I pre-ordered God of War 3 over a year before it was even truly announced. I got the early demo, and played it about 100 times. I bought God of War Collection to recall the events prior to the final part of the Trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed the PSP game Chains of Olympus, but couldn't complete Ghost of Sparta thanks to my PSP 2000 drive dying. :(
So as you can clearly see I like the God of War franchise....A LOT. So while PSN was down I decided to play through all of my old games, and get my trophy score up, and the second game I went to was God of War 3 (Resident Evil 5 was first since they were the easiest to get). But moving on along, I put the disc in, no updates, were off to a good start already. And as soon as I started playing it again I realized for the second time just how incredible this game is.
God of War may not have the best combat system in it's genre, it may not have the most enemies on screen, or tons of weapons and powers, but it is THE BEST GAME IN IT'S GENRE BY FAR.
Let's get the graphics out of the way. God of War 3 still holds up as one of the best looking games EVER. Even after the likes of Killzone 3, Crysis 2, and upcoming arrivals like Uncharted 3, RAGE, Battlefield 3, and other big graphics games. I as well as other use to say it's the best looking game at time, but the problem with that thinking was that the times when we thought it wasn't was simply something like running through some random hallway to get to the next area, and even then the game trounces 90% of the games out there. There isn't a time in the game where you're really playing that the game doesn't look jaw dropping. Kratos character model is easily one of the best designed in any game, the enemy character models are well done, especially larger/deadlier enemies. The sense of scale destroys everything out there from the Titans, to the stages, to the puzzles. I never noticed it while playing, but Mount Olympus itself is nothing but one big puzzle, starting all the way from the Underworld, up to the top of the mountain, that's the kind of scale you get in God of War 3 and often.
The gameplay is God of War 3 is perfect. It may not be the most flashy combat system, or the most technical, but it is the most smooth, simplistic, and satisfying. You don't have to think about what you're doing to play God of War 3, and that to me is a testament of great gameplay and great controls allowing everyone to be able to learn the game in minutes. This is the same the same feeling I get when I play Uncharted 2, which is going to be compared to God of War 3 throughout this review often. You get 5 weapons over your journey (1 only gained through using Rage of the Titans) along with a specific magic power tied to each weapon, and 3 items to use as well. The weapons are all pretty similar at first glance, but they do offer unique differences.
The Blades of Exile your main weapons are similar to the blades Kratos has in every God of War game. It's magic summons fallen Spartans to shield you from attacks and stab every enemy nearby, after maxing out it summons the Spartans, and the rain down hundreds of arrows on all enemies nearby. The next weapon you receive are the Claws of Hades after defeating Hades which I'll get to later. These claws function similarly to the Blades of Exile, but the main difference is their ability to summon souls to aid you in battle. So you can summon many of the enemy types you defeat in the game as you power of the Blades, one thing that's disappointing is that you can't use Hades even though you stole his soul with them, but oh well. The Nemean Cetus are next, and the most varied of the weapons. They turn Kraots into a brawler allowing him to perform hand to hand combat, and cause tremors by hitting the groun, but they too are chained weapons. The final weapon is the Nemesis Whip, which are actually two whips the are good for setting up aerial combos, their magic shocks all nearby enemies and temporarily paralyzes them.
The items have received a huge upgrade from previous games by now having their own magic meter, that refills seconds after use. You obtain the bow of Apollo to shoot arrows or flaming arrow. Boot of Hermes which turn Kratos into a track star/basketball player as he speeds past enemies, jump up in the air, or runs up and across walls. The last item is the Head of Helios (yes the Head of the god himself) to bind enemies, light up dark areas, or find hidden treasure/paths. This item is so extremely useful, so make sure you learn to use it constantly on your first playthrough, because you're going to need it to beat the game on Titan Mode of the trophy, as well as to find all the hidden chest.
The audio of God of War 3 is very good. As always the voice acting is great, and all the performance are well done. The music fits the setting perfectly, and the weapons and sound effects are great as well with the exception of using the Cetus to hit the unbreakable blue crystal items, that just sounds a little cheap to me.
Now that the technical part of the review is out of the way, it's time to get into why this game is such a masterpiece. God of War 3 is like playing a Summer Blockbuster movie, the same way Uncharted 2 was. This game is CINEMATIC. The camera work is some of the best ever, and the QTE's offering some of the grueling, brutal, but entertaining moments in gaming. God of War 3 just offers so many great moments. I've literally played this game in front of several family members, and they were entertained so much that all they wanted to do was watch, and only one bothered to ask to play when I died for the first time. It's completely unbelievable what Sony Santa Monica has done with this game using the PS3's hardware. There are just so many moments in this game from simple things like, the multilayer puzzles, to the amazing architecture, to the incredible boss fights. Oh the boss fights. EVERY BOSS FIGHT IS INCREDIBLE. The very beginning of the game has one of the best Boss Fights in any God of War game, or any game ever for that matter. The Poseidon fight is a complete showcase for this game, for your PS3, and your HDTV. It's truly incredible, and the time and effort they put into it really shows, this battle sets the tone for the entire game. The next big fight is with Hades himself, and once again it's another incredible experience, the two of you are literally in a battle to the death for your souls, and it's one of the most artistic yet brutal boss fights ever. The Hermes chase was thrilling and a refreshing take on boss fight for the series. Fighting a 1,000 foot Titan was another moment to go down in history as one of the best Boss Fights ever. Pounding Hercules face in, all the way up to your final confrontation with Zeus which has so many layers to it it's ridiculous in a good way. God of War 3 is one of the best PS3 games, and one of the best games ever. Like Uncharted 2 before it, it's a perfect example of what ever other game in it's genre has to look up to, because it's sitting high above everything else. One of the best games ever.
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
Nice review. I too am a huge GOW fan and pre ordered LONG before as well. Midnight launched and everything. I was a little concerned when I saw "God of War may not have the best combat system in it's genre, it may not have the most enemies on screen" I thought exactly what you put in your score section "Did you play it on easy then?" because well... Isn't that what would make the game "Easy" because the harder modes can be seriously hard as you or anyone who tried it knows. Also number of enemies on screen can get pretty high.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
About 1:30 in. I mean it's not 100 but there are time in the game where there are 20+ enemies with no hitching or noticeable framerate drops. I can't think of a game besides Dynasty warriors(Such a bad example because graphics and gameplay are not on par in anyway)That has more active AI enemies trying to take you out at any given time. Dead Rising has a lot on screen but until you get close to them they aren't actively trying to get you... I dunno thats just my 2 cents.
Great review though bro. GOW3 is my game of the decade for last decade. Best game I feel like I have ever played...
Game on bro.
I agree. I actually did just the same thing while the PSN was down. I played the hell out of God of War 3, Infamous, and Uncharted 2.
It's nice to see a review that's more of a "Remember how amazing this game was?" picture. It definitely makes me want to go back and play even more.
PSN going down was a perfect chance for everyone to have these kinds of moments with all of the great singleplayer games out there.
This is a fantastic review! I also LONG preordered God of War 3, and I have played the demo well over 100 times. I just never got tired of how awesome it always was. I'll never forget how fantastic this game is. Really reminds you of those good times.
I'm a huge fanboy of this series. The game was fantastic but still I feel the 2nd was the best in the series and one of the best games of all time.
Awesome review, very well written and 100% truth, thx dude i'm still in awe everytime i play it, God of War 3 is not been surpassed, i still cannot believe this is possible this Generation such magical graphics and overall experience, it truly is THE BEST on all departments, respect to Santa Monica Studios.