Brutal Gamer

God of War III (PS3) Review

By Zeth - March 12, 2010 - 13:14 UTC

A BrutalGamer.com review.

Kratos eh – he’s a bit of a boisterous wag don’t you think?  Not content with laying waste to a very large chunk of Greek mythologies more prominent characters he now wants to take down Zeus himself. – as he also turns out to be Kratos’s father there is a serious Starwars fetish at work here!  We find ourselves starting the game at the exact point we left it in God of War II.  Namely Kratos has managed to whip the elemental Titans up into a battle ready frenzy to take down Zeus.  The camera pans in on Titans clambering Mount Olympus and there, riding on the back of tree-hugging Titan Gaia, is Kratos, all the while screaming bloody murder at the top of his voice.  Zeus sends forth his last remaining loyal Gods to take care of Kratos and the ensuing Titan horde.  Thus we step into the action as Kratos rides upon Gaia whilst fending off the attacks from Poseidon in the form of water based snake creatures and  a plethora of generic henchmen.  So from this point on we will keep things as spoiler free as possible – let’s face it did you really come to God of War III for the story arc?

After our hands-on time back in October with God of War 3 we had good expectations that the game would be solid enough.  After a short amount of playtime into the game any fears you had that Sony’s Santa Monica studio would find it hard to follow up on two of gamings most epic titles are firmly disembowelled.  This is basically God of War 2.5 in the sense of character ad game mechanic progression and certainly titles like Darksiders have streamlined a lot of the quick time events but this game is just too epic to ignore, to visceral to be placated into the shadow of any other title – this game truly define the phrase “epic”.

You seriously would not fuck with this guy right?!?

GoW3 does the tried and tested “Fuck You!” of videogames when it basically allows you to have all the awesome skills you would of acquired at the end of God of War 2 and then takes the whole damn lot away from you.  Basically Zeus whips your arse in the first fifteen minutes of the game sending you plunging back into the depth of Hades.  From here, with your now limited abilities, you must fight your way back up to the top of Mount Olympus to twat that smug lightening chucker.

The game plays like pretty much every God of War title – so exactly how you would want this God of War title to play lets be honest.  If you are coming to GoW3 with the expectation that something radical will of changed in the gameplay then forget about it.  This is tried, tested and tweaked a little.  Unlike the combo heavy Bayonetta, GoW3 focuses on mashing buttons and remembering fairly simple combos to pull off some spectacularly devastating special moves.

Click this image to get the large picture - its epic!

What has changed significantly, as as you would expect, is the scale of the game.  This game looks epic.  Sometimes the camera will pan back until Kratos looks little more than a textured lump of muscle in the distance.  The opening scenes of the game are some of the most impressive I have ever witnessed in a videogame.  Riding upon the back of a mighty Titan whilst fighting hordes of Zeus’s minions is epic in itself but when this is set to the backdrop of a massive full scale assault taking place, filled with hugely detailed Titans – this just has to be experienced to be understood.

Whilst we are talking ascetics lets deal with the graphics.  At times this game is THE most beautiful game ever created – it makes Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2 look dated and flat at times – it’s that damn good.  That said at other times some odd design choices or uninspired locations make it appear plain old good looking – I realise the ludicrous nature of that statement but when the rest of the game looks better than some movie CG you really notice the parts that lack that level of sheen.  If you are sat looking at the demo and thinking “Yeah OK mate it looks good but nothing that amazing!” then you have a real treat as the demo code looks shite and slow in comparison.  Sony Santa Monica have taken the time to completely overhaul the lighting engine and tweak so much more – even the frame rate is a damn sight better even with the extra bells and whistles.

Insert you own jokes about Kratos giving head here please!

A few games have been given the title of jaw droopingly gorgeous – I’ve not been compelled to slacken my jaw at a game since I probably first saw Shadow of the Beast running on the Amiga 500.  Even the lush visuals of Uncharted 2 failed to unsteady my hardened gamer jaw.  I sat with my chin in my hands, jaw slack as anything, on multiple occasions in this game.  The scene near the beginning, which I won’t spoil, sees the water levels rising across the land – this is all in real-time and it looks stunning!  The sheer scale and amount of visual fidelity on display is mind boggling even for the supposed “power of the Cell”.   Add to this superb lighting effects (even weapons reflect in the environment), flawless character animations and some incredible environments and you have THE best looking game on any platform at the moment – period (and yes that goes for you PC guys whacking off over Crysis on 1billionx1billion resolution- I’ve seen it, it looks great but this is better!).

OK enough gushing over the graphics and on to more pertinent issues – the game play.  As mentioned this follows the tried and tested path used by the previous two outings (three if you include Ready at Dawn’s excellent Chains of Olympus on the PSP).  That said most people coming to God of War 3 will not want a drastic change.  This is the last game in Kratos’s trilogy and as such needs to go out playing in a similar fashion to any other GoW title.  Simple mashing of the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons will achieve all the damage you need.  The old favourites return like Kratos’s whirlwind attack plus a great grab mechanic that allows to get hold of smaller combatants and use them as a human (demon, whatever) battering ram.

Helios is about to get seriously done over by this Titan

The game relies heavily on Quick Time Events once again.  As has been documented recently I’ve pretty much had it with QTEs.  Darksiders really had the correct idea here as they stripped down a lot of these button presses in to one initiating button press.  Where as GoW 3 keeps close to it;s roots and has you pummelling buttons like a coked up monkey.  That said they have made things a little easier in so far as button prompts will appear on the side of the screen that the button exists on the controller.  For instance the X prompt appears at the bottom of the screen.  This helps alleviate a lot of wrong button presses as you simply need to mirror the activity on the screen.

Voice acting is top notch and the dialogue is delivered well.  This is not high concept drama we are talking here, this is Michael Bay type scripting for a popcorn generation.  That said the script is more than agreeable and facilitates the brutal action very well.  Unlike the recent Sony exclusive Heavy Rain we are treated to actors that at least speak English as a first language.  The voice over work is well delivered and adds greatly to the feel of the title.  The real star in the audio department must be the music.  Stupendously uplifting and dramatic scores soar and dip in the background as the bloodthirsty action takes place on screen.  Some of the compositions would shame most summer blockbusters and really help add to the epic nature of the gameplay.  The sound effects too have been well thought out and this game at all times sounds like a cacophony of bloody war.

The pyrotechnics and effects on display are astounding

The game is not exactly short but it could of maybe done with an extra hour or so added to it’s 8′ish hour play time.  Luckily this is the type of game you can quiet simply star over again as soon as you finish it.  There are plenty of collectibles in the usual guise of Phoenix Feathers, Gordon Eyes and Minotaur Horns so this will add a little to the overall play time and urge to replay through – not to mention the unlockable extras like making of videos etc.  There are even a handful of Batman : Arkham Asylum style challenge rooms on offer to give you that extra bit of play for you money.

The game is not all glory and good times though.  The play style has really had it’s day, and there is a small level of monotony encompassed by a button mashing title.  There are a few glitches in the game too, once or twice I died by falling through level geometry and the camera can also dish out it’s fair share of unreasonable deaths.  All these things are not game breakers they just frustrate slightly in an otherwise exceptionally produced game.  If you never did like this style of game then God of War 3 is not the game to change your mind (try Darksiders) because after all it’s just a platform brawler clinging to “the old ways” for one last hurrah.  The checkpoint system is a little woolly at times and the fact you have to start from the beginning during multipart major encounters (for example a four stage brawl atop some massive moving cubes almost resulted in my controller going through the window!) is just plain mean but it does make you strive to be a better player – just be warned that at times this game can get frustratingly difficult (not as much as Bayonetta by a long stretch though!).

The grandeous scene setting is sometime just breathtaking

Final Thoughts :-

God of War 3 defines the word “Epic” in respect to videogames.  The game is a powerhouse of visual accomplishment and demonstrates once again what can be achieved with Sony’s chunk of black plastic.  It fails to reach some of the heights in gameplay that the earlier games did but this never detracts from what is simply the best game in it’s genre.  Sure there are a few control, checkpoint and camera niggles but that is why GoW3 doesn’t hit the full 10/10.   If  you don’t yet own a PS3 I have to ask, what better reason do you need than God of War 3, Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2.  This game is an essential purchase for any gamer regardless of platform loyalty.

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