God of War III
God of War 3
Playstation 3
Release Date: March 2010
God of War III is the third title of the God of War console series and the first title in the series for Playstation 3. The character you play as is Kratos who is determined to get his revenge, vengeance on the Gods who is led by Zeus.
As the game starts and throws you right in the battle riding the Titan Gaia, it puts you right in the thick of a battle immediately. As you face the first boss Poseidon the graphics, scope and scale of what God of War 3 is becomes apparent. It immediately adds to the overall enjoyment of the game as you notice the little details (blood on Kratos) and the big awe-inspiring events as the battle/fights unfold. Quite simply, the graphics are fully showcased with this title and you will be hard pressed to find a better looking game on any console.
The camera pans for boss fights are amazing. As evident in the Cronos fight, while not very challenging it is one of the memorable encounters in all of gaming due to the scale and how the camera knows where to get its angles to show of this encounter. During normal gameplay, the camera can at times be a hinderence due to some awkward positioning.
The story is a rather simple device for this game, you want revenge and vengeance on anything that stands in your way to Zeus. It has been 5 years since God of War I, 3 years since God of War II and while you get reminded of the major plot points from both of those games I do not think they did a great job of reminding or even putting you in the mindset of Kratos on ultimately why he needs his revenge. In a weird way, since it has been so long from those actions in the previous games you can (at times) come across a little sympathetic to these Gods and Titans and their gruesome deaths that you are intiating to them. They do some subtle ways to make it justified for these gruesome deaths to some of them (Hermes voice acting and dialouge).
The overall story is serviceable and the main theme is Hope. As the game ends it is a little formulaic but it works and makes sense. The ending could have used maybe 2-3 more minutes of exposition and finality to make home the point of how the Hope theme will ultimately play out in this game world.
Those familar with the God of War series will find the action quite the same and the new additions (weapon changing, grappling, rush charge) are all welcome and add depth to the fight system. The Quick-Time events are here with a subtle change in that the playstation timer icons are notably moved to where the edges of the screen of the corresponding button (Triangle is at the very top, Square is to the far left, etc).
Those who are comfortable in these types pf games should play in Titan Mode (Hard) as I believe its a good difficulty setting to challenge you but not frustrating to where its impossible or controller inducing. Some of the boss fights have different mechanics due to Titan mode but the regular mobs just hit harder and are harder to kill.
Additional Information
For a first run the completion time was about 9 on normal, can probably lower it 1 hour on easy and add an extra hour if on Titan mode. After completing the game comes with extras in the form of challenges which are not that hard and you will be able to luck your way in to completing a few of them. As in previous games you will be able to unlock videos about the making of the game and are worth watching. For trophy collectors this was a rather easy game to obtain the platinum and should only take 2 playthroughs and none of the achievements are a real hassle to get (the 1000hit combo probably being the most time consuming specific one outside of the completion of Titan mode).
Fans of the series and genre this is a must buy. Those that are on the fence, should definetly at least rent it or wait until some price drops but this is an at least must try to fully showcase the hardware of the PS3.
Playstation 3
Release Date: March 2010
God of War III is the third title of the God of War console series and the first title in the series for Playstation 3. The character you play as is Kratos who is determined to get his revenge, vengeance on the Gods who is led by Zeus.
Graphics/Presentation
As the game starts and throws you right in the battle riding the Titan Gaia, it puts you right in the thick of a battle immediately. As you face the first boss Poseidon the graphics, scope and scale of what God of War 3 is becomes apparent. It immediately adds to the overall enjoyment of the game as you notice the little details (blood on Kratos) and the big awe-inspiring events as the battle/fights unfold. Quite simply, the graphics are fully showcased with this title and you will be hard pressed to find a better looking game on any console.
The camera pans for boss fights are amazing. As evident in the Cronos fight, while not very challenging it is one of the memorable encounters in all of gaming due to the scale and how the camera knows where to get its angles to show of this encounter. During normal gameplay, the camera can at times be a hinderence due to some awkward positioning.
Story
The story is a rather simple device for this game, you want revenge and vengeance on anything that stands in your way to Zeus. It has been 5 years since God of War I, 3 years since God of War II and while you get reminded of the major plot points from both of those games I do not think they did a great job of reminding or even putting you in the mindset of Kratos on ultimately why he needs his revenge. In a weird way, since it has been so long from those actions in the previous games you can (at times) come across a little sympathetic to these Gods and Titans and their gruesome deaths that you are intiating to them. They do some subtle ways to make it justified for these gruesome deaths to some of them (Hermes voice acting and dialouge).
The overall story is serviceable and the main theme is Hope. As the game ends it is a little formulaic but it works and makes sense. The ending could have used maybe 2-3 more minutes of exposition and finality to make home the point of how the Hope theme will ultimately play out in this game world.
Gameplay
Those familar with the God of War series will find the action quite the same and the new additions (weapon changing, grappling, rush charge) are all welcome and add depth to the fight system. The Quick-Time events are here with a subtle change in that the playstation timer icons are notably moved to where the edges of the screen of the corresponding button (Triangle is at the very top, Square is to the far left, etc).
Those who are comfortable in these types pf games should play in Titan Mode (Hard) as I believe its a good difficulty setting to challenge you but not frustrating to where its impossible or controller inducing. Some of the boss fights have different mechanics due to Titan mode but the regular mobs just hit harder and are harder to kill.
Additional Information
For a first run the completion time was about 9 on normal, can probably lower it 1 hour on easy and add an extra hour if on Titan mode. After completing the game comes with extras in the form of challenges which are not that hard and you will be able to luck your way in to completing a few of them. As in previous games you will be able to unlock videos about the making of the game and are worth watching. For trophy collectors this was a rather easy game to obtain the platinum and should only take 2 playthroughs and none of the achievements are a real hassle to get (the 1000hit combo probably being the most time consuming specific one outside of the completion of Titan mode).
Bottom Line
Fans of the series and genre this is a must buy. Those that are on the fence, should definetly at least rent it or wait until some price drops but this is an at least must try to fully showcase the hardware of the PS3.
