God of War III

The God of War series has been one of the Playstation’s most beloved action franchises since it began in 2004, and it’s not hard to see why.   With its fast and brutal combat along with a dark and twisted version of classic Greek mythology, the series has cemented its place in the action video game pantheon.   Now, God of War III is upon us, which concludes the violent trilogy and Kratos’ seemingly endless quest for revenge against the gods of .   While the game can be described as safe from a design perspective, not taking very many chances with the actual gameplay of the series, God of War III is still a great action game and a very satisfying conclusion to the story.

God of War III picks up immediately after the end of God of War II, with Kratos and the Titans climbing as they launch their final assault against the Greek gods, led by Kratos’ father Zeus.   After being betrayed by Gaia and the rest of the Titans, Kratos begins his quest to kill any person, monster, Titan, or God that stands in his way to kill Zeus and claim his revenge for Zeus betraying him in the second game.   The story here is in a word fantastic, told in the grand fashion of the Greek myths.   It’s much less complicated than God of War II’s story, but much better I think because of it.   It’s much more focused as a result and better told than the last game.   The story is also notable for its interesting development of its characters, as Kratos isn’t exactly the good or bad guy in the story, and even the Gods that you are supposed to be enacting revenge on aren’t purely evil; in fact Kratos does things that are arguably worse than anything most of the Gods ever do.   The story is much more interesting knowing that there aren’t purely good or bad characters; every character is some form of gray.   Their integration into the dark and twisted universe of Greek mythology make the story that much more entertaining and impressive.

The gameplay in God of War III is completely what you would expect from a God of War game.   As Kratos, you go around temples, dungeons, and other locations killing untold numbers of monsters, Gods, and Titans using his signature Blades of Exile chain blades and using magical attacks.   The combat works very similarly to the other two games, with it relying on fast brutal combos while mixing up Kratos’ various weapons and magics.   Fighting is just as visceral as ever and there is always a sense of satisfaction after completing each challenging battle.   The biggest change this time around is the fact that magic is now tied to weapons.   Instead of switching between magic and weapons separately, depending on what weapon you have selected, your available magic attack changes.   This change ends up streamlining combat for the better and adds to the fast brutal nature.   Relating to this, it’s nice that all of the weapons are useful this time around, as opposed to previous games where you would use the chain blades and borderline ignore everything else.   People will definitely have favorites (Blades of Exile and Nemean Cestus!!), but there is not a single bad weapon in the game.

If there is one thing the God of War series is notable for, it is its fantastic boss battles, and God of War III does not disappoint.   The first boss is one of the best in the game, as you fight the God Poseidon and a giant horse leviathan creature he has created while riding on Gaia’s body as she climbs .   It plays just as epically as that description sounded, and even though there are only one or two more fights with that kind of epic scale, all of the boss battles do a great job of exploring the combat and its’ potential.   One of my other favorite battles in the game is against Hercules, where you have to contend with not only the man himself (he’s over 12 feet tall in this game!!) and his oversized gauntlets, but the lackeys he continuously sends after you.   This fight in particular focuses on crowd control and forces you to explore the possibilities of all the items and weapons you have gathered.   The boss battles continue in this regard throughout the game, and overall they are some of the best in recent memory.  

One last thing to mention about the combat in general is God of War’s extensive use of Quick Time Events, which are initiated often to finish an enemy as a way to get a flashy finisher in the process.   Large enemies and all of the bosses use quick time events to finish them off, and the ones in God of War III blow away anything seen before in previous games.   Some of the finishers are some of the most frightening and violent things I have ever seen in video games, particularly the first-person perspective kill of Poseidon after your epic battle.   Trust me, the game is so gory and violent it can be difficult to watch at points.  

Other than combat, you’ll be collecting red orbs to upgrade your abilities and going through levels in the game’s extensive platforming sessions.   These sections are all pretty easy to figure out, though there are clever ideas at work, such as using the chain blades as a way to latch on to ledges Indiana Jones style with his whip.   The only issue with these parts is the sometimes unresponsive controls, which occasionally won’t read button inputs you clearly put in, resulting in some really dumb deaths.   It’s never a big problem, but the issue still exists.   In these parts, you’ll also usually solve environmental puzzles, which are for the most part well designed and interesting to solve.   Some of the puzzles are better than others, with one in particular seeming like it was thrown in at the last minute to throw in a puzzle for the sake of it.   These diversions from the combat ultimately succeed in diversifying the gameplay enough to make the entire experience more enjoyable and well-rounded in the process.  

While there is theoretically nothing wrong with God of War III’s design or gameplay, it is so similar to other games in the series that it ends up coming off as safe in some regards.   The fact that the game plays exactly like I would expect it to play hampers my enjoyment at least some what.   Let’s compare this to Final Fantasy XIII in this regard.   Not every design decision worked in Final Fantasy XIII (having it be a game over if your party leader dies), but at the same time the fact that it was totally different from any other Final Fantasy game made me think better of it because of that.   With God of War III, the similarity in overall game design to previous entries in the series make the game feel somewhat uninspired in some areas, but nothing ever bad enough to not recommend the game.   Another thing to note in the game is the potentially game crippling glitches that exist.   I know these don’t exist in every copy of the game, but my copy of the game and the one I replaced it with both could not load my saved data from one very particular part of the game.   I don’t know how I managed to get it to work, but eventually the game loaded and I was able to continue onward.   This problem is something to note, as if you are going to buy this game, I would recommend copies that were printed later than March of 2010, just to avoid these problems.

Graphically, God of War III looks flat out amazing.   The character models are some of the best ever designed for a video game and the level of detail is simply unmatched in the medium.   The dark and twisted environments, creatures, Gods and Titans are some of the best animated and looking graphics I have ever seen in a video game.   Kratos in particular may just be the best looking character model I have ever seen, with scars showing up quite realistically and subtle facial animations that seem borderline photo-realistic.     Also, the blood is quite good looking, which is good simply because you’re going to be seeing it a lot in this game.

God of War III finishes off the storyline in grand fashion and delivers one hell of a great action game in the process.   While its familiar mechanics and design somewhat hamper the experience, don’t let that stop you from playing this game.   It is one of the best games so far this year and should not be missed if you at all enjoy Greek mythology, great stories, or great action.

I give God of War III a B+.