God of War 3 tells the tale of everyone’s love to hate; none stop yelling anti hero and demi god, Kratos. The Spartan warrior is out for revenge on the Gods of Mt Olympus after being dealt a rather raw deal by his father, Zeus. Kratos lets nothing stand in his way as he obliterates all who oppose him from the depths of the Underworld to the peak of Mt Olympus. God of War 3 does a fantastic job in rounding out the series, whilst adding a few surprises for the Ghost of Sparta throughout his journey.
God of War 3 was hands down one of the best looking games of the previous console generation when it initially released a little over 5 years ago. Even towards the end of the PS3 generation it still stood tall as one of the best looking games for the system. Now that it has been remastered to take full advantage of the PS4 the visuals are beyond stunning, every slice of Hades flesh is layered in vivid detail, every stand of lightning from sky lights up the world and the scenery is awe-inspiring. Santa Monica really nailed the mythologic atmosphere through their world design.
Sound wise, the voice acting isn’t really that emotive but it certainly is powerful with every syllable reverberating the influence these Greek beings have on their world, but too often enough it is just Kratos yelling his way through every battle. You may find a few familair voices on your adventure though sush as Rip Torn or Kevin Sorbo. God of War 3 does have a mesmerising soundtrack and it really should be appreciated as much as it can, so crank the volume and soak in it, mixing with the visuals, you yourself will feel like a God, or at least a Demi God, depending on how good of player you are.
God of War tends to travel a road less taken; it always has in terms of gameplay. The series and obviously this game contain a fixed camera position for each gameplay scene you enter. Which means you cannot manipulate the camera angles to get a better view in combat or travel but it does free up a control stick for directional evading of incoming attacks. The second most obvious traits of the series is the Quick Time Events (QTE’s) pressing a specific button within a specific time frame to dismember, mutilate and obliterate enemies in a sort of finishing move. I always find these things as a breath of fresh air mixing up the gameplay from other games and allowing me to bask in the glory of the visuals.
Some people cannot stand these elements but that is for the individual to decide. What ever your stance maybe it cannot take away from the fact that this games combat mechanics and action pacing are a class above any AAA developers standard.
God of War 3 is a great game, it was a great game back when it released, it is a great game now that it has re-released. I just don’t quite see where it fits into the scheme of things over at Sony… yet. Veterans of the series will undoubtedly love to jump back into this games action packed 10-hour story. The newcomers though, the odd 40% of you who didn’t own a PS3 (but now own a PS4) and missed out on this and the games in the series before it, I feel pretty confident in saying you will feel a bit, if not rather lost in the finer points of the story. Yes this game can be played individually for a great experience but the riches to said experience lay in the story that has had its foundations built in the games before. This is just a really odd placement for the title, why not do the entire series? but I guess that is neither here nor there at the moment.
Either way releasing this game for $45 at some retailers is a bargain and shouldn’t be missed.
