God of War 3 - YAY!

So at long last it finally has come out. God of War 3, a game I have waited patiently for several years now to be released. It was worth the wait... as well as the small investment in a PS3 as this game is the very reason I bought the system at the end of last year. Come to think of it, that isn't a very small investment is it? Anyhoo, on with the review!

God of War 3 is the 4th installment in the series of our hero Kratos. Fourth? But didn't you say it was the 3rd game? Why yes my fair reader I did! Waitaminute, is this some of that fuzzy math you kids learned? No, far from. You have the numbered games, God of War (GoW), God of War 2(GoW2), and God of War 3(GoW3), but let us not forget it's PSP release, God of War: Chains of Olympus (GoW: CO) that was released between GoW2 & GoW3. I say it's the 4th game in the series as the story of God of War 3 makes direct references to the PSP game, such as the killing of Persephone and previously assisting other Gods. And that is where I will begin my critique of the game.

As I played the game this had me a bit baffled. You play through games 1 and 2, get your shank on in number 3... then the characters start talking about things I've never heard nor seen in the first two. All very confusing at first. But there is salvation in Wikipedia and I quickly read through it's article on the PSP game to find out what they were all babbling about. I have to give kudos to Santa Monica Studios for the tie in, bringing events from all three games into the newest one, but on the opposite hand I was a tad annoyed. As a gamer, you want good follow through in the stories, you want everything in the story that is told to flow nicely and make sense. Now that I know what had happened in GoW: CO, I can say that yes, the story as a whole makes sense and has some great tie ins, but when I consider it as a series that's released for the PS2 and now PS3, not to mention that it is advertised as a Trilogy, I think someone's wrist needs to be slapped. Personally, I find it a bit frustrating to make a lot of references and base a chunk of your plot on events that occurred on a game on a different console. Especially when you go and label them with numbers. But beggers can't be choosers and all that so I'll deal with it.

Timeline

Short and simple for those who don't know, the series goes GoW:CO, which is a prequel to the main series, set some 5 or so years before GoW. This is followed of course by GoW2, and GoW3. With that in mind GoW3 makes a bit more sense  with its story.

Overview

The plot of GoW3 is pretty simple. Kratos continues his quest of revenge, hell bent on chopping Zeus to tiny bits. Kratos traverses this time across all of Olympus from the depths of Hades at the mountains base to the very tippy top of the Palace of the Gods. I'm not sure if I should call Kratos a hero at this point, or the most ticked off emo kid to ever exist. Like the other two games, oops, THREE games, Kratos decimates everything and everyone in his way, not caring who or what he kills (not to heroic now, is he?). Classic kick ass and take names attitude. Only, he doesn't take names, he instead takes very cool weapons that will aid him on his quest. The game starts off literally where GoW2 ends, with Kratos riding the back of the Titan Gaea as she climbs Mount Olympus. From there it's back into the slashing, killy goodness that is Kratos as you decimate hordes of undead warriors, minotaurs, centaurs, gorgons, harpies, and of course gods.

The game most assuredly has it's share of puzzles that Kratos must solve in order to progress. Overall I found this game to have puzzles that weren't as tricky and seemed to fit into the flow of the game more than the previous ones. Most of the time I didn't feel like I was working on a puzzle, more so just traversing through the various landscapes. But of course, there is always that one puzzle that makes me want to through my controller through the nearest window (I am not musically inclined here people!), but once it's over, it's over.

Of course, one can not talk about GoW and not mention the blades on chains that Kratos wields.  Now using the Blades of Exile, you get to swing away wildly at your targets through various combo's. The game retains it's wonderful free flowing style, allowing you to switch targets immediately without seeing a visual break in the animation. To that end the developers of the game went a bit further and utilized this wonderful setup and implemented on two other weapons you obtain (sorry, going to have to play the game to find out what they are!). to aid in continuity, Kratos keeps items he obtain in GoW2: The Golden Fleece, Icarus's Wings, and Poseidon's Trident, making for a more seamless transition. Those, along with some other unique items makes for some great blood spilling fun.

One additional thing that stood out to me was how short the game seemed to feel. I was able to play the game in one sitting, roughly... 10 hours or so of game play. Maybe I'm just that good at it? Doubtful. But then again, after playing games like Borderlands with ab obscene amount of side quests, and Mass Effect 2 with it's 30+ hours of play, 10 hours does seem short. But it was a fun 10 hours!

Graphics

Needless to say my jaw dropped. When I had played GoW2 I was blown away by the scale of the game, and again, this new game surpasses it's predecessor in every way. For the first 20 minutes of game play I was overwhelmed by it. The level of texture detail is fantastic. When the game starts up you get a nice close up of Krato's face on the right side of your screen. Wrinkles, scars, it's all there. From there you expand out to minions, monsters, and the like, to the environment around you. Metallic surfaces shine with a pristine glow while stone surfaces look strong and stable. Texturing on both is superb and makes for a very realistic experience. GoW3 also has a wonderful sense of light to it, creating new level's depth and scale to make the world in which Krato's battles is larger than life. Like the previous games color does not go unnoticed and helps to create a sense of wonder. Brightly glowing objects stand out nicely yet don't distract.

Speaking of light, one effect that I thought was nicely handled was reflected lighting. Krato's weapons each have a different color to them when they glow. As Kratos switches them out and uses them in darkened areas, the unique color light of the weapon reflects off of objects, adding again to an already nicely established sense of realism. This continues through out the game into the NPC's as well. The effect itself feels very organic, not rigidly structured and false like some other games tend to do. You get the feeling that the light is definitely coming from Kratos and not just a color slapped on a wall.

What caught my attention right away besides the shear scale of the game was how the developers went about it. Motion blur has been added to the game to not only enhance realism but gives you a great sense of just how fast things are occuring. Even more awesome is the depth of field effects. While the focus of the camera stays on Kratos, items that get closer to the screen blur out and obscure your view just slightly, but not enough to detract from the game play and combat. These foreground objects where given some great attention as well as they seem to retain their sense of depth of form even while blurred. Role it all together and you get a very nice sense of realism.

All of this comes together in the cut scenes. Telling you, they should just take it and make an animated movie out of all of this. Just... so good.

Voice Actors

Loved it. Rip Torn, Clancy Brown, Malcolm McDowell, Corey Burton, Gideon Emery, Susanne Blakeslee all make appearances. The voice work for Kratos by TC Carson is still superb; I can't think of anyone else who could make the character more realistic and angry. What made me grin with excitement and laugh though was that Kevin Sorbo was the voice of Hercules. I give major kudos for that one. Best tie in ever. I enjoyed watching the Hercules TV series when it was on air and I've always liked Kevin Sorbo's acting, so seeing/hearing him 'reprise' his role as the son of Zeus is just awesome.

Is it over?

According to Sony, GoW3 is the last in the series, rounding out the trifecta, yet not the last in the franchise. That's good to know, because not only does the game leave you wanting more, but so does the ending. ;-) So that said, go buy it! NOW!