Pads & Panels

Title: God of War III

Platform: PS3

ESRB: M

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Sony Santa Monica

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

“In the end, there will be only chaos.”

This was the promise set forth by Sony for God of War III, and on all fronts the conclusion to the premiere action series in gaming delivers just that – pure chaos. God of War and its first sequel set, and subsequently raised, the bar for action gaming, laying out the framework that every action game since has turned to for inspiration, or at the extreme end of title’s like Dante’s Inferno, copied down to the button-mapping.

Such hype would leave many sequels destined for disappointment, but God of War III raises the bar once again. There’s a new king of the action genre.

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When we last left Kratos in God of War II’s cliffhanger ending, he was scaling Mount Olympus with the Titans in tow, prepared to extract his revenge on the god Zeus. GOWIII picks up from that very point, but the gods aren’t ready to go down without a fight. Zeus calls upon the Olympians to put aside their past differences to unite against the Titans, and they do just that.

Immediately, Poseidon plunges through a Titan and into the water below, emerging as a beast with crab claws and horse heads made of water. Its limbs are pulling Titans off the mountain and into the depths of the water below. Kratos is riding Gaia up Mount Olympus when Poseidon attacks, and the entire first stage of the game plays out as another epic boss fight in which Kratos is battling Poseidon while on the living being that is Gaia. While getting tossed around and turned upside down, he battles, ever slashing violently away at his foes.

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Of course, things are set in motion that deny Kratos his revenge from the outset, putting him on another path of absolutely epic boss fights, monumental levels, hordes of demonic foes and even a few puzzles. It is the God of War franchise fans have come to know and love, but bigger, better looking and more refined than ever before.

But let’s get the complaints out the way. The first is that the real-time button prompts made famous by the series and copied ad infinitum by the competition are still in, used as always for big kills and boss fight climaxes, as well as a little lovin’ for those who choose to engage in such activities. Sony made what one can only assume was a well-intentioned, but ultimately counterproductive change to these scenarios. Instead of popping up in the middle of the screen, the button prompts are shuffled to the outskirts of the screen, corresponding to their placement on the controller. One would assume this was to prevent them from obscuring the action and taking away from the immersion of the experience, but they’re ever-so-slightly harder to follow, and therefore make concentrating on the action even harder. They had it right in the first two.

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In many ways, God of War III doesn’t seem quite as focused as the first installment in its story pacing. The game’s level design is absolutely fantastic from a gameplay standpoint – constantly going from one new gameplay device to the next, and taking risks, introducing some things I never expected to see in a God of War game – and the levels are incredibly larger than anything in the series, or genre for that matter. But in many ways, the settings also don’t feel quite as memorable as those of the previous installments.

But all of these items are minor setbacks in comparison to what God of War III accomplishes. It is an absolutely epic conclusion to an engaging trilogy. It satisfies completely on that front. There is no camera control for the player, but God of War III is presented so well that there was not a single instance where that became an issue. Its action is pure, visceral joy, as is the badass nature of Kratos. Maybe the boss fights lack the ability to shock us as much anymore, as we already know what to expect from the series on that front, but Sony still has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep those encounters fresh, and more importantly, continue to help characterize Kratos in the process.

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Though two of the three new weapons introduced in the third installment are essentially blades on chains, the third, the Cestus, are absolutely badass (as is the method of acquiring them), and a lot more useful than secondary weapons have been in God of War’s past. The magic attacks, bow and special items like Helios’ head (from the demo), are all incredibly solid and varied, and once again very useful in comparison. And the leveling up of equipment comes fairly easily and naturally through the game’s progression, though life, magic and item upgrades require a bit more exploration. And for someone with a sick enough sense of humor to see the absurdity in Kratos’ one-track nature, the game is even funny at times (play: Poseidon’s wife section).

Where God of War III possibly impresses most, though, is in its sheer scale and presentation. The game does one hell of a job of making Kratos feel small up against the forces he’s dealing with. Again, the entire first stage is on the body of a Titan, while the crates in the Caverns dwarf the anti-hero, as do the statues, chains and virtually everything else about the design of the palaces of the gods. And the scale is brought about by everything from the images on the screen, down to the rumble and struggle of button presses to lift doors or the heavy hand of a Titan, which all give an illusion of weight. In this regard, God of War III‘s only contemporary is Shadow of the Colossus.

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And though I generally try to avoid talk of under-the-hood mechanics of a game, instead staying focused on gamer-end playability and experience, it’s hard not to delve momentarily into these things with God of War III, as it speaks to the magnitude of what is happening on screen. The Titans, which could have been simple set pieces, halfheartedly created only to depict what the gamer sees, are actually full 3D character models, infinitely larger than the game’s playable character, moving on screen with Kratos, as he moves on them.

More than 50 enemies can now populate the screen at once, which goes a long way in a few segments that flood the gamer with hordes. The cutscenes appear to be real game rendering, rather than pre-rendered like the first two titles, and Kratos may be the best-looking character model in a video game today. Graphically, everything looks absolutely phenomenal in God of War III. And despite the HD content of the game taking up a reported 35GB of space on the Blu-ray disc, visible loading only comes into play when restarting a save file or restarting a section after death, with only one or two sequences that appeared to be masking loading with in-game action. That’s impressive.

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God of War III’s campaign playtime comes in at roughly 10 hours, but upon completion the gamer is granted another difficulty mode, use of special items acquired in the first playthrough and a challenge mode, which unlocks a combat arena. The game also includes a robust video gallery with all of the behind-the-scenes features and cinematics one could wish for.

In the end, God of War III is a lot like The Return of The King of the gaming industry. It has its flaws, but as the final installment of such an epically successful and well-designed series, they’re easy to overlook. The body of the God of War series remains unparalleled in the action genre, and with the blockbuster conclusion Sony proves that no matter how many imitators there are, God of War is still doing it the best, still raising the bar, and leaving only chaos in its wake.

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For more info, www.godofwar.com

Pads & Panels received a copy of the game courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.

*Full Disclosure: I, Bill, was named by Sony as one of two Ultimate God of War Fans for a fan video I made in 2007, and reestablished as such this year along with the winners of a new contest, both of which included prizes. I would argue that I’m such a big fan because of the quality of the series and what it has done for action gaming. I don’t think this skews my opinion of the game, or if anything, forces me to hold it to higher standards. I feel I was able to write this review from an objective perspective, and addressed the small problems I found in the game. But as a matter of full disclosure, it’s something worth mentioning to the readers.

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