Comments on: God of War III

By: Cloud "..."

Cloud "..." — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:08:42 +0000

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

Easily a GOTY contender, March 17, 2010

Cloud "..." (Canada) -

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This review is from: God of War III (Video Game)

God of War 3 opens with a massive bang; starting right off from God of War 2, we find Kratos scaling Mount Olympus going after Zeus with the 4 Titans climbing up the mountain ready to cause havoc. From there it's basically a whirlwind of a nearly 40 minute setpiece involving characters on a massive scale, an epic boss fight and some light platforming to break up the action. In a way, this sequence sets up for what you're going to be playing for this roughly 10 hour game (the save point before the long final boss/ending sequence has me at 9 hours 31 minutes) which is graphically gorgeous, refined gameplay from previously and an impressive sense of scale. From there, game doesn't quite match the heights but it's still an incredibly solid adventure but in a way that's kind of the problem with a massive opening sequence; the rest of the game just doesn't have it again but does perform really adequately with what it does show. So 3 years in the making, new director, new system...how does the 3rd installment hold up? Pretty damn well, have to say.

Story: As I said before, the game starts you off with Kratos going after Zeus but naturally like God of War 2 or Metroid games, certain things happen that force you to essentially restart from scratch and we go into a tale of Kratos wanting to enact vengeance and near literally kills everyone who stands in his way. From there we will meet familiar gods, battle massive titans and go in and around Mount Olympus as we make our way back to Zeus. Best thing about the story is the pacing which like Uncharted 2, seems to do a really great job at making you feel like you're actually progressing in the game instead of hitting these weird slow areas (remember finding those stupid Sirens in the sandstorm in the first one?) but the opening sequence with Poseidon opens with a bang and it settles into a nice groove and while there isn't anything as jaw-dropping of a scene afterwards, game never lets up and you might find yourself playing longer than you thought you were.

Graphics: I'll get one negative out of the way as far as graphically: this game didn't constantly stun me like Uncharted 2 which front to back looks phenomenal. In this game, you'll find parts that'll want to make you go "holy ****" but then other parts look pretty with nice detail until something pops up that makes you say wow again. There, can I talk about how awesome this game looks? And you'll see it right there in the main menu screen which now has the almost iconic Kratos staring at you only this time the detail on his model is really impressive. And there's my favorite thing which is the lighting, especially in low-light situations and having your weapons briefly illuminate the room looks amazing. One cutscene did stutter and lip sync on one line was off though it might've been because a trophy was unlocked at that point but it's easy to see why this game was highly anticipated on the graphics front.

Sound/Music: Naturally the word "epic" will be tossed around here and for good measure in that while I won't exactly be humming these tunes anytime, the grandiose music perfectly sets the tone with its big choir parts, percussion and intense orchestra. Old familiar sounds are back, weapons and that loud bang you get when doing a big strong attack's still there though the Helios head still makes that bizarre scream everytime you take it out which can potentially get grating. With regards to voice acting, some familiar faces pop up making you go "wait...did they hire...?" so we have Rip Torn providing voice for Hephaestus, Hercules' Kevin Sorbo as who else but Hercules and Malcolm McDowell as Daedalus, father to Icarus. Would've been nice to see who did other voices as well such as Zeus, Hera, Gaia or something since only a select few are chosen in the special features.

Gameplay: One thing I never liked about previous God of War games is that there's always these weird parts in the game that get put in to not necessarily ruin it but kind of make you wish other things were put in instead. None of the puzzles are that taxing to the brain which is good since I always felt God of War puzzles were too vague in their how-to-solve solutions. Combat feels more tactician based here where it doesn't require a real sense of precision but just mashing square and the occasional triangle will only get you so far and in fact certain enemies are way more vulnerable to certain weapons than others. That being said I still find the controls to not be as super responsive as I saw in Bayonetta. If I wanted her to jump, she jumped; dodge, she dodged but here you'll be tapping that right analog stick to get out of the way and for some reason, Kratos just doesn't move while other times he dodges out of the way. But the powerups and skills are actually useful and the battles, except for one duel involving a new unbelievably annoying enemy type and a dog that spits out other dogs grated on... Read more

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By: Travis Deputy "TheInsatiableBookReader"

Travis Deputy "TheInsatiableBookReader" — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:38:33 +0000

113 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

WILL YOU JOIN THE SPARTAN ARMY?, March 16, 2010

Travis Deputy "TheInsatiableBookReader" (Padukee, Keentukee) -

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This review is from: God of War III (Video Game)

If you don't then you will be missing out on, easily, one of GREATEST games of all time! I thought I was blown away by Uncharted 2. I was but I am even more so with God Of War 3. Unbelievably, God Of War 3 floored me from the 30 minute opening sequence to the mind blowing finale. How did Sony Santa Monica pull this off? The SCALE of this game will boggle the mind and make your jaw hit the floor! When I first played the demo some 3 months ago I was in awe. After having played through every luscious drop of GOW 3 I am spellbound beyond belief. If I could only use one word to describe this game: EPIC! Remember the old home arcade system Neo Geo and SNK's motto for it "Bigger, Badder, Better"? This applies to GOW 3 in spades.

Upon first sight of GOW 3 you'll notice that the high def graphics are probably the best, on any system anywhere, computer gaming rigs included. Sony really tapped into the "true" power of the PS3 with this one. Some of the things I saw in this game is making me think it was all a dream because it just isn't possible in games, right? Wrong. Seeing the gigantic titans filling up the whole screen in perfect graphical splendor, on a 50 in. plasma, all the while Kratos is scaling it, and fighting a boss(Poseidon) on it, is completely amazing. Gamers, this is what we live for! The detail of not just the titans, the environments, and the Ghost of Sparta himself, but the minor enemies, such as the skeleton warriors, is astonishing. And seeing 15 or so of these skeleton warriors pile on Kratos and then seeing him violently power them off is unbelievably cool and empowering. It almost makes you feel like a god! The sheer power you feel controlling Kratos and watching him annihilate everything in his path in the name of vengeance will cast a spell over you.

The combat control is much the same as before, if not better. In other words, the control is flawless and if ain't broke don't fix it philosphy applies here. There are timed button presses for the boss battles(quick timed events). And bosses there will be. Some of them are absolutely enormous, such as Hades. Dealing death to the bosses is quite a sight. Impale them. Check! Rip off body parts. Check! Let blood and guts flow like a river. Check! This is one of the goriest and most violently graphic games I've seen. EVER! Kratos can still have sex in GOW 3! Always a welcome addition. Even one scene with a goddess! I think what might impress me most besides the scale of the game, is the number of enemies that can be on screen at one time. At times, there had to be close to 50 or more on screen. That is incredible considering it's running at 60 FPS the entire time with no slowdown. All of that even when there are cyclopses and minotaurs on the same screen, along with a titan in the background. Ridiculously amazing!

The story, sadly, was the most disappointing part of the game. It seemed a bit convoluted; like too much was going on with too many different characters. The story is not bad mind you and it`s easy to follow, it just feels like it's taking a major backseat to everything else. Still, it takes nothing away from the greatness of GOW 3. The puzzles in the game are challenging without being overly so and some of them very clever and ingenious. More than a few I was a bit stumped by. All in all it took me about 10 to 12 hours to roll through this masterpiece. I don't really remember how long it took me to go through each of the first two, so I can't compare length. While a bit short, for my taste, it was still one hell of a magnificent ride! The camera still can't be controlled by the player, but that has never bothered me and I think it was put to even better use this time around. It seems the angles and various shots are Hollywoodesque, if that makes any sense.

Weapons! The Cestus easily steals the show of the several new ones that you'll earn. The Cestus is completely WICKED! The combo moves are spectacular and more so than ever before and you can now swap weapons on the D-pad in the middle of one. When surrounded by a bunch of baddies and knowing you have different button options to pound the pulp out of them is especially gratifying. The use of the bow and arrow is easy and very useful. Very cool shooting the harpies with it and grabbing on to them to further your progress across chasms or to the top of places well out of your reach. I like the fact that now the bow quickly recharges after each use. I love being able to pick up enemies and charge with them, using them as a battering ram on other baddies. Completely awesome! Controlling the cyclops is amazing as well; swinging him around and pulping your enemies is gleefully sadistic. It must be experienced! You level up your health and magic much the same way as the two previous GOW's via feathers, stones, and now, minotaur horns.

The music is excellent! But hasn't the music always been excellent in the series? The voice... Read more

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By: B. C.

B. C. — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:04:34 +0000

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

"The End Begins...", March 18, 2010

B. C. -

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This review is from: God of War III (Video Game)

Thanks for reading my first review here on Amazon. I normally don't review stuff like this online but I can't get this game out of my head. I've had my jaw hit the floor more times in the first couple hours than I've ever had in an entire game before. When people describe this game as epic, they are not just using some cliche word everyone on the internet throws around. The cover of God of War 3 should be in the dictionary next to the word.

First, I highly suggest anyone new to the series to go ahead and pick up the God of War Collection. It is some of the best the PS2 has to offer for only $30. It will bring you up to date on the story and help you get aquainted with the combat system so you can jump right into part 3 no problem. This brings me to my next point, difficulty. I'm hearing the term "button-masher" thrown around quite a lot in regards to this game and while this might be true for the easy and normal difficulties, it couldn't be further from the truth on Titan (hard) mode. Having beaten the two previous games recently, I started GoW3 on Titan difficutly. There is no way you can spam the same combos and expect to make it anywhere. For those familiar with the previous instances of God of War, or for you hack-n-slash pros out there, I highly suggest starting off on Titan mode. This will provide a much greater challenge and get you ready to play on Chaos mode after you've unlocked it.

For the most part, the gameplay remains unchanged from the previous titles. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? However, there are a few differences that greatly enhance the experiece. For starters, the QTEs now put the button prompts in relation to their location on the controller (triangle appears at the top of the screen, X on the bottom ect.). This allows the player to view whatever violent act Kratos is performing at the time without having the button prompt cover it all. Another great change is the ability to switch weapons on the fly, mid combo. This allows for a lot of creativiy to be used in how you dispatch each enemy. Lastly, one of my favorite additions to the combat system is the combat grapple. Kratos will fling both blades into an enemy and pull himself towards them. This greatly increases combo variety and makes it easier to string together lots and lots of hits.

When it comes to presentation in video games, God of War 3 takes the cake. You can tell a lot of work was put into making the game look amazing. I must have spent the first 10 minutes just staring at how detailed Kratos looks. The boss battles and level design redefine what scale is in games today. Some people might be put off by the fixed camera, but this allows the directors of the game to give you breathtaking views and truly show off all the hard work they put into making this one of the most visually pleasing experiences you will ever have. All the trailers and screens you could watch won't hold a candle to how this game looks live on a nice 1080p TV set.

In closing, God of War 3 is one of most amazing experiences you can find in gaming today. Other games might have a little more depth to their combat systems, but none of them put together the entire package of gameplay, graphics, sound, story, and overall fun. If you've been on the edge about picking up a PS3, let Kratos make that decision for you. Do yourself a favor and BUY this game!!!

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