God of War 3 Review (PS3)

Sony Santa Monica Studios has taken gamers on a fantastic and brutal journey across the PlayStation 2 with God of War and God of War 2, culminating in an end to the main trilogy on the PlayStation 3 that can only be described as epic. God of War 3 is a triumph of big budget game design at its absolute finest, and in my opinion deserves action game of the year, at least.

God of War 3 concept art

The critics haven’t been overtly brash against GoW3. Metacritic’s overall summary score (based on 65 individual critic scores) is 93, not unfair by any stretch. I must point out here that 12 of the scores are perfect 100s, a score I find ridiculous on many levels because no game is perfect, regardless of triumphs in innovation or technological spectacle. Be that as it may, 93 is a fair score given what GoW3 represents: a next generation leap with the same solid formula Santa Monica Studios is known for.

Naturally, I will try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but I make no promises. I wrote a first impressions article on GoW3 earlier this week, and that one contains far more spoiler material because I needed to express myself regarding specific moments in the game. This is a review, a broad-sweeping look at the game as a whole, so spoilers will be at a minimum. Still, expect a minor amount. Also note that this game is M-rated, and mature content may spill over into this review.

God of War 3 concept art

PRESENTATION

Few games can top the raw bone-crunching presentation of God of War 3. Stig Asmussen, Game Director for the Kratos’ third installment, has led the team to an all new level of presentation with PlayStation 3 technology. Some may argue that God of War 2′s story is better than 3′s, but based on raw presentation there’s really no comparison.

Graphically, God of War 3 is the best-looking game I’ve ever played as of this writing. It seems that I’ve been changing my mind on this, but GoW3 ousted the competition, hands down. The game runs silky smooth, though not at a solid 60fps. And it doesn’t have to. The lighting effects, pronounced when Kratos acquires the head of Helios, brought tears to my eyes. Every nook and cranny reflects in shimmering detail, and shadows writhe across cavern walls as the light futilely chases them. There’s a spot or two in the entire game where a texture or two is a bit ugly, but overall the texture work is brilliant and running in full hi-res fashion. I added a few concept art pieces above to illustrate the amazing use of artwork in the game. Each location presents a unique palette of colors and texture work; a dull moment doesn’t exist. The colors pop, the resolution is high, the art is beautiful, the graphics rock, pure and simple. And as I stated before, God of War 3 does NOT require an installation to your hard drive. I have a 500GB Seagate 7200 RPM installed in my “Fat” PS3 (originally the 60GB launch model), so space isn’t an issue, but it’s still nice.

Animations are equally amazing. It’s one thing for animators to animate fantasy creatures with realism, but to fully animate a human being with such quality is breathtaking. Sure, Kratos is almost fully naked, but hey, I can appreciate a sculpted body that every guy wishes they had (and woman)!

Gaia set piece example 1

Gaia set piece example 2

Gaia set piece example 3

The set pieces, however, are the real stars of the show. What is a “set piece”? It’s a “big” moment in a game that combines cinematics with gamer interaction to produce an emotionally-charged moment in the game. I’m not sure exactly when set pieces became mainstream, but games like Call of Duty come to mind, which contain these “big” moments.

Sound. Wow, the sound. First, I need to digress a bit and explain something. I would be perfectly happy to allow you audiophile junkies out there to bash me to no end for this next statement: I don’t have a surround sound system at the house for any of my gaming or movie needs. Nothing. I used to, but with the new house’s configuration downstairs, it’s not really possible for me to integrate a system that I want. It’s an excuse, yes, but then there’s the upfront cost of such a system, which is less attractive in the age of crashing economies. Be that as it may, I scored an Astro A40 audio system for a good price, and I’m here to tell you that the difference in sound in every game is 200% better, not just GoW3. As such, I’m going to review the sound as a whole based on my experience with the headset on. The Astro A40 is a state-of-the-art, professional headset that incorporates Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound. The PS3 outputs DD 5.1 as long as you use the optical output into the Astro MixAmp unit. I want to say “it’s unreal”, but the truth is that the sound output of this audio system makes it as real as it can get.

I heard bugs buzzing around my head, as if they were in the room with me in the 3D space. Rain and lightning crashes with impeccable bass booms. Kratos’ grunts, footsteps, and combat slashes sound brutal, and the death animations caused me to grit my teeth with excitement, as if I were Kratos performing the moves. Having a stellar audio system is key to enjoying the depth that sound can provide, so without the above paragraph’s explanation, the impact would be lost on you as to how phenomenal listening to this game is.

The presentation isn’t without its problems. Camera work is pivotal in the success of any cinematic juggernaut, and the issues that plagued the first two games return. It’s not that the camera is bad because it gets lost, but there are times when it’s doing things you’re not sure of. These games are notorious for using the camera to reveal Kratos’ path, but it can be wonky at times, mostly during boss fights. The frame-rate isn’t always consistent either…a minor gripe, and it really never slows down to any level that you’d complain about, but it’s not 60fps solid, that’s for certain.

As Kratos runs the gamut of challenging the Gods of Olympus and Titans in the most beautifully crafted mythological world imaginable – Ancient Greece. This shouldn’t be a replacement for real Greek Mythology education, but if you purchased the Ultimate Edition and downloaded “Unearthing the Legend”, you will see that Sony Santa Monica did a great job of bringing the mythology to life by referencing key parts. Kratos interacts with lots of gods and titans in GoW3, as it’s the end of the series and…he’s attacking Mount Olympus. A few minor problems exist in the overall presentation, but the score below is more than fair: Only a 3% reduction because of minor frame-rate hiccups and camera angles.

SCORE: 9.7/10

The angry, angry God of War, Kratos

STORY and CHARACTERS

Even Xbox and Xbox 360 owners know Kratos, and know how angry the guy is. It works, it’s always worked. He’s every man’s man. He kicks ass, he gets bloody, he spits out dramatic lines with linguistic precision, he’s got big knives, he can use magic, he was a god, and he gets all the girls with no strings attached. See the appeal? If not, I’d check your pulse…now, go ahead, put a finger on your neck. It’s not the most kid-friendly character ever developed, but then again Santa Monica never said it would be. Kratos is the epitome of anti-hero and he pulls it off well. Kratos is the reason the game can be executed with the flare and appeal it has, and of all the characters in the trilogy, he’s the best. The voice-acting of the other characters is done well and draws the player into the story, but this is Kratos’ story and he’s the star.

The story in GoW3, in the end, confused me, only because it transcends into a tough bout of proper closure versus cliffhanger. I can’t spoil things, so I have to be extra careful here. Kratos is climbing Mt. Olympus to kill Zeus. You should know that by now if you played the first two games (and if you haven’t DO NOT play this game before the first two – you’ll lose precious meat of the story and characters). Zeus is also Kratos’ father, which you find out at the end of the second game when Kratos accidentally stabs Athena through the chest.

In addition to this simple story of vengeance, Kratos encounters a ton of puzzles, traps, and foes between he and his final goal. I mean, what good would the game serve if it were just to confront Zeus? And, of course, in true GoW style, Kratos will have to rip his way through several gods, and even a few titans, before he can get his blades into Zeus. The problem with the story is that there really isn’t a reason why Kratos has to confront these additional foes except that they lie in his path of vengeance. There are some twists and turns, mostly at the end, that are great, but overall the story is a bit lacking since we know so much from God of War 2.

Overall, God of War 3′s story won’t go down in history as wholly original or deep by any stretch, but it does round out the trilogy and gives Kratos the closure he deserves. Also, the boss fight at the end is one of the most memorable ones around, a fitting end to Kratos’ journey. You will be satisfied.

SCORE: 8.8/10

GAMEPLAY and CONTROLS

You’re in luck if you’ve played any previous installments in the series. The gameplay in GoW3, at the root, hasn’t changed. It’s a formula that works and works well. Kratos’ movements are precise and wonk-less. Platforming isn’t as much of a focus in this game as it has been in the past, but the puzzle-solving aspects are back and are clever in design.

Kratos has a light attack (square), heavy attack (Δ), jump (X), and grab (O). R1 is reserved for actions, and L1 is used to initiate a “remote grab” (L1 and O) and combo moves with both light and heavy attacks. R2 is used for magic expulsion and L2 is used for the new item bar, which I’ll explain below. There are lot more weapons this time around, too. The Blades of Chaos are replaced by the Blades of Exile. The Claws of Hades – nice purple weapons that look like meat hooks and are attached to chains – summon souls to fight along side you (very awesome feature); the Nemesis Whip looks like Freddie Kruger’s bladed finger glove, but there are two of them. The Whip is electrically charged, but isn’t really all that different from the Claws or Exile blades. Those three are the most similar, but the Nemean Cestus is the coolest and most unique. They’re a pair of fist gauntlets, each shaped like a lion’s head. Once upgraded, they maul mythological beast buttocks, and the ground slam attack wave sends foes a-flyin’.

The new item bar is a welcome addition. Instead of the bow – which now shoots flaming arrows if you charge it up a bit – using the magic meter, it uses a third, rechargeable item bar. It takes about 3 or 4 seconds for it to fully recharge (longer the more you upgrade it by finding Minotaur Horns scattered about the world), but it’s essentially a free use system. The Head of Helios uses this same bar, as does the Boots of Hermes.

Magic is tied to the weapon equipped now, unlike previous GoW titles. If you equip the Blades of Exile, R2 summons the Army of Sparta, which looks like a phalanx configuration of shields that thrust spears out in a 360 degree radius around Kratos. When upgraded, a rain of arrows follows the spear thrust. And again, the sound is freakin’ off the hook! If you equip the Nemesis Whip, R2 throws out a charged ball of electricity that stuns and hits enemies repeatedly, allowing Kratos to beat down on them.

Oh, and during all this, if you press L1 and X, Kratos will switch weapons on the fly, automatically, which is an amazing tool that speeds up combat and adds a lot of dynamic moves and combos.

The combat is fast, furious, and bloody.

The list of mythological children that find themselves father- and/or mother-less must be five miles long by now, and it will only grow through GoW3. The foes Kratos fights against are brutal, fast, and swarm him in packs unlike the previous games. There can literally be dozens of creatures on-screen at once, all closing around him in swift fashion. If they pile on too much, a context-sensitive sequence comes up where the player waggles the left analog stick left and right, which causes Kratos to thrust the foes off in a huge blast. It’s a cool effect.

Quick-time events (QTEs) make a comeback, but this time they’re much, much better. In previous games, the button symbol would pop up right in the middle of the screen, which always seemed a bit intrusive to me. In GoW3, the button symbols are smaller, and have been moved to the side of the screen that corresponds to the position of the button on the PS3 Dualshock 3. For example, when X needs pressed, it appears toward the bottom of the screen; square is left; triangle is top; and circle is right. It’s nice because it makes sense and the colors are also accurate.

Collectibles and upgrades return. Red orbs are your upgrade currency, as before. Use them to buy upgrades for each weapon. Feathers and Gorgon Eyeballs return for magic and health upgrades respectively, but a new one enters the fray. Minotaur Horns are used to upgrade the rechargeable item bar. Trophies are tied to each successful full upgrade, too (silver).

Problems: there are a few. First, the double jump is faulty. You can’t delay the first jump and engage the double-jump when you want to extend the distance. No. Denied. If you don’t double-tap X promptly after the first jump, Kratos falls to his death (if over a pit, of course). I missed countless jumps in this game and there are people on the forums asking “WTF?” as well. It’s faulty to the point of annoying, and that’s never good when a reviewer gets a hold of a game. And the camera makes another negative impact here. During fights, the camera can obscure where the enemies lurk. Fortunately, there aren’t too many moments like this, but frequent enough that it’s noticeable.

Despite these criticisms, the gameplay is phenomenal. Like I had to say all this to get to that short sentence, right? The games are popular and amazing because of a combination of set piece graphics, amazing gameplay, lots of weapons and combos, a studly man-god on a power trip that loves sex with wenches in tubs and beds, and cruel foes to vanquish.

SCORE: 9.5/10

SUMMARY AND OVERALL SCORE

God of War 3 is an incredible game. Sony sunk $44 million into the development of the title and it paid off. Kratos never looked so good; the gods and titans never looked so good; the gameplay has a coating of polish that improves the original finish and foundation underneath; the story, while a bit lacking, comes to a satisfying close with an incredible boss fight; and the journey has never been so bloody violent and bone-crunching.

The score I give it is not an average, and even with the few minor complaints, it’s well-earned, and not perfect. A game is a sum of its parts, not an average of each. Plus, I’m partial to these games and love the action/adventure genre.

OVERALL SCORE:

9.9/10