Back in 2005 Sony unleashed the God of War series, an action-adventure title featuring one of the most badass characters ever to hit the market. Kratos and his gore fests have become an icon in the Playstation Universe and with 2 highly praised games on the PS2 and a highly praised game on the PSP, it’s no wonder everyone is cuckoo for Kratos’ adventure to hit the PS3. Well it’s finally here and does it deliver an experience that will make the gods green with envy, or does it fall under that massive hype?

Story

God of War III picks up exactly where the 2nd one ended. The Olympians prepare for all out siege as the Titans, led by Gaia and Kratos, climb their way up Olympus. Immediately after killing Poseidon, Kratos is betrayed yet again but by Gaia this time. As Zeus knocks Kratos down to the Underworld (yet again), Gaia refuses to help him and saves herself instead. In the Underworld Kratos meets up with Athena’s Ghost who informs him of his only way to kill Zeus; retrieve Pandora and get back Pandora’s Box.

God of War III offers one of the best send-offs in any recent trilogy history. All the characters are well defined and developed. The gods in particular are enjoyable to hear and battle. Poseidon commands water to enlarge him while Hades hides in the shadows taunting Kratos. Helios flies through the sky lobbing fire at the Titans while Hermes speeds around toying with Kratos. While the gods are well defined, the Titans are not. In fact the only Titans Kratos truly interacts with are Kronos and Gaia even though there are many Titans. Its especially weird seeing as Typhon and Atlas were featured in God of War II but are not featured here.

What’s even more impressive is just how well the game wraps all the events together. At first God of War was not planned to be a trilogy, Sony wasn’t even sure it would be a success. Once it became successful a trilogy was born. Usually games like this have a lot of their plot in the first game pretty much wrapped up so the Writers have to go make something new with very few references to the original. God of War III couldn’t be more different. The game once again centers on finding the Box once again, although for a different purpose. Never before has a trilogy been wrapped up so tightly to where people aren’t left guessing about any plot holes.

Score: 9.6/10

Design

Might as well get it out of the way; God of War III is hyper-linear. Every place visited is pretty much just a straight run through with the occasional branching path that leads to Orb and Item chests. Of course there are many sites to see, from the crumbling halls of Olympus, the burning city of Olympia, to even the insides of a Titan. God of War III is a beast when it comes to locations. Every location is vast, I mean that every place Kratos goes to is huge and is so brilliantly detailed that it is easy to tell every location apart. The Underworld uses gothic imagery to convey a sense of dread while gold layers all of Olympus with beautiful silk curtains line the walls.
God of War III is littered with interesting enemies to fight. Olympian minions are fought quite a bit; in fact sometimes they can become a little too much. Thankfully there’s a whole menagerie of creatures worthy to spill blood on. Dastardly battles await as Kratos battles through centaurs, Cyclopes’, deadly satyrs, Cerberi, and many other deadly enemies. With an increased enemy count the screen can get a little busy with some very rare frame-rate issues, but they are frantic and coming out of them alive makes you feel more badass then any other game out there.

Puzzles play large roles in the series so it should come to no surprise that God of War III continues that tradition. While God of War had intermediate difficulty in its puzzles, God of War II went with a much more difficult set of puzzles with some actually making the player scratch their head before the solution became obvious. God of War III’s puzzles are pretty simple due to the fact that there aren’t many. There are 2 puzzles that will make you scratch your head for a second, but then the answer will become painfully obvious.

The biggest fault with the design is that it can feel too much like the other games. Running down corridors and solving puzzles is the series staple. However it pulls everything off so well that it just doesn’t matter much. The enemies are re-designed from the previous games and offer various levels of challenge. It’s a fun game to just play around in, although the lack of “Bonus Play “isn’t going to help the re-playability.

Score: 9/10

Gameplay

If you’ve ever played a God of War game then you should know what God of War 3 is like. It’s still the same intense action and over-the-top gore the franchise is known for. Santa Monica has gone overboard with the finale and has pushed a bunch of new gameplay elements.

The biggest change within the game itself is the new way the magic is handled. In the past all magic could be switched to with the D-pad and could be used with any weapon the player so chose. Well in this game there are 4 new weapons and a different power is assigned to each weapon which causes the player to switch back and forth between all 4 to gain access to each of the powers. Thankfully Santa Monica has made alternate weapons actually useful this time. In the past alternate weapons were just throw-away and were useless compared to the Blades. Now the weapons are full features with 5 levels to unlock each and multiple combos to master.

To replace the button where magic used to be are new items. Holding L2 and then pressing a corresponding button will allow Kratos to pull out Helios’ Head, Apollo’s Bow, or Hermes’ Boots. Helios’s Head and Apollo’s Bow are limited to the amount of power you have on your orange bar. The more the items are used, the lower your bar falls. Don’t ever fret though as it refills itself pretty quickly. The boots however can only be used at pre-determined locations. The items feel a bit of a drag though, if there weren’t trophies for using them most people would probably forget they have them. It probably would’ve been a better idea to have just not included them and left the L2 button with the Powers received in the 2nd game, which are never explained why they are never there at the beginning.

Many can gripe that God of War III doesn’t add much to its formula and that it plays like the previous games. The question is why do they have to re-invent themselves every game? God of War is a blast and as a series that needs to have continuity such as its basic gameplay is defiantly ok.

Score: 9.3/10

Presentation

God of War III is easily one of the best looking games on any platform. The scale of the whole game is just enormous and all the detail the developers managed to pack in is astounding. Kratos climbs Titans, Olympus, and even the depths of the Underworld. The environments look spectacular to look at especially with all the
Greek Mythology etched into every crevice of the game.

God of War III contains world-class acting. All of the characters are perfectly cast with Motion Capture technology being used on the actor’s faces to get all their emotions across as the lines are said and then translated into the game. On the soundtrack, a riveting orchestra sweeps notes as Kratos sends his blades flying at enemies. Every piece heard is like a treasure chest.

Textures are crisp and beautiful with lighting that enhances just how great they are. The textures and models are so good that as each character moves you can see their muscles contracting and relaxing. There can be some argument that Uncharted 2 may look better, but Uncharted 2 never attempted this kind of scale before, and to have everything looking as beautiful and wonderful as God of War III is just spectacular. This is a presentation that developers, on consoles, will be trying to top for a long time.

Score: 10/10

Final Thoughts

Fans rejoice, God of War III is easily one of the best games to come out in 2010 and will be difficult to beat. Everything about the game is great and provides a fitting end to Kratos’ trilogy of revenge. There is very little to say except go buy it!