God of War 3 Game Review
There is no time wasted in telling the story, with God of War 3 following on from where the previous title ended, opening with Kratos' assault on Mount Olympus. The closing scenes of God of War 2 were quite theatrical: with Kratos riding on the colossal Gaia's back as she and other titans scaled Mount Olympus in pursuit of a battle with Zeus and the gods. This left a lot open to interpretation, which set up God of War 3 nicely as the final game in the trilogy. Luckily, the story comes to an actual end in this game and one that is quite satisfactory as well.
God of War 3 proves that deep down Kratos is a bad guy, so blinded by his pursuit for revenge that he would sacrifice the entire world to satisfy his bloodlust. He is a ruthless murderer and that by the way is the most decent way to describe him. We already knew that though, and not only is it something within the man but you can see it on his face as well. That permanent frown he wears is not something you can just keep for show. It's all set up like a Greek tragedy and it somehow works. Kratos' sole ambition is to kill Zeus. This is the only goal that the "Ghost of Sparta" has in the entirety of God of War 3, and everything from the epic beginning moments to the final scenes serve to make that happen. It is worth while to get a hold of the first two games if you have not played them. This will go a long way to getting you up to speed on what has made Kratos the anti-hero he has become today.
You will only respect the ending more if you know how it all began.
If you have never played God of War you will notice that the entire game is set in the Greek mythological world, primarily Hades. It's a depressing place, with loads of hellish creatures thrown at you, most of which you will kill during your quest. One thing to expect in the game is facing plenty of unwarranted violence. It's sometimes easy to get lost in the confusion, but even then it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by the utter degree of violence. God of War 3 finds joy in death like few other games, glorifying the downfall of mighty Titans,mythical beasts and demi-gods in a grotesque and satisfying way. The primitive combat and overwhelming sense of scale that have become customary to this brutal franchise have been pushed further than ever before in God of War 3, creating an experience so focused and highly entertaining that it's hard to put down the controller, and even harder to forget.
Placing yourself in the centre of an on-coming mass of minotaurs may not be the brightest idea, but you can just grab on to any being and carry him around the battlefield like a battering ram, smashing into other enemies until his squishy body loses its usefulness. Now that may sound quite sick, but once you are doing it in the game you may find yourself with a wicked smile on your face.
The story seems the same as before though. You start off powerful, get kicked down to Hades powerless and then fight your way back to take on Zeus. In spite of this, God of War 3 maintains the strengths it is recognised for in its previous titles, and what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for in delivery. The combat is simple to pick up, plus the added weapons and moves give it more depth than before, and the spectacular visuals make fight scenes even more brutal. God of War 3 is a brilliantly paced, carefully detailed adventure that thrills and satisfies until the very end.
God of War 3 is not all about dishing out barbaric punishment. Well-crafted puzzles scattered among the vivid battles do a good job of forcing your brain to transfer your thought patterns from a beat-or-be-beaten frame of mind to a weakest link mindset. Although you have to complete a few essential box-pushing puzzles, thankfully most of them do not rely on this tired game mechanic. Problems in God of War 3 are neither as common nor as tricky as those found in God of War 2. As a result of this, the experience is more centered on the explosive combat. The outcome is a slightly more predictable adventure, but the fights are full of enough rowdy moments to almost make up for the lack of diversity.
The graphics in God of War 3 are stunning. The ease with which the camera zooms in and out during majestic battles will leave your jaw on the floor, but it's the attention to detail that puts this game ahead of its rivals. You can see how thorough the designers are by the way Kratos is brought to life as well as the creative visual design visible throughout the game. It's one of those games that is extremely well done and looks superb, with gameplay that is fun in its way. The mature rating is definitely well earned by this title too, with gamers that are easily offended by guts and gore advised to stay away.
God of War 3 ends the trilogy. Three games, two systems...a really great transition from old system to new generation providing a good end to the God of War series.
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