It is impossible to refine perfection. God of War III’s biggest challenge is trying to live up to the immense success of its predecessors while still delivering a unique experience. The problem that evolves from this is that the first two games in the God of War trilogy were so ridiculously epic and fun to play that the third game needs to toe the line on occasion, to attempt to free itself from its own shackles as a franchise. God of War III may not be anything new, but damn if it doesn’t refine the already near-perfect formula established on the PS2.
The game begins in a fitting fashion, picking up right where God of War II left off with Kratos leading the Titans up to take down the gods. In the pantheon of epic openings, God of War III’s is one to be remembered. Soon after you become reacquainted with the controls, which are almost identical to the earlier games, Zeus commands Poseidon to make his best effort to knock Kratos off the mountain. While riding upon Gaia, Kratos fights the Lord of the Sea through a combination of speedy button mashing and quicktime events. This may be nothing new to the God of War formula, but it stills works, and in fact works wondrously. Every moment of this battle is intense, and it’s a fine setup for the game that follows.
Kratos has been really pissed off for a long time now, and nothing will stand in between him and his ultimate goal: killing his own father, Zeus. This means that he will do everything in his power to take down the king of gods, and in doing so he needs to take a swing at as many pieces of Greek mythology as possible. However, the fact that Kratos is still so mad after all this time becomes a little wearing over the course of the game. Nothing but revenge will satiate his bloodlust, and that’s what Kratos does best: kill.
Armed with the Blades of Exile, the standard combo of [], [], /_\ still works wonders. These double-chained blades behave precisely as the Blades of Chaos and Athena did in the earlier games, with all of your favorite moves brought over. Fortunately, the new additions in terms of weaponry bring a lot to the table in terms of combat refinement. Two of the other three obtainable weapons look at first glance very similar to the Blades of Exile – after all, they are both double-chained. They behave extremely differently though, which is a great when you want your weapons to match your enemies. The Claws of Hades are slower and more forceful than the Chains, while the Nemesis Whip is faster and sleeker. Although you may not need to worry too much about these differences on the default difficulty, these small idiosyncrasies can be astoundingly useful on the harder settings. The real standout in weaponry is the new Nemean Cestus, which are essentially lion-headed metal boxing gloves. Kratos can use these to pound pretty much everything to dust, and it can be tremendous fun beating the snot out of a gorgon or minotaur with these puppies. They hit with a ton of force, and they allow Kratos to work better in close-range combat than he could before.
If nothing else, God of War III looks beautiful, and the sense of scale to this game is incomparable to most other games on the market. The graphics really make the PlayStation 3 sing, and Kratos himself is absolutely stunning, his character model so detailed that you can actually see beads of sweat running down his skin, passing over the pores on his face. He can even become covered in buckets of blood during combat, the red contrasting brightly with his white skin. With Kratos himself looking so well-realized, it’s hard not to notice the lesser levels of detail in other characters. Hephaestus and Pandora are notable in this regard, with their designs becoming a tidbit distracting when you focus on Kratos for a comparison. Gaia and the other Titans are remarkable feats of technological prowess, with Kratos able to run and fight enemies on their bodies while they are moving across varied terrain. Their bodies move in a lifelike fashion while they are still absolutely enormous, Kratos being merely the size of a flea in comparison. In any case, all of the character models have been completely rebuilt from the ground-up.
Even if you’ve never played a God of War game before, this game is quite an experience. The story is not the deepest and the opening cutscene (which is animated to look like ancient Greek pottery) will get you right back up to speed. The quest is just about the right length, clocking in at 10-12 hours on the first playthrough depending on your skill level, and default difficulty is relatively fair, still being a challenge while not being extraordinarily punishing. God of War III is quite the experience, and is a must-own if you have a PS3.