Originally posted by ScreamPasteHow-so?
For purposes of maturity, he hit the nail on the head.
People like to bring up the gore and the sex (The sex especially, I honestly cannot get why one of the most minor details of the game is talked about so much...) is brought up as if they are the game's defining features, when even plot-wise they are not.
I would not call the plotline of God of War to be exceptionally innovative and grand, it is an effective revenge plot, nothing more, but Kratos in particular has been simplified by most people as being some testosterone fueled teen fantasy with an overactive libido.
Kratos' character is in fact much more pathetic than that, he has for years remained guilty for the murder of his family, and has converted that guilt into a wrath, lashing out in anger at any who have wronged him, making him self-centered and destructive. While these are obviously very immature traits, the games do not portray them in a positive light. When (GoW 3 spoilers, do not read if you care)
Spoiler:
the world is shown to be suffering from Kratos' selfish quest from revenge as a side-effect of systematically murdering the gods (Making the world overrun by disease, flood, plants are dying, and even the souls in the Underworld are tormented for instance) it is brought up explicitly how selfish and destructive Kratos' acts are, and as could be expected he doesn't care. He even brutally killed Hephaestus, who was only trying to protect his daughter, IMO his most directly ruthless and amoral act. His only real redeeming moments before the end of the game are when he has contemplated and tried to commit suicide, and even suicide is by nature a cowardly act, unable to try to truly atone for what he has done, he instead wants to end his own life, so that he can escape reality and no longer have to suffer, ignoring what he has already done to others. Indeed, outwardly Kratos may seem to be this macho, badass manly-man, in reality he is a pathetic, immature coward who is unable to cope with what he has done, and as such makes everyone else as miserable as he is, although unintentionally, it was obvious he did not care. It is not until the end of the third game that Kratos has a real humanizing moment, seeing that seemingly nothing was inside Pandora's Box, and that Pandora essentially died in vain, he was struck with some remourse over her death. Athena revealed however that she planned this from the beginning, placing the Powah of Hope inside Pandora's Box, which she would use to rebuild the world with her as the sovereign deity. The Power of Hope took residence within Kratos when he first opened Pandora's Box in the first game, and was only released when he was finally able to move on from the deed of killing his wife and daughter. Athena once again demanded the power of Hope be returned to her, but Kratos refused, and in his first act of selflessness ever in his life, he impaled himself with the Blade of Olympus, to release Hope to the mortal world, for humanity to wield.
So while Kratos is not the deepest character ever, nor is GoW the most intricate or innovative plot ever conceived, it is much more than the libido-driven gorefest you all seem to have made it out to be.