God of War III – The MMOMFG Review
God of War III
Since the beginning of time there has been a struggle between the Gods and the mortals. One man was chosen to rise to the ranks of the Gods becoming one of their own. On his path, he has faced adversity from every angle both with the Gods, his people and his own conscience. This man, of course, is Zach Morris. There is a similar man who has not quite risen to these ranks of legend, but is equally tormented by the Gods, his people, the Titans and his conscience. His name is Kratos and he is the God of War.
When one has been forsaken by the ruler of Olympus, Zeus, normally things are going to suck until you’re either slaving away in Hell (Hephaestus) or you’re climbing up the back of the Titan Gaia, trying not to fall from the heavens and to your death in Sparta below. Well the latter of the two options of suck are how our adventure in God of War III begins, which begins a rollercoaster ride of majestic landscapes, fierce battles, jaw-dropping bosses and breast. Oh sweet baby, the breasts! Having beaten all three God of War titles in the span of a month, I feel brave enough to lead you on the path to knowledge regarding Kratos and his journey and I shall not hinder you in learning the truth regarding this brave adventure. Would my experiences warrant the minstrels to sing them to masses gathering at the forum for years to come? Or would Kratos end his days a fat slob drinking a flagon of mead while reading Plato alone in his chambers? Take a wild guess. You did see the part about breasts, right?
What’s Good
War, huh, good God, what is it good for? – Absolutely everything. There are few games where your mind is literally blown. I’m going to feel like a real taint here for saying this, but God of War III may be the most visually impressive experience I’ve had in gaming yet. Sound familiar? I do throw that phrase around fairly often having claimed it for Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain, if I’m not mistaken, but this time I really mean it. There are scenes such as the Kronos battle and the opener involving Gaia and Poseidon, where you can’t tell if you’re playing a game, or if the game is playing you. I sat in awe taking in the raw power of the PlayStation 3, reminding me of the recent GOW1 and 2 experiences I just had and comparing them would do God of War III’s developers an injustice. They simply do not match up. Despite being revamped with HD, God of War 1 and 2 could not deliver the sheer graphical mastery that God of War III harnesses. In fact, none of the recent God of War-esque doppelgangers delivered the visual experience as superbly. Darksiders and Dante’s Inferno shined in their art and beauty, but dollars to donuts, Sony pumped out the king of all action games this time around. HD and PS3 have taken gaming to the next level with this title and it is exciting to see what the future of gaming has in store.
There can be only one – When a trilogy is nearing its ending, if you’re fully invested in a series and you begin to care about the characters and story more, you can only hope the developers and writers will do them justice. Luckily, without spoiling anything, they really have delivered the goods. To me, the God of War storyline is just as important as the graphics on the screen. You can’t have an epic tale in a video, the likes of an Odyssey or Illiad, without great writing. The third in the series, in my opinion, is the most gripping yet, driving Kratos into the pits of Hell and maneuvering him through caverns and labyrinths on a path to ultimately face Zeus in a God-take-all throw-down. This ain’t your typical Bobby Flay throw down either. This is a God-on-God, rip your F’ing head off and piss down your throat rivalry. The story is built up throughout the game leading to the final clash, but besides a few pacing issues at times, Sony successfully kept me gripped to my seat for three nights.
I can hear it screamin’ in the air tonight – Digital surround sound was just enough to provide a worthy experience for GOW3. I’ll be truthful in this section. I normally don’t really care all that much about sound effects or music and generally only make a note about them if they really affected the game either by really making a game superb or totally hindered the title. I’ll generally play my PS3 with headphone on and may occasionally have one headphone off my ear. Not the case for God of War. I was firmly implanted in the game, feeling the action, hearing the shouts and cringing at every damn banshee scream. Solid voice acting? Damn right. Dialogue worth noting? Yep. Sexy moans from the lady-kind? Uhhh, oh, hi there, they did include these, thanks for asking.
My hands are what I know, they’re not yours, they are my own – Rarely does a journalist get to use a Jewel lyric to describe a positive section of a God of War III review. Well this writer just did, so it is smooth sailing from here on out. By hands, I’m referring to weapons that Kratos acquires from certain enemies found throughout the game. Hercules’ lion gauntlets, Hades’ claws, the Nemesis Whip, and Hephaestus’ finely crafted blades all deliver a punch that the weapons found in previous God of Wars just didn’t deliver. This time around, I couldn’t pick a favorite and found myself bouncing between the Nemean Cestus and Nemesis Whip the most. However, powering up each reaps its own benefits, including the Claws of Hades delivering the ability summon souls to fight for you. Very cool! Along with the advanced weaponry, Kratos unlocks new powers such as the Head of Helios, Boots of Hermes and the Bow of Apollo. All useful in their own right, but all are necessary for advancing throughout the game. I found myself ignoring abilities in the previous two titles, but this time around, each is just as important as the last in terms of survival and reaching the ultimate goal, Mount Olympus.
Brutal Legend – I’m genuinely glad Kratos isn’t around today, as he is filled with more angst and pent up anger than a Simple Plan album. To quote Karate Kid, “The enemy is weak. The enemy deserves no mercy. Honk!” Well Kratos certainly shows no mercy this time around. Pick your favorite method of decapitation, neutering or soul-shattering and put it to action. You (or Kratos to be accurate) will be covered in blood, guts and bile in no time flat! The only time you won’t be caked in human, monster, or God blood will be when you’re utilizing the updated menu system, which allows you to peruse the weapons (in full detail) and also check out the Legendary items you’ve acquired along the way including Poseidon’s Conch, Hera’s Chalice and even Aphrodite’s garter. Each offers their own benefit when playing the game again, such as increased damage, reduced effectiveness for the computer, and maxed out skills from the get-go. These are fun little Easter egg hunt thrown in for lure’s sake.
What’s Bad
I really blew through this bad boy – That’s what she said. No, wait, back to the review! Time is of the essence. Unfortunately, your time with this essence is short lived. The first play through on Normal difficulty only took around nine hours, not knowing the puzzle solutions. I expect the second play through with the legendary items unlocked to possibly only take about five hours. Granted, the entire game play experience was engrossing and non-stop (for the most part), I just wanted a bit more. With titles out there like Final Fantasy XIII offering 50+ hours of content, I was hoping for around 20 hours of game play for the third of the trilogy.
I’m not the God of Lore, damnit! – The library called and they want their immense collection of useless documents scattered around God of War III back. Kratos doesn’t give a shit about useless knowledge or the fact that Daedalus was a punk and his son Icarus was only good in an NES title. If I knew that reading the texts or passages did not affect the story, I’d have just skipped them. I liked knowing the background details, but they did not really add much to the story other than minor hints that even the most novice of gamers could figure out.
On your mark, get set go; okay, slow down a bit though – God of War III’s biggest issue is the pacing. The game comes out of the chute like gangbusters and barely lets you catch your breath for the first hour or so. Unfortunately, scattered throughout are little puzzles (or ball busters as I like to call them), which can really hinder your progress and set you back a while if you aren’t the type to quickly hop on the Web for a quick fix. Hera’s garden seriously upset me for the simple, yet obnoxious, fact that the camera angles were so obscure that I couldn’t fathom positioning certain things to accurately and quickly solve the puzzle. Seven hours into the game, I don’t want to waste thirty or more minutes trying to get water to run into an oversized cup. Keep the pacing up and the game is barely blemished with anything beyond a few glitch issues faced during certain fights.
Worth Remembering:
Pretty much everything from start to finish. Cut out a few of the puzzles in God of War III and the janky controls when using R1 to fling yourself across certain labyrinths and you’ve got yourself one of the finest action gaming experiences yet provided on any console system. Kratos remains to be the God of Sony and the God of my PlayStation 3 for at least another play through or two. God of War III is one of those games that has moments that you wish you could pause and tell all your friends to come see. There were numerous times I paused and asked my girlfriend to check it out. Much to my chagrin, she wasn’t all that interested, but did say that looks gruesomely realistic. Success!
Worth Forgetting:
Very little, to be honest. Other than a few glitches here and there, scattered with pace killing texts and puzzles, but there isn’t much to complain about after all is said and done. I wish the story had lasted a bit longer, but isn’t that the problem with every good book, movie or game? We paid for the experience and we always want just a bit more, right? In addition, Sony adjusted the locations of the buttons for the quick time events. It would make sense not to put the Circle button over the combos, where you might not notice a needed button press, leading to an untimely death.
Thus far in 2010, there have only been two absolute must-buys specifically for the PlayStation 3, God of War III and Heavy Rain. I’m not saying there won’t be more to come out within the year, but if you are a gaming fan and are on the fence about this one, sack up and buy a copy. You owe it to yourself. If you are on the fence about whether this title is good enough to warrant buying a PS3 for, do yourself a favor and buy the Slim and GOW3. I swear Sony has not paid me to say these things! I loved the game and I loved the series. With a plethora of new weapons, abilities, unlockables and graphics to die for, Kratos once again sits on his throne, my PlayStation 3 rotation, and reigns supreme. God of War III is easily Game of the Year material, so expect it to be in the running around this time of the month December of this year.
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Nice one.
