I didn't play the 2nd God of War, but I did have the same experience with the first God of War, for the Playstation 2, that I had with this most recent one. In fact, almost the exact same experience. Being a Classics major, I could view this game as a horrible disfiguration of everything I've learned in my college career. I could even write several pages of the gross misrepresentation of the numerous Greek Gods. But of course, that would be silly. To ever judge a game based on its closeness to history, or even reality in general, is a mistake. And, really, aren't games supposed to be an escape from reality?
God of War 3 is the conclusion to Kratos' (ancient Greek for strength... you know, just fyi.) story. From Ares' tool, to a man seeking revenge, to a God, and then back to a mortal, seeking revenge. Kratos has taken out countless monsters and undead, plus one God, but now he's out to kill the rest of the Olympians. The game begins where the last one left off, climbing Olympus on the back of Gaia, the Titan. Soon, because this game can be punishing, you're thrown off her back and into a brawl with the Sea God, Poseidon, just to get you used to the way the game works. Poseidon, of course, doesn't fight you with his fists, but rather becomes a type of crab-horse. Because he can, I guess. Directly after this battle, you're thrown into Hades and spend the rest of the game climbing up to Olympus... with a little sidetracking to a labyrinth and back once more again to Cronus (where Kratos found Pandora's Box in the first game). Of course, all along the way, you kill the Olympians, one by one, while the mortals of the Earth suffer the consequences of the lack of Gods. This doesn't matter to our "hero" since he's just out for the revenge part. I can't help but wonder, though, what was Kratos' plan after killing Zues? Surely he can't go back down to Earth and live in the middle of the giant mess he made. Would he just stay alone in Olympus?
The gameplay is exactly like the two previous God of War games, whether or not you enjoy that you should know by now. It's not a surprise that there isn't any real change in the style or mechanics of the game (why fix it if it's not broken?), but a little something new would have been nice, just to add some spice to the mix. Still, for those in love with the series from the get-go, there's nothing to complain about here. Sure, the story can use a little work; Kratos has his blades of chaos/hades/power or whatever else the variations are called and he rips everyone to shreds with them. The end. The point behind all this is not that Kratos needs his revenge, but rather, it's fun to watch people and monsters get dismembered in some of the most gruesome ways. If this were a film, it'd fit nicely into the pulp genre. I'm A-OK with that. I don't mind a game that succeeds in what it was trying to do and I'm certainly not going to judge a game based on what it wasn't trying to do. What I do mind, is how the game gets repetitive; like so many other "beat'em ups," I grow tiresome of defeating the same enemies, but with minor changes like armor or color. How many of those statue men and minotaurs were killed by Kratos? I honestly lost count. Perhaps even more of a slight was that one of the main draws of the game, the cinematic kills, never changed. Every statue was killed by Kratos smashing them with their own hammer and every minotaur by getting impaled through the throat. If you don't care about the little things like story or repetitive nature, then the last sentence is all you need to read. If you do, then feel happy that the bosses are frequent enough, as well as difficult enough, to keep the game from getting too routine.
Other than that, I'm at a loss for words. There isn't much more to make this a stand out game from the other two. If I didn't know the story and saw clips from each game, I would not be able to tell you which is first or last (except for the noticeable graphic improvement in the PS3). For what it's worth, this game still works. Kratos is not an admirable hero, his quest for revenge is not noble, and he certainly doesn't take the high road... at any point. Which means the player can just sit back and feel good about being so bad. Any actor can tell you it's more fun playing the villain, and any gamer can tell you it's more fun playing as a villain. I've heard the creators of God of War say their game is mainly about "is this fun?" and "how can we make this more fun?" I would have preferred more enemies with more special kills, but I'll take what I got. After all, this game only tries to be fun and does a good job at it. For instance, one can't help but be satisfied at what happens to Hera. She had it coming.
The gameplay is exactly like the two previous God of War games, whether or not you enjoy that you should know by now. It's not a surprise that there isn't any real change in the style or mechanics of the game (why fix it if it's not broken?), but a little something new would have been nice, just to add some spice to the mix. Still, for those in love with the series from the get-go, there's nothing to complain about here. Sure, the story can use a little work; Kratos has his blades of chaos/hades/power or whatever else the variations are called and he rips everyone to shreds with them. The end. The point behind all this is not that Kratos needs his revenge, but rather, it's fun to watch people and monsters get dismembered in some of the most gruesome ways. If this were a film, it'd fit nicely into the pulp genre. I'm A-OK with that. I don't mind a game that succeeds in what it was trying to do and I'm certainly not going to judge a game based on what it wasn't trying to do. What I do mind, is how the game gets repetitive; like so many other "beat'em ups," I grow tiresome of defeating the same enemies, but with minor changes like armor or color. How many of those statue men and minotaurs were killed by Kratos? I honestly lost count. Perhaps even more of a slight was that one of the main draws of the game, the cinematic kills, never changed. Every statue was killed by Kratos smashing them with their own hammer and every minotaur by getting impaled through the throat. If you don't care about the little things like story or repetitive nature, then the last sentence is all you need to read. If you do, then feel happy that the bosses are frequent enough, as well as difficult enough, to keep the game from getting too routine.
Other than that, I'm at a loss for words. There isn't much more to make this a stand out game from the other two. If I didn't know the story and saw clips from each game, I would not be able to tell you which is first or last (except for the noticeable graphic improvement in the PS3). For what it's worth, this game still works. Kratos is not an admirable hero, his quest for revenge is not noble, and he certainly doesn't take the high road... at any point. Which means the player can just sit back and feel good about being so bad. Any actor can tell you it's more fun playing the villain, and any gamer can tell you it's more fun playing as a villain. I've heard the creators of God of War say their game is mainly about "is this fun?" and "how can we make this more fun?" I would have preferred more enemies with more special kills, but I'll take what I got. After all, this game only tries to be fun and does a good job at it. For instance, one can't help but be satisfied at what happens to Hera. She had it coming.
3.5/5 Better Than Average! Almost Dope!
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