Review: God of War III
The third time is the charm, as the saying goes, and God of War III certainly lives up to that old adage. Now don't get me wrong, I loved the first two of the series. They created a new kind of action fighter genre that has often been copied but not yet matched. And I will have to at least partially agree with some of the folks out there who feel this is just God of War all over again, only this time in HD. The fighting style is the same and the buttons pressing fits your hand like an old, comfortable shoe. However, what the dev team has done with the advanced technology and graphic power of the PS3 takes this, the final chapter of the Kratos trilogy, something that simply begs to be experienced.
Kratos' battle against the gods of Olympus reaches a fever pitch in God of War III and one by one they fall beneath his bloody blades. Helios, Hades, Hera, Poseidon and others all meet the same fate. And in a surprising turn, the Titans also raise Kratos' murderous ire and find themselves meeting a similar fate as their godly brethren. Interestingly, in this installment, Kratos himself has become a rather unsympathetic character, dealing out his brand of justice to anyone in who gets in the way, innocent or guilty. Of course this has held true for the other two games as well, but at this point Kratos' back story is so far back in our minds that he takes on the role of mindless killing machine. Not that I find anything wrong in that, but it is an interesting point when looking at the overarching storyline of the three games.
As I mentioned, the gameplay stays pretty much untouched with the exception of new puzzles and some new weapons and powers. Some of the new weapons, particularly "The Claws of Hades" ended up being personal favorites for their ability to call forth souls to help in battle and inflict extra damage. As the game progresses, you must be extremely deft with your controller, as the different enemies are all subject to weaknesses against particular weapons. Towards the end, you will get thrown into crowds of enemies of varying types, which requires you to not only remember which weapon to use against which enemy, but also to have fast fingers. The control scheme really takes advantage of every possible button including the not often used L3 and R3. But the buttons aren't just arbitrary. The make perfect sense within the context of the game. To explain further would give away parts of the game, so I will let you experience it for yourself.
The graphic improvements of God of War III are some of the most impressive I've seen going from the PS2 to the PS3. The GOW team seem to push the machine to its limits at some points. The sheer mount of enemies on screen at times is staggering. The sense of scale present in the second game has been given further attention this time around, offering some amazing views and battles where Kratos is the smallest thing on the screen. The locations and art direction of the entire game are absolutely beautiful and show that there was no cutting corners due to processor power when it came to creating the surroundings as in previous games. Of course, the gore has also been amped up so if you're a fan of such things, you will find a lot to love here. Decapitations, entrails, eye ripping, repeated stabbings... if this were a movie it would really be pushing the limits of an R rating. And blood abounds. Gallons of it. It covers every surface: walls, floors, rocks, trees and even Kratos himself in the heat of battle.
With God of War III, Sony has managed to create another "must have" title for their system. It really brings all the elements of the first two games together and improves on them to create an unforgettable experience. If you were so-so on the rest of the series, I urge you to pick this one up if for no other reason than to see what the devs have managed to do with the PS3 hardware. And if you haven't played the previous titles, you can still play this one and thoroughly enjoy it. This is a magnificent and fitting ending to a fantastic series. My only regret is that this game brings to a close my long standing love for the man affectionately known as the Ghost of Sparta. Farewell, Kratos. It was truly an affair to remember.
Fruit Brute
Posted to Hot Stuff, Reviews on 16 March 2010
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: god of war III, kratos, ps3, sony
Meh, I always despised Kratos. The only reason I play GoW games is for the battle system.
Although hearing that the third one is indeed like I feared, Kratos does god genocide, I might give this one a miss.
"Interestingly, in this installment, Kratos himself has become a rather unsympathetic character, dealing out his brand of justice to anyone in who gets in the way, innocent or guilty."
Oooh I so agree with this statement. I know they didn't want him to be a nice guy but in GoW2 i thought the Olympians were pretty justified in removing his power and in this installment he needs to kill all the Gods to feel better? It's time to hit the pillow and pop a percocet
but, what about the hawtness? is he even, ahem, more detailed and hawt in high-def?
Minor spoilers.....
Meh, this game is very good but I was expecting a little more. It starts out amazing, but loses some steam about halfway through and never completely recovers. Even the amount of gore peters out. The graphics are, for the most part, fantastic, especially the monsters and the titans, and the action in the backgrounds. But the human characters, including Kratos in my opinion, aren't nearly as well done as the characters in, say, Uncharted 2 or even Heavy Rain.
The environments, like the story and action, are great through the first half and then a bit lackluster towards the end, especially when the game starts forcing you to replay the same locations you played in the beginning, but with new monsters, and find a second exit with your new power-ups. This happens more than once and is a little frustrating. And speaking of monsters, while they are incredible for the most part, you fight about ten times as many of the generic "grunt" enemies as any of the other ones, which is a shame because they really outdid themselves with the design and animation of some of the larger monsters and bosses. The gorgons in particular are phenomenal, which makes it all the more disappointing that you never end up meeting the third gorgon sister, Stheno, as a boss character, so don't expect to.
The story could have been better also. I agree with the first commenter who was disappointed that GoW3 ended up being "god genocide," which is exactly how it feels. And even that wouldn't have been so bad if they had made the gods a little more formidable. Poseidon and Hades are fine, but the rest of them are complete pushovers. My puffy dog could take down Helios, for example. Some of them don't even seem to have any real powers, and if they didn't have names like "Hera" and "Hermes" I would have they were just regular people, or at least . Hey Hera, you're the freaking Queen of the Gods, not someone's alcoholic mother-in-law. Kratos himself is also a little hard to figure out. Without going into too much detail about the plot, his opinion of one character changes so suddenly and inexplicably that I got whiplash. One moment he wants to kill them and the next he's breaking someone's neck for insulting them. I felt like I missed something. The ending, also, is a huge misstep. I get what they were trying to do, and it would have been fine but it felt rushed and what actually happened was very unclear. In fact, the game ended way before I thought it was going to. The voice acting is pretty good, though (except Athena and Pandora).
The first half is really amazing, though. I wish they had been able to keep that momentum the whole way through.
People are surprised that a Kratos is an unsympathetic, inconsistent character? He was always a shitty character whose only distinguishing characteristic from myriad videogame toughguys is the time and place he was born. I don't know why people think GoW has some fantastic story. It really couldn't be anymore basic. It's the presentation of the games that is top-notch, not the story or characterization (and certainly not the gameplay).
Personaly I'm surprised there's still something left for Kratos to kill after the bloodfests that the first two games were. Still, ever since Shin Megami Tensai beating the crap out of gods has been a favorite pastime of mine.
I've never really seen why the God of War games have gotten such consistently high reviews. Kratos is such a tremendously unlikable character and there's just so much needless violence against innocent people and creatures, it really turns me off. As for the gameplay, it's a button-masher. That's it.
So, we have (an admittedly pretty) button-masher filled with wanton violence and gore and almost completely lacking serious story and character development. I don't get it. I can certainly agree that sometimes a button-masher can be the kind of mindless fun that we all want every now and then, but I guess I just can't overlook all the glaring flaws in the story and characters, and lack of common decency and good taste in this particular series of games.
I completely agree with what p and Keith said above. I do not understand the praise and high scoring of this franchise. Over the top violence and action, sure, but everything else from characterization to story to the main 'hero' himself? It is a fit of lackluster development and poor writing. We get it already, he's a badass that just likes to flex his testosterone, kill things, and bang chicks.
And the latter -- the nudity, lesbianism/threeway+ interactive mini-sexgames -- is probably another factor that helps as a 'distraction' to what poor characterization and plotpoints the game has. Of course, I freely admit I'm cynical about this particular heteroextreme fantasy aspect in gaming and the industry.
The God of War games boil down to this: If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Just ask Nintendo. They have been rehashing the same franchise (Mario, Zelda, Metroid. All guilty) and people still go nuts. How many times can you play the same game with the same plot, same gameplay, same items, same everything?
And yet, some of you criticize a series that only has four games in the series. That's rich.
Has anyone actually played the GOW series? Cause anyone saying mindless violence must not of played 2 or 1 and poor plot?? it continues from 2 like 1 did and all together it makes a great story , so before saying how the plot is poor try playing the other ones first.. or just watch em on youtube for better understanding before blasting off what yuh dun understand lol
as for the mini sex game part YEAAAH!!! Bang that B**** good! teach the gods to keep their F'n promises! Then bang Her again and release some stress! And while your at it.. BANG HER AGAIN JUST CAUSE YOU CAN! I found it funny... was a good laugh from so much gore and violence..good to see kratos can take a break and buss a good nut, n not so focused on just killing - also it's up to you... say yes if you want Kratos to have a good time, say no if you think this is poor plotpoint. "he's going to.... by the Gods" *laughs*