So I just won God of War III.  As a start, I think that God of War games rank in this order:  GoW II > GoW III > GoW I.  I really enjoyed this game, and I thought that the game looked and played terrific.  The reason I placed in behind the 2nd game is that I thought that the scope of the game was a bit less than the second.  First of all, the game starts amazingly with a Gaia titan ride up Mount Olympus.  You then fight and then kill Poseidon and then fall to Hades.  I really didn't mind the loss of powers, or going back into Hades, but I thought that the game lost its sense of scale at that point.   There were several places of GoW I and II that had a huge sense of scale where Kratos is running across vast landscapes/architecture and other than some titan battles, I felt like this game lacked.  In fact, one of the few times I thought, "damn, this is awesome" was the descent back into Hades (or rather the fall into Hades--I thought that was an incredible level, and I never even wrapped my head around the "flying" controls in this game--blame all those console first person shooters!!!). 
 
I did appreciated the removal of the one thing I hated about the first two games though--the removal of those levels where you have to turn a crank/lever while at the same time fighting dudes.  These levels in the first two games consisted of you having to turn lever to bring down an elevator down for example.  And while you are trying to get the elevator down, dudes attack you and when you let go of the lever, the elevator goes back up.  Wait too long, and you have to do the entire thing over again--all while endless waves of dudes attack.  These levels were always the bane of my existence and there were totally gone for III.  
 
What was up with changing the voice of Gaia in III?  In the first two, Gaia/Narrator was voiced by Linda Hunt--who, in my opinion, WAS the voice of the God of War franchise.  In the third game, the voice actor was Susan Blakeslee--and sounded totally different and I really didn't ever get used to the change.  Whenever Gaia spoke I was like "what the hell is wrong with that voice?" 
 
And of course there was the ending...hmmmmmm, not really that satisfying.  Kind of reminded me of the ending to the Matrix Revolutions.  It's like there was all this build-up for a crazy huge ending, and the game just kind of ended.  Not a horrible ending, just a little lack luster.   
 
But with the above complaints, it may seem that I didn't like the game.  I really loved the game.  I played if over the course of 3-4 days, and couldn't put the controller down.  I find it interesting that finally, after the two games on the PS2 and even Chains of Olympus for the PSP, I managed to get the combo system around my head.  In the prior games, I would just stick to one or 2 combos (especially that weak-weak-strong attack) but in this game I was doing some crazy stuff combo wise.  I don't know if they slightly changed the combo system to be more fluid, or I just "got" it--but I had more fun with the the combat and was more free form than in any of the other games.  Lets not forget about the graphics, man they were great.  The Kratos model was one of the slickest in-game models I have ever seen.  I really am not that into remakes but I would pay some serious money for a remake of the first 2 games using III's engine--man.   
 
So overall, pretty happy with the way the game turned out.  Sort of wished there was more "vastness" in scope beyond the titan battles (which are totally awesome), and the ending just kind of happened, but a great game none-the-less.  I've been avoiding it, but I'll probably go out and the the God of War collection and see if I can bust through all 3 games in quick succession.

So I just won God of War III.  As a start, I think that God of War games rank in this order:  GoW II > GoW III > GoW I.  I really enjoyed this game, and I thought that the game looked and played terrific.  The reason I placed in behind the 2nd game is that I thought that the scope of the game was a bit less than the second.  First of all, the game starts amazingly with a Gaia titan ride up Mount Olympus.  You then fight and then kill Poseidon and then fall to Hades.  I really didn't mind the loss of powers, or going back into Hades, but I thought that the game lost its sense of scale at that point.   There were several places of GoW I and II that had a huge sense of scale where Kratos is running across vast landscapes/architecture and other than some titan battles, I felt like this game lacked.  In fact, one of the few times I thought, "damn, this is awesome" was the descent back into Hades (or rather the fall into Hades--I thought that was an incredible level, and I never even wrapped my head around the "flying" controls in this game--blame all those console first person shooters!!!). 
 
I did appreciated the removal of the one thing I hated about the first two games though--the removal of those levels where you have to turn a crank/lever while at the same time fighting dudes.  These levels in the first two games consisted of you having to turn lever to bring down an elevator down for example.  And while you are trying to get the elevator down, dudes attack you and when you let go of the lever, the elevator goes back up.  Wait too long, and you have to do the entire thing over again--all while endless waves of dudes attack.  These levels were always the bane of my existence and there were totally gone for III.  
 
What was up with changing the voice of Gaia in III?  In the first two, Gaia/Narrator was voiced by Linda Hunt--who, in my opinion, WAS the voice of the God of War franchise.  In the third game, the voice actor was Susan Blakeslee--and sounded totally different and I really didn't ever get used to the change.  Whenever Gaia spoke I was like "what the hell is wrong with that voice?" 
 
And of course there was the ending...hmmmmmm, not really that satisfying.  Kind of reminded me of the ending to the Matrix Revolutions.  It's like there was all this build-up for a crazy huge ending, and the game just kind of ended.  Not a horrible ending, just a little lack luster.   
 
But with the above complaints, it may seem that I didn't like the game.  I really loved the game.  I played if over the course of 3-4 days, and couldn't put the controller down.  I find it interesting that finally, after the two games on the PS2 and even Chains of Olympus for the PSP, I managed to get the combo system around my head.  In the prior games, I would just stick to one or 2 combos (especially that weak-weak-strong attack) but in this game I was doing some crazy stuff combo wise.  I don't know if they slightly changed the combo system to be more fluid, or I just "got" it--but I had more fun with the the combat and was more free form than in any of the other games.  Lets not forget about the graphics, man they were great.  The Kratos model was one of the slickest in-game models I have ever seen.  I really am not that into remakes but I would pay some serious money for a remake of the first 2 games using III's engine--man.   
 
So overall, pretty happy with the way the game turned out.  Sort of wished there was more "vastness" in scope beyond the titan battles (which are totally awesome), and the ending just kind of happened, but a great game none-the-less.  I've been avoiding it, but I'll probably go out and the the God of War collection and see if I can bust through all 3 games in quick succession.

Won? 
You finished it ?

Cool! Where did you win it from?