God of War III...again

Alright, I just finished up the game last night. It took me about 12.5 hours. Overall, it was a great time and it's a stellar game, but it's not without flaws and there's no way I'D ever give it a 100/100. Rather than doing a "review" I thought I would just list the things I like and dislike about the game, and that should just about cover everything.

LIKE:

-The visuals: It's gorgeous to look at. The Kratos model is probably the best-looking video game character ever (not gay). HOWEVER, I will have more to say about this in the "dislike" section. Also, there was never any slow down or lag in the game. Even with 50 guys on the screen it ran as smooth as if there was nothing.

-The audio: The music, sound effects and certain voices are excellent. I just went and replayed the Hercules battle last night to get a trophy and the music during that part is especially awesome. The voice of Hades was another high point. Gravelly, resounding bass and just...freaky, which is appropriate for the king of the Underworld. Also, the Helios head does this little scream every time you pull it out to light your way.

-The scale: It's a big world you're fighting in and the game designers do a lot to help you remember that. From the first battle on top of Titans climbing Mount Olympus to the multiple times you go up and down the chains from the top of Olympus to the depths of Hades to a battle with Cronos himself, it's amazing.

-The revamped magic system: Each magic spell you have in this game is tied to a specific weapon, which eliminates the need to pause to switch weapons. Now, you use the d-pad to select weapons and don't need to worry about switching magic, too, since they're tied together. I like this system much more because it just eliminates trying to remember which magic you have equipped. Now I know that when I have the Blades of Exile on, when I hit R2 it's going to summon the Army of Sparta and lay waste.

-The secondary weapons: The Bow of Apollo and the Head of Helios are pretty useful secondary items that you can use to light enemies on fire from afar and blind enemies, respectively. I used both of these much more than I thought I would. Unfortunately, the designers did not incorporate the 3rd secondary item, Hermes' Boots, into gameplay much at all. There are a few parts, mainly immediately after you acquire them, that you use them to run up walls, etc., but VERY rarely after that and that's a little disappointing. It CAN be used offensively to charge through groups of enemies, but I never did that.


DISLIKE:

-Other character models: Many of the characters other than Kratos don't look nearly as polished. Hera and Aphrodite's chamber maids come to mind immediately. Hera's scenes only involve her talking to Kratos and when the camera cuts between the 2 there's such a huge contrast in the level of detail. She almost looks like something out of a PS2 game. The same thing goes with those chamber maids. When you initiate the sex-minigame (now a staple of the series) the camera pans off of Kratos and Aphrodite onto the maids and they also look like PS2 models. On the plus side, though, there's Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Helios, Hades, Hercules and they all look good.

-Lack of variation in the weapons: Three out of the four weapons in the game are chains with spikes on the end. I can't figure out why they did this. The 4th weapon you get is basically just an electrified blade-on-a-chain that you use ONCE to power up some platforms. The non-chain weapon is awesome, and I wish they could have come up with something else. I would have liked to see a battle axe or a mace, maybe. Or a samurai sword. Just kidding.

-The roll: One of your defenses in battle is the roll. Just move the right analog stick in any direction, and you'll roll that way. Sounds great, right? Well, it would be but for the delay at the end of the roll. Yes, after you roll and land on your feet there's a SLIGHT delay where you're just kind of stuck there; you can't move, you can't jump, you can't attack. I said that it's slight but when there are 50 guys on the screen coming after you it feels like an ETERNITY. This was the same in all 3 games and it always bothered, but never so much as in this one.

-The frustrating boss battles: Again, all 3 games have done this, but it's never gotten under my skin until this one. In the boss fights in these games, you'll often have DOZENS of other small guys attacking you during a boss fight. It could just be because I played on Hard difficulty rather than normal for this 3rd game, but man it got really old. I just think it's a really CHEAP way to make a boss battle more difficult.

-The story: It's basically just God of War 2 all over again. You don't like Zeus. You want to kill Zeus. Why? Because he tricked you into giving up all your powers at the beginning of God of War 2. And why did he trick you into doing that? Because you were abusing your powers and being a dick.

-The character of Kratos: He's boring. He's one dimensional. He wants to kill Zeus just because he wants revenge. Also, I really can't stand the voice of Kratos. I don't know who did the voice, but it just seems like they try too hard to make him seem badass. Well, at least it wasn't Nolan North or Vin Diesel.

-The ending: I was not a fan. That's all I'll really say. I suppose I should have known I wouldn't like the ending since I wasn't invested in the story and I thought Kratos was kind of a jerk. Oh well.



In conclusion, I'll say that even though I had lots of problems with the game, I still enjoyed it. It was a spectacle to behold and it's fun to be in control of all the mayhem. Another thing about playing on Hard is that while it's difficult and frustrating, it's that much more satisfying when you can finally beat the area you're stuck on. It deserves all the praise it gets for its graphics and scale and "epicness" but that can't change the fact that the story is rehashed and Kratos is a stale character. I mean, even Zeus and Hermes tell this to Kratos during the game: "You always fail and never learn from your mistakes." The game itself is certainly not a "fail" but I think the writers could have come up with something more riveting than another revenge plot for this epic game. If Kratos had been fighting FOR something (other than revenge) or in defense of something....it could have been so much better. Take the epic movies "Braveheart" and "Gladiator" for example. While I love both movies, there's no doubt in my mind whether I like (that depiction of) William Wallace or Maximus more. Wallace fights for his country and for freedom and Maximus fights to get revenge on Commodus for killing his family and trying to kill him. Like I said, I really enjoy both movies, but there's not really any contest of who you like more/feel more sympathetic for/want to win more when you really think about it.