God Of War III

God of War III
God of War III is an action-adventure video game for PlayStation 3, developed by Sony Santa Monica, published by Sony Computer Entertainment and released worldwide in March 2010. It is the fifth and final chapter in the current story arc, chronologically after God of War: Chains of Olympus (for the PSP), God of War, God of War: Betrayal (Mobile), and God of War II.

STORY
God of War 3 picks up where GOW2 left off, with Kratos atop Gaia, a pissed off Titan; leading the Titan army to battle with the Gods of Olympus. First time players may not know the details of why Kratos is on a vendetta against the gods, but bits and pieces of information from God Of War 3's predecessors are recapped over the course of the game. It also opens with a cool looking opening credits sequence which pretty much sums up Kratos' adventure thus far.

The story isn't particularly deep, but its fun; and it takes us all over Mt. Olympus. This game dives deep into Greek Mythology and brings up some really amazing characters, creatures and locations; which help bring the story to life.

PRESENTATION
The first thing that struck me about GOW3; from the start of the first cutscene, to my first encounter with enemies, was that this game looks absolutely amazing. I'm tempted to use the word beautiful, but perhaps that's the wrong word for seeing a centaurs disemboweling happen in full High Definition. Whatever word i use to describe it, what I'm trying to get across is that God Of War III looks fantastic.

Environments in game range from the Halls of Mt. Olympus, to the back of Gaia, the earth titan; and even to the fiery pits of hades. Each environment looks stunning; and they all have a very unique feel to them.

The music composed for this action/adventure title is just like the other presentational aspects of this game. And i suppose there is really only one word for the presentation as a whole. This game definitely has an epic feel which is conveyed through the stunning visuals and music that just suits the environments so perfectly.



GAMEPLAY
God Of War III is your standard hack and slash action adventure affair; with fairly basic puzzles thrown in for good measure. Combat is the focus of this title, and GOW3 does it extremely well. The problem with this, is that its really the only above average gameplay aspect that God Of War has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, hacking and slashing enemies until Kratos' white skin is stained red with their blood is satisfying. To a nearly disturbing level. But it will get repetitive if you play the game for and overly long period of time. The game gives you four different weapons, but you'll find that 3 are basically the same; and all use the same button sequences to pull off combinations. It all really depends on what flavour of awesome you prefer to kill your opponents with.

Weapons can all be upgraded with skill points gained by defeating enemies; which unlocks more combos to use with each weapon. However, unless you like to spice things up, there's a good chance that you'll spend all your time upgrading the one weapon and just using that.

The puzzles on offer to the player break up the hacky/slashy action; and are pretty simple on the most part. This is good, because it gives us a quick moment to rest from the awesomeness that is God of War 3's combat gameplay, while not taking us away from the best part of the game for too long.

I believe that the Boss fights in God of War 3 deserve a mention aside from the standard combat. For the most part, they are played using Quick Time Events, which i wouldn't normally care for; but the sheer quality and intensity of these pseudo-cutscenes makes up for the fact that they are there at all. This allows boos fights to end in a fittingly epic fashion.

REPLAYABILITY
This title offers no mulitplayer features; nor would players who have experienced the series before expect it to. The single player campaign stands up well enough on its own, and if players are trophy whores, it provides many challenges to raise their trophy count. On top of the core gore-fest that is the single player story, there are challenge rooms which set Kratos against ferocious opponents with specific conditions of victory.
They are called challenges for a reason; they are by no means easy, and can easily suck up a few hours of free time that players may have.

Also on offer are a variety of different costumes for Kratos to wear during the campaign; giving the players another reason to play through Kratos' god-murdering-simulator over and over again.

OVERVIEW
God of War 3 is an epic, stunningly beautiful gore-fest that's sure to keep you entertained for hours at a time. That said, the gameplay does get repetitive, like most games of the genre; but God Of War pulls off the hack and slash gameplay so well, chances are that you may not notice.
Puzzle gameplay is very basic, but fairly well designed. Most players will get a bit sick of the killing, but its all very well presented.

Definitely a game to try, but due to its length; maybe better off renting it. Unless you intend on playing through the campaign multiple times, then by all means, buy it and go nuts.

Once again, thanks for reading and constructive criticism is always welcome.
See you next time.