The best god of war in the series
God of War 3 is an amazing game. The gameplay is solid, the story is engaging and the graphics are amazing. This is a great send off game for one of the best franchises Sony has ever produced.
Lets first talk about the graphics because when you first pop the disc in and start the game, it looks amazing and i really feel thats an understatement. Santa Monica studios probably have some of the best programmers since they have really took the time and effort to pull every kind of processing power hidden in the PS3. There are many times where i thought it looked better than Uncharted 2 and at times i thought to myself "Can the xbox 360 produce this kind of graphics?" Every god of war has started with an epic battle usually with Kratos battling with a monster 100x bigger than himself. The fight against Poseidon in this game makes the fight against Colossus in the second game look puny. Doing this all at 60 fps is another huge achievement and a testament that the PS3 is one of the most technologically advanced console.
But games aren't just defined by their graphics but the gameplay and God of War 3 is solid in that aspect. There are very few things to change with an already good formula. I've believed the God of War series is a thought provoking hack and slash with such a good balance of combat and puzzles. And what makes this game better than its copy cats (*cough*Dante's Inferno*cough*) is that its paced extremely making the player do something different every time. One moment i am fighting a ton of enemies next moment i am figuring out what things i need to do to open a certain door. If set to easy or normal, a player could just mash the buttons and beat the game, but once you set it to hard there is a level of thought on how to take down opponents and executing it correctly. Although certain aspects of the gameplay has changed from the previous game. Magic is not chosen anymore but they are tied to your weapon. This gives the player good understanding what magic they have selected by looking at what weapon they are fighting with. I also liked the new weapons and items. One of the big problems of the previous two games was the blades were so bad ass I didn't really want to try other weapons. Not in this game. Almost every other weapon is just as awesome. Each item that was given is just as good and useful. But the one problem i did have is that the Cesta (metal boxing gloves) were the most useful and least cool looking weapons. It would have been nice to have the other weapons be just as useful.
The story starts off exactly as the last one ended. The story is engaging enough since you are right in the middle of the battle against the Gods and Titans but it only really picks up in the end. Kratos is pretty much killing every god and titian he lays eyes on and does it the most goriest fashion possible. The story does have a thought provoking side where each god questions his reasoning in all the killings but we never find a good answer until the end and throughout the game Kratos looks like the bad guy (which is good cause he is the ani-hero). The game is a tad short with only 9 hours of single player story, but its fine considering the quality of the single player story and all the other content it has to offer. I think for some people this may be a problem especially if you have not played the first two. While the 3rd game does a good job in trying to explain what happens in the first two, its not enough to explain all the details. One extremely good thing is that it ends well and finishes with a solid enough ending that it could be the last god of war game.
What makes God of War game so good is the total package. For fans its obvious its a must buy and it does everything that most fans want from a god of war game. For people new to the series, it may be harder to get into especially if you have not played the first two. If you are one of those people that likes to see nice graphics on your screen get this game. People who are not fans of hack and slash this may not change your mind on it. Although i am sad to see one of my favorite series end (the first game was the reason i got a ps2) i am happy to see it be sent off correctly in the most epic and goriest fashion possible.
