God of War 3 is an epic roller coaster ride, and prime example of what all video games should aspire to be. God of War 3 presentation is on par with blockbuster movies, and is a prime example of what videos should be.
God of War 3 keeps the formula that made the previous 2 games in the series successes. However, it evolves and expands upon those concepts so perfectly that it makes the other games feel as dated as they are.
The first major overhaul has been to the gameplay. The gameplay is fundamentally the same as God of War 2, however, additional moves like the the grabbing ram, and grappling with the chains of exile, and real time weapon switching make the combat so effortless that you forget that you're only using two buttons to attack. I've always felt that linearity and combat were God of War's weakest points, but Sony Santa Monica has done an excellent job turning those weakness around. The combat system has turned from being good enough into high quality gameplay. The new weapons and tools you obtain along the journey are all extremely useful, and combined with the items Kratos keeps from God of War 2 and a new magic meter specifically for items, God of War 3 can now comfortably compete with the other big games in the genre in terms of gameplay.
Speaking of linearity, God of War 3 doesn't change that formula. However, the game hides it very well. The entire game takes place on Mount Olympus, but this mountain has tons of nooks and crannies. You go from the top of the mountain to the pits of Hades, up through the mountain innards, to Poseidon's lair, through the mountains, into the realm of the Olympians, down to Tartarus, and more. And the game hides it's linearity by bridging each area together as if they're truly connected.
Another thing improved upon is the camera. The camera provide the most dynamic image available for every scene in the game. When you're scaling the mountain it zooms in on you, before panning out and letting you see just how far you've come. When you go in for the kill it zooms in letting blood splatter spray everywhere. The camera is like a character itself aiding Kratos show off his talents. The QTE's have also been revamped by having the button press appear in the sides of the screen as they're laid out on the controller. The makes it easy to perform the QTE's without missing any of the action on screen.
Finally Puzzles and Platforming are given more face time this go round, and both section are done well like every other part of the game.
Graphically God of War is a stunner. It's easily one of the Top 5 best looking games this gen. Highlights include the boss battles. Each one seems like a choreographed scene from a movie. The character models are also amazingly detailed especially the titans, but even common enemies vary from one another which is not seen in many games. Another thing to note is that while God of War 3 is aesthetically beautiful it's also a technical masterpiece. The game runs at 1080p at 60 fps. But that frame rate varies between 30 and 60 fps, however, the frame rate is never a problem because the drop occurs at times when it's never noticed. How SSM (Sony Santa Monica) did this I don't know, but they need to teach this technique to other devs. There's not enough that can be said about God of War 3's visuals so just play the game and see for yourself.
God of War has always had great audio and part 3 is no exception. As always TC Carlson ("Living Single", "Final Destination 2", and now a Macy's commercial) does an excellent job as Kratos, but everyone in this game is voiced well. And the music does an excellent job of moving the game along as well.
God of War 3 is an perfectly paced game, that unfortunately feels shorter than what it is simply because you don't want it to end. The game is around 10 - 12 hours long, and afterwards you can take on the Challenge of Olympus or replay the game uses the powers from the urns and items you've unlocked. So that's it, then end of the trilogy and how the series ends. It's been a great ride, but everything must come to an end sooner or later, and God of War is leaving on a high note. God of War 3 along with the franchise will go down as one of the best of all 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
good review, i agree with the ending, i wanted something better, and the last boss fight was a disappointment, but everything else was !0 out of 10. well written buddy boy
I kinda agree with the last boss fight. It was good but in comparison to the battles between Hades in GOW1 and Zeus in GOW2, it was truely lacking
Loved it! easily the best hack n' slash of 2010. Bring on GOW4!
Thanks everyone, I haven't posted a review in a long time so I picked one of my favorite games to review. I thought the fight with Zeus was fine, it wasn't the best, but the whole wrap up to the story was weird.
But it was still an amazing game.
AGREEEEE with awesomeperson
zeus battle was EPIC
but Poseidon battle at the beginning just had to be one of the most incredible opening scenes of biblical proportions i have EVER witnessed!