it's cheating to go to a site to find them, then you'll dig the "God of War" site. I ran out of patience. The site is slow to load at every stage, and while the video is impressive once you get there, it stutters and buffers so frequently I wondered if there was something wrong with the T1 in my office. I might have found reserves of interest if the site was more consistent: sometimes mousing over a part of the ancient map would call up clickable captions ("the legend"), then other times mousing over would seem to cause birds to fly or dragons to pounce, but I couldn't figure out if it was merely a neat effect -- and it was indeed neat -- of if I was supposed to do something with this information.
On the other hand, I thought the universal nav at the top of every screen was clear and useful, with "Game Info" and "Where to Buy" shrewdly placed in the center (where they will attract more eyes) rather than to the left.
-- Brad Berens, executive editor, iMedia Communications, Inc.
Overall I found the site a bit over-designed, without a compelling reason to use it. The overall flow of the site was not clear, and I didnt get a clear picture of why I should care about or buy the game in my 5 minutes using it.
-- Mark Friedler, CEO, GameDAILY
The graphics are sumptuous, with full sound, and the site conveys a profound sense of plenitude: there's a whole lot of there there. I also enjoyed the story's pseudo-classic plot combined with the novelty of mythological characters less familiar than Theseus, Hercules and the other usual suspects.
If you're the type of person who loves finding DVD Easter Eggs and thinks that it's cheating to go to a site to find them, then you'll dig the "God of War" site. I ran out of patience. The site is slow to load at every stage, and while the video is impressive once you get there, it stutters and buffers so frequently I wondered if there was something wrong with the T1 in my office. I might have found reserves of interest if the site was more consistent: sometimes mousing over a part of the ancient map would call up clickable captions ("the legend"), then other times mousing over would seem to cause birds to fly or dragons to pounce, but I couldn't figure out if it was merely a neat effect -- and it was indeed neat -- of if I was supposed to do something with this information.
On the other hand, I thought the universal nav at the top of every screen was clear and useful, with "Game Info" and "Where to Buy" shrewdly placed in the center (where they will attract more eyes) rather than to the left.
-- Brad Berens, executive editor, iMedia Communications, Inc.
Footnote:
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