2010-08-20

Revenge Complete... God of War 3

Finally, I have recently finished God of War 3. Yes I know, this is not a new game title. Forgive my tardiness.

So after finishing God of War 1 and 2 on PS2, how does the third installment on PS3 stack up?

This installment begins with the Titans scaling Mt Olympus, trying to squash Zeus and his buddies. From the get go, this does not give any sense of possible victory on the part of the Titans. They are just slow, lumbering, giants trying to bite off more than they can chew.
One really cool feature is that the Titans themselves become your battle arena, not just your opponents/allies. You can run along their arms or bodies fighting off smaller sized enemies. With the camera view zooming in and out to show you the scale of your environment, it's truly a technological marvel to see the Santa Monica Studios team achieve this very seamlessly.



Itsy bitsy Kratos on Cronos' arm


Another game mechanic that blew me away was the flights up the massive Icarus vents throughout the gameplay. Coupled with the exciting soundtrack, the flights are amazing to watch, frustrating to get a hang off, immensely satisfying when overcome. You've got to play it to believe it.

The violence in this game has also been upped several notches. Not only can you beat the daylights out of your foes, you can have your victim's eye view of the beating! That's sick. And cool at the same time.


Kratos! You've got something stuck in your teeth! So stop beating me up and clean it!


You can also rip out various body parts for your pleasure. One of your opponents is Helios, God of the Sun. I had to laugh out loud during this sequence, because after ripping out his head, you can use it as a torchlight. That's cruel. That's sick. And cool.


Kratos Massage Service... Guaranteed to relieve all headaches


Besides fighting the Gods of Olympus, you get to boogie with Hercules too. After settling issues with Herc (i.e. beating him up) you get a really cool looking pair of boxing gloves. This is my 2nd favourite weapon after the default Blades. They are slower that the other weapons but pack a heavier punch. Plus they are in animal motifs!

Meet Simba and Mufasa... say hello to my pretty babies


Gameplay was far easier than what I recall for God of War 1 and 2. That disappointed me somewhat. The ending plot was also kind of weird, because Kratos harakiri-ed himself, releasing hope to the destroyed world. They do not show Kratos' corpse at the end of the tale, and there are still other Gods roaming around (e.g. Aphrodite and Anthena). If Athena is anything to go by, this means all the murdered Gods can still make an impact to the story.


Still highly enjoyable, but short of being a masterpiece in my view.


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