God of War III Review
God of War III marks the end(?) of Kratos’ revenge saga. The only game of the series not on the PS2 (unless you count Chains of Olympus on the PSP) features a dramatic upgrade in visuals, but gameplay-wise isn’t much different, and that isn’t really a bad thing. I will admit upfront I haven’t played the second game in the series, because the first game frustrated me to the point I almost never wanted to play a God of War game again. I’m sure glad I brought myself to play the third installment, because it was one of the most fun games I have played this year!
After a recap of the events of the previous games, you’ll start right where the second game leaves off. Kratos is still pissed, and it seems anger governs his every decision, as he pretty much kills everyone. I wouldn’t consider the story a focal point for the game, it seemed more like a device to bring you from one amazing set piece to another. It is certainly epic in scope, but I didn’t find it affected me in any special way. All the characters are voiced fantastically, with Hades standing out as particularly awesome. My problem with the story mainly lies with the protagonist not being endearing enough. He’s just too angry and too narrow minded, with every solution being kill this or kill that in an incredibly brutal way. There is only a brief change in this behavior towards the end, but by then it really felt forced.
The downsides to God of War III are mostly limited to narrative, since the rest of the game is remarkable. Although it isn’t very different from the other games in the series, the PS3 upgrade made a huge difference in the way the combat feels. Everything is fast, fluid, and fun from start to finish. The weapon variety and when you receive them seems perfectly paced from when you are ready for something new. They also balanced them intelligently, where different weapons are effective in different situations, but you can get through using anything you want.
I found that there was much less puzzle solving than previous entries. I felt more emphasis was put on large scale combat, and platforming. Because of the static camera angles (you can’t control the camera at all) some platforming is a little frustrating, but that was only on rare occasions. For the most part the developers guide the camera in a way to allow you to play effectively and see all the cool stuff going on around you.
If you’ve seen any trailers or screen shots, you probably don’t need me to tell you that the game looks stunning. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous and despite all the stuff going on around you it never hitched in frame rate. The amount of quality in Kratos’ appearance is some of the best stuff I have seen. The downside to that though, is that compared to Kratos some other characters look like crap. That’s not to say on their own they don’t look good, just compared to the amazing level of detail that our protagonist has they almost seem out of place sometimes.
The music is also appropriately epic, with a stellar soundtrack to support all the amazing events you will experience during your time with God of War III. Sound effects will effectively portray the slicing and dicing of your foes as their intestines spill on the battleground. This is truly the complete package when it comes to stimulating your visual and aural senses.
Any fans of God of War III probably don’t need me to tell them this is very much worth their time, because it definitely is, and they know this. People like myself who were skeptical on this third installment should probably reconsider and give it a shot. I had an unbelievably good time rampaging through this 8 hour adventure, far more fun than I could have imagined having with a game like this. Once you beat the game there is still tons of stuff to do, including unlocking costumes, additional difficulty levels and godly possessions to experiment with. Bear in mind, use of these unlockables will turn disable the ability to unlock trophies, but for many this will not be an issue.
