The story in God of War 3 brings us back to our angry little Spartan Kratos, trying it out a very third time through misfortune after misfortune against beings responsible for his nightmares - only this time, screw the nightmares, screw the forgiveness. He just wants to destroy everything. The intro to the game is befitting of the trilogy, as it was a montage of everything that occurred in Kratos' journey displayed as silhouettes while the familiar God of War tune plays in the background along with narration. The quality of this intro feels as though the audience is about to watch an epic movie and epic this game is.
The gameplay to God of War 3 is similar to the previous titles but as the saying goes "Why fix what is not broken?" The formula used in the series is what gamers have enjoyed for many years and it definitely works. To my surprise, the gameplay is much better in this third iteration due to the refinement in the control scheme and overall presentation of the Quick Time Events (QTEs). The QTEs are better displayed this time with them flashing on sides of the screen and switching weapons is as easy as pressing on the D-pad or holding L1 + X to change weapons on-the-fly during combat. Magic is no longer independent of weapon choice which is a shame, but the magic itself fits well with the overall theme of the weapon used. I only wished that souls could be changed on-the-fly as well for the Claws of Hades, but otherwise the entire gameplay / control had been refined to where it had become smooth and user intuitive. With R2 affixed to magic, L2 is now used for ancillary combat items such as Apollo's bow, Hermes' boots, or Helio's head. With excellent support for the DualShock vibration and well placed QTEs in the game, the haptic feedback provides this gratifying feeling when gutting a Centaur or pulverizing Gods to pieces.
The graphics in God of War 3 are also astounding to where some scenes are as David Jaffe had said "a painting come to life." The sheer epic size of the environments complemented with exquisite details lead to such a beautiful yet sinister visual presentation of mythology. Though there were extremely dark environments in some areas of the game, the team at Santa Monica did not forego quality and detail in the textures. These areas require the use of Helio's head to light the path ahead, and although dark, the design team still emphasized on producing realistic looking rocks, wood, mold, and whatever else you can think of in a dark tunnel or cavern. Because they did not forego the use of higher quality textures despite the level design for these areas being practically dark, the team gave the levels in God of War 3 such coherency that areas felt more immersive, realistic, and believable.
The lighting is by far the best I have seen in a video game this generation. There are other games that also produce excellent lighting effects but they fundamentally are just "lighting effects." God of War 3 on the other hand has such realistic soft lights that impose onto the environment and characters a natural organic appearance in both body and shadow. Truly in some situations such as the cavern levels, Kratos appears as though he is an actual small scale marble figurine sculpted and etched with such precision and detail, and placed into a static diorama on your television screen. Perhaps it is the result of what the developers had said:
"Number of dynamic lights – ALOT! that is one of the big features of our engine. We built it around being able to use up to 20 dynamic lights per game object. The light can be big or small, it doesn’t matter. In the end, i believe we support up to 50 dynamic lights per game object. We are not using a differed lighting scheme. Our lead programmer Vassily came up with this amazing system during pre-production, us artists love it!!! We can place lights in Maya and have them update in realtime in the game on the PS3, its like being able to paint with lights. Lighting is fast and a very enjoyable artistic process."
Anyone that know the amount of violence in the previous two games will appreciate this one further. In long bloody battles, Kratos no longer becomes the Ghost of Sparta but appears more like a red Spartan with his body covered and dripping in blood. Compared to the previous two games, boss battles are now very visually appealing with body deformations showing underlying anatomy. It just shows how visceral fights can get. Any artist would know attention-to-detail is key to an exceptional work of art, and the artists at Santa Monica illustrates that well in the game.
The story in the God of War series is intriguing in that it ties many iconic figures in mythology well but twists their story into a believable alternate universe. The concept of Kratos and his hatred towards Zeus is akin to the story of Oedipus Rex. Other characters such as Hades, Hercules, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Daedalus, and Hephaestus are explored further in God of War 3. Though we may know the general background of these characters, the game takes it further and shows us the drama between everyone involved (directly or indirectly) with Kratos and Zeus. It all boils down to everything that Kratos has done had brought forth malice to the world. If I had to describe Kratos, I would say he isn't the God of War. No. He is the God of Chaos. And somewhere in the back of my head when we discovered God of War 3 would be the end of the series, I knew Kratos would be the catalyst towards the end of mythology.
Though the story in most part involves hatred and vengeance, I found it amusing the team at Santa Monica took the time to add humor to the game - particularly the Kratos Hercules meeting. It is an obvious ridicule of the Twelve Labors and I just find it hilarious how Hercules' spiel felt so pathetic in comparison to what Kratos went through. At that point, I couldn't feel sorry for the clown and was glad Kratos got to put him out of his misery. However, God of War 3 is without its faults. The intro left me with a positive note but sadly I felt they should've revisited some other characters involved in the game. Those that did not complete God of War: Chains of Olympus will have some instances of confusion or feel a lack of coherency in the story but a quick google will fix that. I have thought of this before, but the God of War collection should have included a PS3-ported Chains of Olympus on the disc. It would've made for a better collection.
Sound is difficult to assess in a game such as God of War 3. There is just too much going on at once during combat that it is difficult to discern between high or low quality effects. A lot of the sound becomes muddled from all the slashing of the blades, enemy groans, and Kratos growls. The orchestral score used in the game is the same tune we've all heard and are familiar with. It simply brings back memories. And though a lot of the sounds during cutscenes are superb, once again it is difficult to gauge how overall sound quality goes. Perhaps it is best to say that sound is not the defining aspect in the presentation of God of War 3, but it is the visual aspects of the game that makes it mind boggling.
God of War 3 is an excellent game and though many consider it a button-masher, it is only so in the easier difficulties. At higher difficulties, button-mashing no longer applies and strategy is required. Knowing what button presses to take down foes becomes essential and knowing when to dodge becomes key to victory, otherwise prepare to be easily frustrated. It is a game you can finish in about seven to nine hours on easy difficulty using some sort of strategy guide. Puzzles no longer feel out of place unlike the previous two games and the puzzles this time around are interesting, somewhat thought provoking, and sometimes tastefully rewarding for your inner devil. On normal difficulty, the game will provide at least ten hours of play simply because some bosses are just difficult and require several attempts to defeat. On Titan difficulty and higher, I would assume it will take more than twelve hours. I've already died and retried 8-10 times on the sea horse and Poseidon boss fight trying to figure out the right strategy to use. That's like half an hour there.
The game is very much different from the E3 demo released. Parts of that demo was changed so much that the direction in those segments were completely different. Also, frame rate is increased so much so that compared to the demo, the final game is a smooth taste from beginning to finish not so sweet nor not so bitter just like a favorite beer. It is one of those games where despite not having multiplayer, the single-player aspect and its quality is enough to warrant the $59.99 entrance fee to experience this marvelous epic adventure. And even after completing the single-player, it makes the player want to experience it all over again at higher difficulties or to challenge themselves with the bonus mini-games. God of War 3 is one of those games where you must have it in your collection and if you don't, you're simply missing out on one of the best games this generation has to offer - and also the best video game trilogy take on mythology in our life time.
The Opening Levels that hooked gamers from the outset.
Cultured Vultures: Let’s delve into Kratos’ long and rampageous history and find out which games are worth the hype and which are better left buried under the weight of Kratos’s might.
Both requels over 2 and 3? Clowns. Those are two of the most boring games I've ever played.
GoW 3 was amazing, but I personally hated just one thing. (This is on me alone, because I was dumb, lol.) I hated that you couldn't skip cutscenes on repeat playthroughs. I had to go back through the game a third time because I missed one trophy accidentally on my way to the platinum... The cutscenes were great the first go round, even the second... But the third was pretty agonizing.
Haven't played Ragnarok, but I still think GoW 4 is a wonderful game in its own right. Not sure how I would stack them up against each other honestly.
I don't consider the reboot part of the original series. The original series were high-skill games with combos and rewards for mixing things up.
lol square, square and triangle is the only combo you needed. I have played all of them on the hardest difficulties...
Maybe I’m just old school but I just couldn’t get into the last two. Maybe it’s the slower action and more story telling but the original trilogy was by far my favorite.
Me either, at all. It's just yap yap yap. They try to be a RPG's instead of being action games like they used to be.
My favorite was part 2 and I think Ragnarok is better that 2018.
There is no worst. Except for Ascension, only cause I didn't play it lol. They are all masterpieces. 1,2,3, 2018 and Ragnarok. 1 of, if not the greatest video game franchise...besides MetalGear.
Oh wow, I actually forgot that Ascension even existed... I never played it either.
If you didnt play it, how could you call it the worst? Its not as bad as the media portrayed it. Honestly the worst are those flash games. they arent even considered true GoW games but in name only. At least Ascension is a real GoW game.
Not saying it's a terrible game. Just mean it's at the bottom of my list. I played a little bit of it. Jus to me, compared to the other main games, it's last.
Can't agree, older games do so much more than the last two. More weapons, magic abilities, enemies are more varied, level design is also more aesthetically pleasing, and agree with those who say that they shouldn't have removed jumping. Was a time I'd agree, but those old games are so so much better, that they really should've looked into bringing into the reboot/sequels.
If a game is good then a game is good. Doesn't matter what came before or what comes after.
Of course it matters. If not for what what came before there wouldn't be an after. And if something is great before then you strive to make it just as good if not better, after. I personally don't think there's a fair way to judge the new with the old because the newer games are still essentially a reboot, and went a way different direction. But I still believe the old games did it better. I'm probably bias though since I've been going back to old games and have been finding that they lack all the annoying aspects that devs have shoehorned into new games to fluff out game time.
@Inverno
Im not talking about the passage of time here. Im talking about individual pieces of software. If a game is good then it is good. Thats not a controversial statement. You can compare good with good...sure. But you still end up with good. Now if there is a bad game in the mix and you compare you do end up with some differentials between them...makes sense to compare and see where it went wrong.
But theyre different genres and styles which were individually executed very well.
And no. The new games are not a reboot. Theyre a new direction but simply a continuation.
Tomb raider was a reboot.
The new games are definitely a reboot, and a continuation, it can be both which it is. And a good game might be good, but my point is that if there are things done better before it then there's plenty of room for critiquing and trying to make whatever comes after better rather than just good.
God of War 3 Remaster has sold 4 million copies since its inception, making the franchise PlayStation's most profitable gamer merch brand.
Haha I still remember my brother playing the opening scene on ps3!!!
Yeh he had to put the controller down his heart was beating too fast trying to get past first 10 minutes. He said "it's too much". Best thing I've ever seen in gaming. Haha
A great game from an era before things went politically correct and gaming turned serious/'mature'.
It certainly wasn't concerned about upsetting or offending anyone and was more fun because of it.
The boss battles and set pieces still top most games released today.
Yes. The graphics were just ridiculous compared to most other games on the market at the time.
Ascension SP had some things better than GOW3, and also some things worst than GOW3. But in general it was a really good game, for me it also deserves a REMASTER. The problem per se with the game is that most people were satisfied on how GOWIII ended, so Kratos got his revenge, so in order to rise the interest in the game how have to make it MORE EPIC is that the game did not had the epicness of fighting huge bosses (I guess due to technical difficulties,the game had actually a lot more colors (because the world is not dying like in GOWIII) so it is graphically more demanding that is my guess), but it compensated with having in general a more complex combat system, and an amazing soundtrack. but in general the game needed to be more epic than GOWIII somehow, and that did not happened, after GOWIII people had expectations through the roof. They should have waited and release it for PS4 so the vision of the game is not compromised.
My list of good and bad compared to GOWIII
GOOD: THE COMBAT
The combat was more elaborated, which allows you to be more immersed in the fights. Also every enemy was more resistant, even those that you could usually kill in 2-3 attacks in previous games. THE LAST BOSS is so damn epic!!!, but there is only one moment like this in the whole game.
GOOD: LESS QTEs
I love the fact that "cicle" in the new enemies (killing animations) are not QTEs, in Ascension they are mini-games on their own, depending on the enemy, making it more engaging. You had to dodge and hit when the window was open in order to eventually do the killing blow.
GOOD: The Soundtrack
it has the orginal trilogy musics, but with a new perspective since the game had a new composer. The ST was amazing also the new music written specifically for this game were badass
GOOD: The puzzles actually require you to think.
BAD: There are bad camera angles during the game, like zooming way too out of vista, and then swarming you with "light units" that like I said before had better AI and did not die of 2 attacks. those parts a few, but are a mess.
BAD: EMPTY ARENAS
Other thing that really annoyed me is that when you fight a sub-boss/heavy unit in a big arena; that ARENA WAS EMPTY, it was just you and against the medusa, or against the manticore. They should have zoom in into the action to avoid noticing the void scenario. I guess emptiness was because of the game having a lot more colors (because the world is not dying like in GOWIII) so it is graphically more demanding. My guess is that it was not possible technically, since in most of those cases you had huge vistas or intricate scenarios that needed to be rendered. The fact that the cerberus is smaller in this game disappointed me.
BAD: Only one BADASS EPIC moment, the others moments of the game were great but, they needed to set the bar even higher than GOWIII and they failed miserably.
BAD: The graphics did not improved much. I was GOWIII with more colors, and that's it.
So 4 good things against 4 bad ones. The problem is those 2 last BAD aspects are actually why the game was received so poorly. Everyone expects the next game to have a really BIG improvement in all aspects in contrast to the previous one, and that was not the case in ascension. And also GOW is the definition of EPIC, and that was not there neither. The jump on every aspect from GOWI to GOWII was huge being on the same console, and the jump from GOWII to GOWIII was humongous (obviously because a more powerful console). While the jump from GOWIII to Ascension is too little, and people expected more.
On it's own is a good game; but is not sufficient when GOWIII was released before it.
I know this is unpopular opinion, but I prefer these over the new ones. I’m not saying the new ones are bad or anything, but they sort of get boring to me, whereas the older games were like non-stop roller coaster rides.
I love the new ones but I understand what you mean. The older ones had more action and was more arcady like.
Ragnarok was not BIG at all… GoW1 had larger set pieces, and it was on ps2.
GoW 2018 had big moments in its own way…. Ragnarok abandoned these aspects though
