God of War 3 Review




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Developer: SCE Santa Monica Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: March 16, 2010 Available On: PS3

It’s hard to believe that around a year ago I was at E3 among thousands of eager fans waiting to get their hands on God of War 3. That E3 demo left a lasting impression on me as it was without a doubt the best game that I played on the show floor. Now that God of War 3 is out at retail, the game plays largely the same, but changes are noticeable as well. Particularly the shine and polish that a game undertakes in the final months of development are obvious.

God of War 3 is the final chapter of the God of War franchise. Exceeding God of War I and II is an incredibly challenging prospect, one that had to be enormously burdensome for the developers. Considering the fact that the series has gone through three different directors in each of the games, that challenge is compounded. The void in leadership has only been met with an improved product in many respects.

Following God of War II, where Kratos accidentally killed Athena when trying to slay Zeus, you seek your vengeance on the gods of Olympus. The game opens with a dramatic scene with the Titans climbing their way towards Mount Olympus all the while facing the wrath of the gods. You literally play the majority of this level climbing on the Titan Gaia, the narrator from the previous games, as she makes her way to the peak. A fight with Poseidon, the god of sea and horses, caps off this exciting level.

The game mechanics are largely still in place from the previous games. When you grab an enemy, you can beat them with circle, rip them with triangle, or throw them with X. A new move allows you to ram foes into other enemies by pressing square and moving in the direction that you want to go. One of the most annoying new features is the flight portions of the game. Basically all you do is control what direction Kratos goes and try to avoid objects. Other than that, they have added some new weapons that you can use, such as giant metal gauntlets that do a considerable amount of damage on nearby enemies.



As in past games, the boss fights in God of War III are absolutely awesome. You will fight on a couple of gigantic Titans, as well as smaller sized bosses like Hercules. The developers attracted some Hollywood talent to do the voice-acting for some of these bosses. Kevin Sorbo, the former star of the television Hercules series, reprises the role of his character in God of War 3. Rip Torn plays as Hephaestus, while Malcolm McDowell is Daedalus. Overall, it’s one of the most talented group of voice actors in a video game.

After you beat the single-player campaign there are a series of challenges that you can play through. The Challenge of Olympus includes seven different challenges, ranging from turning to stone ten times without dying to destroying all of the urns on the screen before time runs out. These challenges are fairly difficult, but there aren’t that many of them. It might take you two hours to beat all of them.

One of the challenges, Bare Hands, highlights problems in the game. In this challenge, you have to kill all of your enemies with no weapons. You use the skeletons on the screen to ram into an ogre and two stone statues while avoiding falling off arena. You have only 75 seconds to kill everyone, again, without weapons. Unfortunately, when you go into the button sequence and you’re near a ledge, they literally gravitate over the edge and when you come out of the action sequence, you fall to your death.

When you are done with all of the game modes in God of War 3, you will likely play through at least a second time. It’s an addictive experience that is well worth the price of entry. I am a bit disappointed to see the series come to an end. This being the first of the games on the PlayStation 3, God of War 3 showed much potential. Of course it already pushed the boundaries on the PS2, which is part of the reason why it was such a great game at the time. God of War 3 is a fitting end to an anti-hero that you can’t help but love.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 9.5
Creativity: 8.5
Replay Value/Game Length: 8
Final: 9.5 out of 10
Written by Kyle Bell Write a User Review

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