God of War 3 (EPIC!)

There are two words that kept popping into my head as I was playing through God of War 3. Epic and brutal. Looking back on the previous two games in the series, it's clear that those games, while epic and brutal in their own right, were falling short of the developer's vision because of the limitations of the hardware (not to take away anything from those two games, of course). But this iteration of God of War feels like a more fully realized world of epicness and brutalness (not real words).

If you've played any of the other two God of War games, you pretty much know the plot. God of War 3 doesn't really innovate in this arena. A Spartan named Kratos has been imbued with power from the gods of Greek mythology and is on a quest of vengeance to kill those same gods. The game begins the way the second game ended, with Kratos on the back (arm?) of the Titan, Gaia, climbing Mount Olympus. All the greatest hits of the God of War franchise are here, a trip to the Underworld, losing your godly powers only to violently take them back from various beings of power and a whole lotta killin' and eviscerations. This being the last game in the franchise (or evidently the last game with Kratos), there's only one way it can end but it's the journey that makes it fun.

Since it's introduction, God of War hasn't been anything new in terms of gameplay. It's a hack and slash/puzzle game at it's heart and it's nothing that we haven't seen in a lot of other games. But what has always separated God of War from similar games is just how polished the gameplay is. The gameplay in God of War 3 is no exception. The combat is as fluid as you'd expect from the series and Kratos has been given a few new moves to keep your combos going. The grabs have been modified so that you can now pull your enemies towards you or (depending on the enemy's size) pull yourself towards them to keep the combat flowing. Or you can grab weaker enemies and use them as battering rams to plow through the plethora of enemies that appear on screen.

You can even cycle through your weapons mid-combo without missing a beat. There are three new weapons in the game, but two out of the three are variations on the blades you initially begin with. They do play slightly differently but they are still essentially weapons on the end of chains. Only the Nemean Cestus play differently, functioning a lot like a pair of over-sized boxing gloves. In addition to the weapons, you'll also obtain a few items, such as a bow and arrow, which you can use to supplement your arsenal.

There are also a few new sections in the game, where you fly up or down a long column using the Icarus wings navigating narrow corridors and dodging flying debris. They remind me of the Pegasus section in God of War 2, but these flying sections occur more frequently but are ultimately less interesting. The sections don't detract from the game and don't feel tacked on, but how can they really compare with riding the Pegasus?

Probably the biggest change in gameplay from the previous games are the quick time events. They're still here, but instead of the button prompts being tucked off into a dedicated part of the screen, they appear the top, bottom, left or right part of the screen depending on which button you need to press. It takes a while to get used to because your eyes will naturally want to focus on the middle of the screen where the action is. You will inevitably miss your first few button presses, but eventually you will learn to adjust. There are also a few new surprises in the quick time events, but I won't spoil them for you here. All I will say is these slightly different quick time events make you feel more immersed in the game and more immersed in Kratos' world.

What this next generation (or can we call it current generation now?) version of God of War really showcases is the sense of scale. There will be times where Kratos is larger than life, filling up the majority of your screen. Other times, he's a barely visible speck amidst the epic goings on around him. It's that dichotomy that really sells the grand scale of this game. What's even more impressive is that even when you are maybe just a half an inch tall on the screen, Kratos is fully controllable and most likely in combat.

God of War 3 is a fitting end to the trilogy. If you loved the first two games, you kind of know what to expect from this one. But at the same time, I have no doubt that any expectations that you have for this game will be surpassed through it's sheer epicness and brutalness. (Again, not real words.)

Rating

Recommendations

God of War Chains of Olympus - If you want everything God of War related, you can't miss this PSP gem. It plays pretty much like it's console counterparts, even with the lack of a second analog stick. Plus Kratos on the go? Who doesn't want that?