Oh, and the storyline is astonishingly close to that of an actual Greek myth, in which Kratos would undoubtedly be considered a hero, so there's that too.
Not really. Generally in Greek mythology the heroes usually had a tendency to not make everything worse for everyone and they weren't unilaterally selfish pricks (.e.g. Heracles feels bad when he murders people, even when not his fault, and tries to redeem himself).
As far as the actual review, I can't really think of anything good to say about Kratos past the first game, from a characterization standpoint. Come part three he's completely devolved into self-parody. In a lot of the lead-up and promo materials to Ascension you see the developers talking about how they made him too much of an asshole in part three and want to dial it back. But the end result of that was just making the character (and his development) even more confused.
The heroes in Greek Myth weren't selfish? Heracles and Theseus maybe, but everyone else? Pretty self absorbed.
The heroes of Greek Myth were complex. Well, maybe not Perseus, the almost-comical bastion of modern virtues, but even the worst of them were capable of altruism and selfishness, depending on circumstances.
The question of whether the God of War games did a good job of portraying that kinda thing is another matter altogether. The first one did the tragedy thing well enough, but after that, well... Still, Kratos could really use a bit more humanity and a bit less raaaagh smash! across the board.
I didn't say they weren't selfish, I said they weren't unilaterally selfish pricks.
The problem isn't just that Kratos is an asshole, it's that he's a badly-written asshole.
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An Exploration of a Different Kind Of Protagonist
I'm not here to talk about how the God of War games play. The style is down to an art form at this point, with many subsequent games/franchises aping the light attack/heavy attack system and the Go W games themselves always flowing smoothly in combat, and the later games look gorgeous. Not much to discuss.
I'm here to talk about the story, and more specifically Kratos.
Kratos is not a good man. He has a tragic past that helps explain why he's so callous and amoral, and to be honest he goes through even more shit throughout the franchise by losing more people he cares about and slowly realizing how bad he's become. However, I don't think this excuses how he disregards the lives and safety of his fellow man at roughly every chance he gets (save for Ascension) and as the games go on, he dooms more and more people to a life of suffering or death just to have revenge on those who have wronged him.
But even though he is by all rights an asshole (and the games don't even try to paint him as a good guy beyond "this is who you're playing as"), this doesn't make me dislike him; rather, I find myself appreciating him more due to the few moments when his humanity shines through.
Every game has at least one - God of War has him repulsed by the slaughter of soldiers in the temple; II has him legitimately regretting killing Athena, even if only for a bit before focusing on attacking Olympus; III has his entire relationship with Pandora; Chains of Olympus has the heartbreaking scene with his daughter in Elysium; Ghost of Sparta has his quest to rescue his brother; and Ascension has, well...every interaction with allies or neutral characters. In fact, Ascension shows him at his most human, when he would still help his fellow man survive even if only in the most minimal of ways.
And that's what prevents me from labeling him as a complete monster. In all the games, there is evidence that Kratos is still a man, even if a sad and broken one, underneath his raging exterior, and the fact that he finally realizes the hell he's wrought on the world at the end of III cements this. He's not uber complex like Dio or Guts, but at the end of the day he's more than your average angsty badass hero.
Oh, and the storyline is astonishingly close to that of an actual Greek myth, in which Kratos would undoubtedly be considered a hero, so there's that too.