[PS3] God of War III Review

[AgtFox]

God of War III Review

Title: God of War III
Platform: PS3
Developer: Sony CE Santa Monica
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
ESRB: Mature
MSRP: $59.99, Ultimate Edition (differing prices)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Graphics are amazing; opening credit montage; voiceovers are top notch; story; mythological history; most boss battles; action around every corner; quicktime events presented better; Kratos is even more bad ass

What's Not: Jumping and dying frustrations; can be awfully difficult; camera sometimes, but rarely, bothers you; some boss battles border on the lengthy and tedious side; middle, boring sections bring down the game

Yes, this review is about a month late. I’ve been very busy lately and although I completed this game roughly a month ago, I’ve had this review lingering since then. With that out of the way, God of War III is one of those games you probably don’t need my opinion on. You’ve either liked or not liked the series up to this point and you’ve probably already made your choice or already purchased the game. This game really shows off the power of the PS3 from a graphical perspective and stands alongside the Uncharted series as one of the best reasons to own the system from a graphical perspective. The early parts of the game will easily put to rest any idea that Dante’s Inferno could hold a candle to this game. It is truly amazing that Sony Santa Monica pulled off the amazing graphics they did without the need for a hard drive installation many PS3 games need. There are no loading screens outside of the restarts after dying and the minimal change of stages. This is a tight, but linear game that seems much larger than you could ever imagine.

The game opens up with a credit montage that gets inspiration from the James Bond films. You see animated snippets from God of War and God of War II showing the important scenes up to the beginning of this game. Imaginary Forces did the animation work in the opening credits and also flashback sections during the game. Right off the bat this game feels like a Hollywood movie with the credit sequence and in the opening third of the game it really doesn’t let you drop your adrenaline at all.

Gameplay opens the way God of War II ended with Kratos hanging onto Gaia as she and the other Titans climb up Mount Olympus to take down Zeus and the other gods who trapped them long ago. Zeus sends out his brother Poseidon to take care of the attackers. Right off the bat Kratos finds himself keeping Poseidon and his watery monsters off of Gaia. After dispatching a lot of enemies at once, showing off the power of the PS3 to have 20+ enemies on screen at once, you face off against Poseidon’s creatures in a fantastic opening boss fight. As you go through the stages of the battle, Gaia will move her arm up and down, changing the battle as sometimes you will be hanging by Athena’s Blades attacking the creatures or holding onto the side of Gaia’s arm while attacking. Eventually you take on Poseidon himself in yet another fantastic boss battle. The beginning really reminds you of the Hydra battle at the beginning of the original game.

You are also introduced to a different concept in regards to the QuickTime Event (QTE) mechanics. Instead of putting a button to press in one place like in the earlier games, this time around the face buttons will pop up corresponding to their placement on the controller. So, if you have to hit the square button it will show up on the left side of the screen, triangle is on the upper part of the screen, circle is on the right side of the screen and X is on the bottom section. It makes things a lot easier, especially when you have a multi-buttoned sequence coming up, although it did take me a bit of time to get used to. This is a huge improvement in my opinion.

After completing this game I still struggle with whether it was the best game in the trilogy or not. I think the first and last third of the game is better than anything we’ve seen in the series, but that middle part really bogs stuff down. There is a lull between your excellent battle with Hades early on and a later battle with Hercules that is filled with inane puzzles and general “go from point A to point B” filler areas with little to no story building. I would say it constitutes most of the Flame of Olympus section, but the latter parts of that section after Hercules is more exciting so I can’t just discard the whole section itself. This is a balls to the wall action game, but this section just brings the adrenaline level down many steps. There are even more inane puzzles after Hercules, but at least the tension is a bit higher. The final battle with Zeus is interesting, but the first stage of it is almost set up like Street Fighter with you versus Zeus on a 2D plane.

I guess I wish the game was a bit tighter as a whole. There is no doubt in my mind this game is better than the recently released Dante’s Inferno, a game that had a lot of style but no real heart and arguably used God of War as a gameplay blueprint. I guess I am just thinking this game could have been so much more than what it was, a game that could stand alongside other top notch Sony releases like the Uncharted games or even last year’s inFAMOUS and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time; all games much tighter than this one. Part of the blame may rest in that Stig Asmussen is the third director in as many games on this series. If David Jaffe or Cory Balrog had stuck around for the third game, maybe it would have been tighter or had a clearer vision. Instead we have an excellent game with a lengthy part that could have used some juice behind it after the adrenaline rush of the first third of the game.

The graphics are simply amazing and I never experienced any slowdown at all. Seeing this game makes me wish Sony would have put God of War II on the PS3 instead of it being one of the last high profile games for the PS2. The jump in graphical quality is simply phenomenal even when compared to the E3 demo from last year. There can be a lot of enemies on the screen at once and watching Athena’s Blades (and the Blades of Exile) with its bright orange trails slice and dice while spurting blood all over Kratos and the ground will just make your jaw drop. Sony Santa Monica took great care in making this one of, if not the, best looking PS3 game around and continuing the greatness in that area from the previous games.

The stages and other characters are also immaculate. The Titans are huge, yet move with smooth precision. The Olympian gods that you take on are also well done. This is probably where God of War III sets itself apart from the previous games in that you are basically fighting a lot of gods. No longer are you taking on the small fry enemies or just Ares and Zeus. No, killing all the gods is Kratos’ singular goal and nothing will get in his way. You even visit Hades again early on in the game and thankfully those damn spinning towers from the first game are no longer part of the landscape.

You start the game with all the powers and items Kratos had at the end of the last game, making a similar beginning to God of War II. Eventually you will lose your massive health bar, magic bar and powered up Athena Blades, but you will keep the Pegasus wings, the Golden Fleece to deflect attacks and the Athena Blades are replaced by the Blades of Exile. General gameplay is similar to the previous games and you can use red orbs to upgrade your weapons and items. There are far more weapons and items available here than in the previous games and each one has its use, so be sure to try to balance the use of the red orbs.

The sound in the game is fantastic as well, especially the voiceovers. Listening to some of the powerful gods and their extra bass effect will give your speakers a good workout. The musical score is also spot on for the period and type of game it is. It flows well into the background, but you are very aware it is there and the opening montage music is especially pleasing to the ear.

Much like the other games, this one is very difficult even on the normal level. As usual it will ask you if you want to go to Easy mode if you die a lot, but I never give into that. Sure, I died a lot, but more for missed jumps than anything. Some of the boss battles are a little too long for the amount of health you have, but if you continue trying you should persevere and be able to continue on with this fantastic game. Jumping areas in this game are the worst though. Sometimes Kratos doesn’t seem to want to execute a double jump and I fell to my death. Other times I just misjudged the distance or the Pegasus wings didn’t deploy like I wanted them to. I also died a lot during boss encounters, but much like Mega Man once you figure out their tendencies it becomes easier. There are some fantastic battles to be had in this game, especially in the first third of the game and the bosses really fly at you from everywhere and not just at the end of a section.

Even though I complain about the weak middle part of the game, God of War III is still an excellent showcase for the PS3 and serves as a good bookend (maybe) for the series. This is probably the game, outside of the upcoming Gran Turismo 5, that would be considered a “killer app” for the system. I would argue the Uncharted games are a better example, but I don’t think they have the mass market appeal of the already established franchises. If you haven’t yet purchased God of War III I’d recommend doing so. If you’ve never played the series yet, I would say go out and get the God of War Collection release on PS3 with the updated graphics, see if you like it and then go out and get this game. I think you will notice the massive technological leap made here versus the other two games.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, ”Even though it has a slow middle section, the first and last third of the game with its mostly nonstop adrenaline pumping action should keep you entertained. On a graphic and story level this game is certainly better than the last one, but with pacing and general gameplay it just doesn't stack up. Still a wonderful way to end the series...if it is indeed the end.”

[Adam Blue]

The game definitely is fun, but for me, it needed more than graphics and set pieces to be more enjoyable than Dante's. GoW had way too many mundane puzzles that slowed it way down. Plus, I seemed to

upgrade every item in my inventory during the first play-through, so I had very little need to play again

. Dante's required many play-through's, and because of the lack of puzzles and just pure action, there was almost no down time. At this point you'd be so powerful you were done in a couple hours, and each play-through could be played entirely different from the last.

Yeah and that double-jump problem. It really pissed me off.

GoW 3 could have been much more. If there's a next game, I hope they focus less on graphics and set pieces, and more on action and variety.

[Gorvi]

I didn't have a problem with "slow" parts in the middle, I enjoyed it all the way through. The only reason I haven't done a second playthrough yet was because I was in the middle of FFXIII at the time. I need to do that sometime, though. That and the challenges.

[menage]

Originally Posted by Gorvi

I didn't have a problem with "slow" parts in the middle, I enjoyed it all the way through.

I agree. I actually found the end a bit lacking but had no problem with the middle part. Sure it's standard stuff, but at least it's gold standard.

The end was just a bit to un-Kratos for me, and there wasn't any real awesome boss battle like the ones with the Titans.

EDIT: Double jumps stoped being a problem when I played it by keeping the button pressed with the second jump. But a lot of friends had problems with it.

Dante was just a weak clone in my book, It started of pretty well, but if were talking about lame middle parts that one takes the cake. It may have more replay value but I just wouldn't even want to play it again. It bored the shit out of me and I had many more cheap deaths then with GoW3.

[Hawkzombie]

Did you seriously compare it to Dante's Inferno, a game that copied it in almost every way?

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Did you seriously compare it to Dante's Inferno, a game that copied it in almost every way?

You talking to me? Only reason I put it in there is because there are people like Adam out there that really liked DI and I wanted to put to rest that it could hold a candle to this. I did not think it was that fantastic, which you can read about here.

Adam is right that DI lends itself more to multiple playthroughs, it's just that I didn't want to play through the game again

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Did you seriously compare it to Dante's Inferno, a game that copied it in almost every way?

I see no reason not too. Many games try to mimic a succesfull formula and it's interesting to see what develops. I think DI really could have been something more, but this was more of a pet project for Visceral with EA taking a risk as more costs were put into marketing.

Depending on how well of a return DI got, the next game should be on par with the GoW series. At least I hope. So if GoW continues, it has competition.