God of War III Review

In the end, there will only be chaos…and cake? No, there will be no cake, but chaos will surely be abound, this is because it is the end of the epic console trilogy of the Spartan anit-hero Kratos. The bad-ass muther-f***** that has been terrorizing the Gods for about 4 games now. What will the end be like? If you haven’t figured that out yet you should probably javascript:history.back(-1) right now.

Kratos is continuing his murderous rampage on the top of Gaia going up Mount Olympus just like the end of God of War II. As soon as you press new game you will notice the graphics are gorgeous, topping many next gen titles and planting itself a nice seat on (or near) the most-amazing-graphics thrown. But before we get into all that good stuff, here is what Kratos was, and will be doing.

Killing a God is no easy task; killing Zeus is an even more difficult achievement as Kratos has found out about 2 times now. He will not rest until he has had his revenge. What is his revenge for? It is for being betrayed by countless Gods that he once served without question. So now Kratos finds himself atop of giant titan climbing up an even more massive mountain while getting attacked by a giant horse made of water. Talk about a bad day!

God of War III is an action game so the combat is the focus of the game. The combat is, as it was previously, amazingly fluid with jaw dropping finishers and larger than life enemies. All of the combos are back that you loved with slight changes as you would expect. The big thing in GoW3 is that there are now multiple weapons to choose from. Yes, there were several weapons in GoW2, but this time they are somewhat useful. There are the chains, the chains that are purple, the chains that are charged with electricity, and the chains that have fists attached. See a pattern? Correct, most of these weapons are just chains, but they do offer some subtle tweaks that make them all worth a try. The cestus (chains that have fists attached) are particularly fun to use as they are a big departure from standard chains while keeping the ability to use them from a distance. They are incredibly strong when upgraded but not unbalanced. You will definitely find uses for these very interesting weapons.

Another staple of the God of War franchise are the amazing boss battles. The previous picture of Poseidon (water horse) is just the first of many amazing boss battles in the game. You will be fighting human sized creatures with amazing abilities, to some opponents who are thousands of feet high. God of War III is always surprising you with astonishing scale and excitements, making you want to see what’s around every corner. These bosses (along with the standard enemies) are dispatched in a much more gruesome way than the previous God of War games which could make you feel a bit nauseous if you have a weak stomach. I am usually not one to promote holding information from children but you should wait till your child is old enough to play any God of War game. It could induce fear or trauma as the game can be quite a bit more violent than most television or film. That bit of parenting advice will probably stay as one of the most ironic statements in the history of the site for some time as I have no children, nor do I intend to for quite some time.

The pacing in God of War III is not as breathless as this review may lead you to believe. It definitely has blood pumping action, but it also has down times where you will spend time trying to solve puzzles or learn about the story. The puzzle elements are actually welcome as the game can get a bit too epic at times and the puzzles allow you to gather yourself. One note is that they are much easier than previous God of War games and will require much less time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they have tossed out the trick of hiding things out of your conventional camera view to prevent you to solve things, and rather you to just think about what to do with what you can see.

God of War II is a fantastic game with lots of fun to be had. As long as you think you can handle the gore and nudity (yes it has that too) then you will have a great time with the game. It’s the first game to get a perfect score from us, and it truly deserves it.

[irony]Don’t forget to check the ESRB before buying this, or any game. The system is there for a reason.[/irony]

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