[Review] God of War 3

At this point in the console generation it seemed like we were finally approaching the max of what was possible.  After games like Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect 2 were released it almost seemed a bit hard to imagine what we would see next. Both UC2 and ME2 featured jaw dropping visuals and equally impressive levels and art designed that rivaled what we’re used to seeing in movies.  Now God of War 3 has come along and in less than a week of being released it has immediately shown that there’s still a lot of power to be tapped. In doing so God of War 3 has effectively set the bar for all future games to the point where it’s almost unfair since it’ll be a tough battle to top the experience found in GOW3. The game is simply that damn good.

By now we’re all used to seeing snazzy trailers, screenshots using triple Anti-Aliasing and demos that basically blow the games’ preverbal load.  With God of War 3 some people may not be expecting that much since it is after all the third (or fourth if you want to count the PSP game) iteration of the franchise. How much more can Sony Santa Monica do to show off the bad-assery of Kratos?  Without sounding like a complete Sony and GOW fanboy I can honestly say with all my gaming integrity that the first 30-40 minutes of God of War 3 is probably better than any game you’ve played in the past year or will play for the remainder of the year.  Fighting on the back of Gaia while seeing other Titans get attacked by Poseidon’s crazy water horse-tendril beast to the backdrop of an amazing score encompasses what all games should strive for: a pure cinematic experience that blurs the line between being an actual game and a movie like experience.

God of War 3 is of course a “standard” game and by standard I mean it isn’t an interactive drama like Heavy Rain.  But the reason the game blurs the line of almost being a playable action movie is because it looks so damn good, has an insane amount of polish, and doesn’t necessarily have that “artificial” and gamey feel to it in terms of game design.  Yeah, the game does have the standard magic and health chests which are essentially the GOW series version of Mario’s 1-up mushroom. But everything about the game flows naturally to the point where it’s absolutely perfect.
The opening sequence of the Titan’s attack on Mount Olympus and Kratos’ subsequent battle with Poseidon is a perfect example of all the things the game does well. And of course that’s only a mere portion of a bigger and grander tale which never once falters due to a weak level, design element or a story that has the usual weak mid-section. 

There may’ve been some reservations that God of War 3 may not have offered much new outside of the visuals, which I’ll talk about later, but that isn’t the case at all.  Once again the team at Sony Santa Monica has created a wonderful interpretation of Greek mythology that is as fresh as the first time we saw it.  Everything in the game has that artistic touch and you know by looking at it a ton of time and care was put into it.  The ornate and gold filled world of Mount Olympus looks like an artists’ rendition come to life and that’s only scratching the surface of things.  Seeing a massive statue of Hades resting in a throne chair has that realistic side to it design wise and you can imagine that Hades actually had thousands of poor souls carve that statue for him. The game perfectly encapsulates that classic Greek mythology vibe and gives it that aged look while making it look so appealing from a visual standpoint that you may want to take a moment to appreciate your surroundings when you’re not covered in blood.

God of War 3 is such an artistically good looking game that if you showed it to somehow who hates Greek mythology (boo to those people) they would probably be impressed with what they saw.  But the gorgeous and detailed art design isn’t the only thing responsible for making it look amazing as the graphics are also responsible.

When trying to sum up my feelings about the graphics in God of War 3 it’s actually a bit difficult. Using the word flabbergasted almost seems too small and tiny to describe my feelings. It almost seems suitable to create a new word to describe the feeling I had when I saw Gaia wrestle with one of Poseidon’s monsters or when I was atop of Cronos doing some damage since there doesn’t seem to be any current words in the English dictionary to effectively interpret my feelings. I’ll give it a shot though and say that God of War 3 is f*cking gorgeous and is easily steps above Uncharted 2, which as we all know is the current PS3 graphics king.

We all thought that the team at Naughty Dog are Gods and they are in their own right but folks at Sony Santa Monica must be direct descendants of Zeus and Kratos to create graphics of this caliber. Hands down the character model for Kratos is the best ever to appear on a PS3 game. By now I’m probably sounding like an over-eager fanboy or PR machine with my grand comments about the game but that’s the truth.  The shear amount of detail present on Kratos’ character model is just staggering and at times looks like it should belong in a CG cutscene.  His famous ash-imbued skin has an amazing amount of depth to it thanks to textures that give it that porous-painted skin look.  Kratos’ always stoic and rage filled face now has added detail to it thanks to terrific facial animations that fully captures the hatred and rage he has and you definitely feel the anger behind each yell and snarl he does this time.

The amazing work on the lead character isn’t that surprising but that’s not to say everything else played second fiddle.  As per my thoughts on the art design for the game, God of War 3 is one of the most well rounded and visually impressive games I have ever played.  The scale and amount of detail in everything is just absurd and as I sat and played I just couldn’t believe I was actually playing this. Terrific use of motion blur,  tons of particle effects, enemies filling up the screen, Kratos instantly becoming the size of an ant as the camera zooms out on a Titan are all things that I think won’t be topped this generation.

Despite the fantasy setting the visuals help give everything that realistic credence that helps take the game to another level of immersion and believability.  Stuff like the revamped Gorgons (i.e. Medusa) has a realistic look to them now since their skin now has snakelike quality to it. Sony Santa Monica even went as far as to actually put damage modeling on the Gorgon’s skin so seeing the marks from your newly equipped Blades of Exile on this slithering beast’s body is a small detail that pays off massively.

And don’t even get me started on the Hades boss battle since I don’t want to divulge too much that would enter spoiler territory. But that battle, and in fact the realm of Hades as a whole, has some of the best visuals in the game and that’s only the 2nd level.  Amazing water lighting effects that not only set the tone but cast a sense of realism on these unreal proceedings is a testament to the hard work that the Santa Monica team has done. There are virtually no weak points in the graphics of God of War 3 as every single element and polygon that’s pushed on screen is of the highest quality I’ve seen.

Considering the scale of everything that’s presented in the game it’s a bit unbelievable that the game looks that good and runs buttery smooth.  Previous God of War games have always remained at a consistent frame rate with a few minor exceptions but in GOW3 its pure silk given the circumstances.  The game may not be running at the much lauded 60fps but I don’t think you’ll notice that much of a difference when the game zooms out to focus on Gaia’s head only to zoom back down her arm to the fierce battle you’re currently engaged in. There are just so many things about the graphics of the game and how they’re executed that it just seems a bit ridiculous to even comprehend.

Even the smaller scale battles, and I use that term lightly, impress due to their execution and scope.  To some not constantly fighting on top of Titans or against the Lord of the Underworld may not sound that appealing but trust me, the boss battles don’t have a weak spot at all.  Some of the later battles don’t have that insane scale or action to them and instead are more “intimate” affairs where Kratos gets rather up and close to his enemies or at least tries to in the case of the Hermes battle.  But whatever the battle the end result is as brutal as ever, and in some cases more so than we expected thanks to the fidelity of the visuals.  Ripping out intestines, eyes, or removing heads never looked this good and seeing sprays of blood coat Kratos is rather satisfying in a morbid way.  Oh, and without spoiling things too much the much awaited Kratos vs. Hercules battle doesn’t disappoint at all, especially with the set-up and the brutality Kratos dishes out at the end. Poor Herc never stood a chance.

When it comes to Kratos’ brutality things have are relatively the same. Once again Kratos has chained blades of doom in his hands along with some highly addicting new weapons and special abilities. If you were hoping for an overhaul of God of War’s combat to go along with the jaw dropping graphics then you may be disappointed since everything is pretty much the same.  But would you really want Sony Santa Monica to tinker with the God of War combat formula at this point?

Despite remaining the same, which is a good thing if you ask me, the combat in God of War 3 is as fun as ever. Yeah, Kratos still rips dudes in half and can still do that cool move where he jumps and slams both his blades on the ground and so on. But it’s a proven formula and given the new epic scale the game presents and the added dimension the visuals offer, the combat is still fresh to a God of War veteran such as me.  The one thing that surprised me about the combat though was how good the additional weapons and abilities were. In the past, the God of War series has had some cool abilities and weapons but most players always stuck to the Blade of Chaos and perhaps one magical ability such as Poseidon’s Rage.  But in GOW3 all the attacks and special abilities are so good and entertaining to use that I found myself using them often in combat even on the helpless skeleton enemies since the attacks are so damn cool.

The roster of weapons and abilities in GOW3 is easily the best and most diverse in the series.  I don’t want to spoil too many of the abilities and weapons you get in the game, but stuff like the Cestus Gauntlets and the Army of Sparta ability are simply badass.  The Army of Sparta itself is extremely cool from a visual standpoint since seeing a series of shields surround Kratos to the sound of clashing and thumping metal almost personifies what the God of War series is all about. Cool visuals, amazing production values and empowering gameplay.

Kratos’ new weapons may not entirely change up the way one goes about playing the game but they do offer some diverse attacks. Obviously the Cestus Gauntlets are more for those up close and personal occasions when you simply want to beat the crap out of something, but even those have a small long range attack to retain the familiar GOW combat formula. Special attacks/abilities in the game have gotten a slight overhaul as some abilities, such as Kratos’ bow & arrow attack, no longer use up the magic gauge. Instead, it uses another gauge which depletes the more you use the attack but will reload after a few seconds.  This was a rather terrific move by the developers as it encourages players to use the attacks more instead of saving it for the inevitable boss battle or tough enemy encounter.

Kratos isn’t just a senseless brute as there are a few head scratching occasions in the game presented in the form of puzzles.  The GOW series has never really been known for its amazing puzzles as they’ve mostly been simple push the block and pressure plate affairs.  GOW3 may not present us with jaw dropping puzzles, but I do have to say that what we get in GOW3 is probably the series’ best offering.  Gone are the pressure plate heavy puzzles or the laborious ones where you need to push a block across a room whilst dealing with enemies. Instead I was somewhat surprised by the somewhat natural feeling that the puzzles had.

There are only a few spread across the length of the game but when a puzzle pops up it’s always memorable.  One of the best in the game pops up towards the end and all I’ll say is that it involves a garden maze, Hera and altered perspectives. Perhaps the developers could’ve pushed the puzzles a bit more or tried more unique things, but what we get in GOW3 is rather good given the series’ previous puzzle attempts.

But one of the things that surprised me the most about the game was the story.  Most assume that the GOW series merely consists of Kratos yelling and tearing crap up, and while that’s true GOW3 offers a nice range of depth to its somewhat apocalyptic proceedings. Just like the other games, GOW3 is essentially a revenge tale as Kratos is once again pissed off and is trying to destroy those who wronged him while gaining ultimate power. Even though the game follows some of the standard trappings of GOW’s storytelling, the game does present some interesting questions to the player while throwing out a few nice series callbacks.  Amidst all this destruction Kratos is causing it’s called in to question if the man is actually justified in his quest for power.  We all love the antics of Kratos but during his quest for power and killing of the Gods he’s almost painted as an extremely selfish man who just doesn’t give a damn. Kratos is essentially becomes the epitome of an anti-hero in God of War 3, though that does change towards the end of the game.

As in the previous installments of the franchise the story is backed by an impressive cast of actors. Leading man T.C. Carson again turns in what his probably his best performance as Kratos. Carson’s tone and pure hatred during certain scenes in the game is terrific and really brings a ton of life to the character.  With the work of Carson and the amazing character model for Kratos, the character really feels alive and has an amazing presence.  There are also some nice performances in the game thanks to Rip Torn as the sorrowful Hephaestus. Torn’s performance gives the character that aged feeling without feeling too cliché as he hits all the right notes on a character who simply wants to see his daughter again.

Oh, and whoever decided to hire the legendary Clancy Brown as Hades should be given a bonus.  Not only is Brown’s performance stellar, but hearing his voice as Hades tell Kratos to relax is something I’m going to put in my Top 5 Best Voice Acting Moments Ever list.

Playing God of War 3 may be a bit bittersweet for some. With the amazing set pieces, action, and references to past games, there’s no question that you won’t want this to be the final chapter in the God of War 3 franchise.  We’ll probably see Kratos pop up in the future via prequels and side stories but God of War 3 is without a doubt the end of this current story.  But as some of us try to hold back the tears of awesome while playing GOW3 at least the series is going out on an extremely high note.  Just like its protagonist Kratos, God of War 3 is a beast that simply rips through everything in its path to achieve complete and utter dominance.