God of War III

 When the frail John Keats wrote "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," his thoughts were undoubtedly more directed at nightingales and Grecian urns and not toward the graphic slaughter of virtually the entire pantheon of Greek gods. Yet, in this (we're told) final chapter of the tale of Kratos of Sparta, Santa Monica Studios has somehow taken the tale of an incorrigible single-minded bastard who rips off heads by the dozen and disembowels centaurs and titans and turned it into one of the most riveting and visually spectacular games in recent years.

This attention to beauty is apparent from the opening scene (not to mention the dramatic opening credits) in which we find Kratos riding on Gaia's arm during a daring assault on Mount Olympus, much as we left him at the end of God of War II. But everything has changed since gamers first saw this scene a couple of years ago: Compared to God of War III's breathtaking visuals, God of War II might as well be Super Mario Bros. 3. As Kratos scurries up and over Gaia's arms like an outraged ant, the camera offers you views of other Titans scrambling up the mountain or tumbling down to their presumed deaths. Before long, a watery monstrosity resembling both a crab and a horse blocks your path. It's deadly. It's fast. And it's beautiful.

This affection for detail is found all throughout the game. Shadows and flames have an eerily realistic quality, and at times it seems as though you can reach out and feel the gilded edges of Olympus' halls. Yet there are moments of discontinuity, however short. Water, for instance, is one case where the graphics get tricky. At times, particularly in early wide-angle shots, the water and surrounding landscape surprisingly look like something you'd find in a novice graphic artist's page on Deviant Art. At other times, the effect is breathtakingly marvelous, such as when Kratos shimmies behind a incredibly realistic waterfall in Hades to find one of the game's many hidden chests, and you can all but hear the pats on the backs as the developers congratulate themselves.

Particular attention was given to Kratos' model, which is so breathtakingly realistic even when compared to the surrounding stunning visuals that it occasionally seems as though a real person was thrown into Sony's version of Olympus à la Who Framed Roger Rabbit? As incredible as they are, the other fated members of this cast often pale in comparison to Kratos. (I should say that this mainly is evident with the hair of other characters. Since Kratos has none, I may be stretching this point a tad too far.) Surprisingly, this can be slightly jarring at times, particularly in cut scenes. If Kratos had even a smidgen more depth as a character, one would be tempted to see this as a metaphor, but alas, it falls flat.

Still, Sony made a smart move in releasing remastered versions of the first two games a few months prior to the release of God of War III. After finishing God of War II and jumping into God of War III, the shock of the incredible graphical changes is akin to jumping naked into a pool of ice water. One can easily witness how refined the general play has become. And, of course, the decision allowed them to relate the full story, such as it is, to new players.

In all honesty, however, story has all but vanished in the present game, but that's not such a bad thing. After all, if you want story, go play Dragon Age: Origins. God of War III may instead be best understood as a simple but bloody parable on the ramifications of the sin of wrath. In short, if you slaughter the gods, the world will pay for it. As the game progresses, characterization instead provides the game's most memorable story-based moments: Hera, for instance, is depicted as a sarcastic aging drunk, who perpetually hurls insults at her husband's bastard son. There's the deliciously hateable Hermes, the jockstrappy jealousy of Hercules, and the fatherly love of Hephaestus, who is likely the game's most complex character.

And Kratos finishes every one of them in style. Those with a queasy stomach will likely be disturbed by some of the stylish finishing

moves that Kratos inflicts on the Olympians, although these are quite gratifying, particularly if you've played the game on one of the harder modes. Without giving too much away, for instance, at least one of the mighty gods is finished off by Kratos from the perspective of the victim, complete with his eyeballs being pushed in by Kratos' fingers. Kratos' petulant half-brother Hercules comes to a smashing end, to say the least; Hermes gets the rug pulled out from under him (and then some); and Hades, in what is truly the game's most impressive boss encounter, finally finds a way to shed some pounds. The oft-published sequence of Kratos tearing off the head of Helios seems quite tame by comparison to any of these. These finishing moves are of course completed with the series' signature QTEs, the prompts for which are now on the edges of the screen corresponding to the buttons on the keypad, allowing peripheral vision to kick in so the viewer can actually enjoy the scenes for once in the series.

Kratos himself is supremely unidentifiable with the player in God of War III past the point of hilarity, but this proves not to be a problem. Here there are no wishy-washy decisions, no crippling inner turmoil, and no remorse for the ocean of blood he has left behind him. The personification of masculinity at both its most absurd and most glorious, Kratos always knows his goal and never wavers from it. Toward the end, the story tries to play the "hope card," but by then it's too late for us to believe it. In this way, God of War III is almost an old school game akin to Mega Man as Kratos' main goal is basically to get from point A to point B without a cumbersome story and to kill a boss every now and then while picking up some useful weapons.

And those weapons are more than useful. Kratos' Blades of Chaos are still around (although given a slick makeover and renamed

the Blades of Exile), complete with a jaw-droppingly helpful ranged grab move. Kratos also picks up the Claws of Hades, which are very similar to the Blades of Exile but with useful magic attacks. And wait, there's more! Among others, there's also the Nemean Cestus, a pair of gigantic metal gloves that just look like they hurt and are almost as useful as the blades. And for the first time, Kratos' bow actually becomes useful as it is no longer tied to his magic bar, and the weapon becomes a trusted companion in higher difficulties. Magic instead is based on which primary weapon you're using, and with impressive results.

God of War III probably marks the first game in the series in which the puzzles Kratos encounters aren't particularly difficult (save for a mind-rippingly challenging puzzle encountered in Hera's garden). While there's only a couple of the classic but worn sliding puzzles, there's quite a lot of variety here, and in one case Kratos proves he can kick ass and still take time out to play Guitar Hero with the gods.

Above all, the key word here is refinement. Gamers will find very little that's truly new in Kratos' most recent adventure, but everything has reached a state of veritable perfection compared to the previous games. There are no distractions, the camera is utterly flawless, and the guys at Santa Monica Studios have stayed true to their stated goal to prefer fun over innovation.

And Kratos is sure to be back. Ghosts-be they from Sparta or elsewhere-have a way of popping up again.