Review: God of War III

[Jordan Deam]

Review: God of War III

Kratos makes his bloody debut on a next-gen console, but is it just a shinier version of the same old game?

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[Setsuhen]

Great review. Its nice to see that GoW upped the puzzle difficulty.

I am, however, embarassed to say that some it's predecessor's puzzles had me stumped.

 

[capacollo]

Good review. Glad they stayed true to the success of the franchise. Good addition with the puzzle difficulties too. Did you have a chance to experience the different finishing moves. Apparently you get to experience getting killed by Kratos from the victims perspective.

 

[CheckD3]

I had to pause after I had to hit circle to beat Kronos from the inside, then again to carve my way out, turning what he though would kill me into the nature of his demise. As soon as I got out, I LITERALLY paused the game I started laughing, the sheer fantastic scene really shows the scale and the fun of God of War, it's beating the living shit out of everything, and doing so that both the QTE and the combat is fun to do. The puzzles are still challenging (I'm just in the garden after Hera yells at me with her empty cup) and rewarding to solve, and the game fills you with glee and that manly feeling of "I could wrestle a bear and win" kind of thing

 

[Simalacrum]

Cool! Shame I lack the money to buy it...

damn you, Final Fantasy XIII!

 

[Casual Shinji]

When a game gets me to laugh with insane glee, it's doing something very, very right............or wrong.

Kratos is a bit more sympathatic in this final installment wich make some of his actions a little shocking. There were two main incidents where afterwards I thought: "Seriously Kratos, that was not cool."

 

[PopcornAvenger]

Great review. Its nice to see that GoW upped the puzzle difficulty.

I am, however, embarassed to say that some it's predecessor's puzzles had me stumped.

Well, GoW2 was one of the reasons I bought a PS3. Not because I'd played the original - I hadn't. I saw the gameplay, which consisted of the fighting sequences, and listened to the hype. The graphics looked gorgeous, and ripping an enemy's head off satisfying and fun.

I'd also played Wolverine, and greatly enjoyed it. Except for one item: the puzzles.

They break the flow of the game, they're highly annoying and often frustrating. I don't feel a sense of accomplishment when I've finally surmounted one; instead I feel a sense of relief coupled with a tinge of anger at the developers. There's little to no enjoyment dying 20 times to get past a certain stage in the game. It doesn't help that I'm more comfortable with a keyboard and mouse than a controller.

I finally rented the original when it came out for the PS3. I played it about an hour or so before sending it back in disgust. When I hit that first "Tomb Raider"-esque moving-blocks puzzle, I quit. Sure, I could have eventually solved it and moved on. I didn't see the point; it was obvious the game would be filled with these killjoys.

Maybe someone will come out with a good hack & slash that lacks these things, and instead provides more enemies, more areas, maybe a Diablo2 styled item generation, or whatever. As for GOW's "Winning Formula", it can keep it. I doubt I'll even rent it.

 

[Dublin Solo]

Nice! That's pretty much what I expected. In fact, I sincerely hoped they wouldn't mess up the fact that the gameplay and feel fo God of War I and II was excellent, and that they didn't need to fuck everything up with the third, just because they could.

I will most likely buy this as soon as I can.

 

[Setsuhen]

Great review. Its nice to see that GoW upped the puzzle difficulty.

I am, however, embarassed to say that some it's predecessor's puzzles had me stumped.

Well, GoW2 was one of the reasons I bought a PS3. Not because I'd played the original - I hadn't. I saw the gameplay, which consisted of the fighting sequences, and listened to the hype. The graphics looked gorgeous, and ripping an enemy's head off satisfying and fun.

I'd also played Wolverine, and greatly enjoyed it. Except for one item: the puzzles.

They break the flow of the game, they're highly annoying and often frustrating. I don't feel a sense of accomplishment when I've finally surmounted one; instead I feel a sense of relief coupled with a tinge of anger at the developers. There's little to no enjoyment dying 20 times to get past a certain stage in the game. It doesn't help that I'm more comfortable with a keyboard and mouse than a controller.

I finally rented the original when it came out for the PS3. I played it about an hour or so before sending it back in disgust. When I hit that first "Tomb Raider"-esque moving-blocks puzzle, I quit. Sure, I could have eventually solved it and moved on. I didn't see the point; it was obvious the game would be filled with these killjoys.

Maybe someone will come out with a good hack & slash that lacks these things, and instead provides more enemies, more areas, maybe a Diablo2 styled item generation, or whatever. As for GOW's "Winning Formula", it can keep it. I doubt I'll even rent it.

Well, I only played the first GoW on the PS2, never even finished it. I lost interest in it after a while, but maybe I'll get back to it some day.

Now don't get me wrong. I didn't like the puzzles. Like you, I never enjoy having to stop and stare for a scene and waiting for my brain to figure out what goes where. I personally would rather enjoy a hack 'n slasher if all I did was hack 'n slash. Puzzles are okay, buy they sometimes feel out of place.

What I meant in my previous post was that if they're going to make puzzles a core part of the gameplay, at least make them actual puzzles, not just a big jigsaw where the pieces have been already sketched out for you. If a puzzle's going to stop the action for a while, it should at least do it's job, not just make the player push something over to somewhere else. That would be more of a waste of time than a puzzle.

 

[Mozza444]

I really do hate hack & slash games..
But somehow this game really does appeal to me.

 

[Rararaz]

Another PS3 game I would like. I wish I could afford a PS3 and about 3/4 games at the moment. Saying that there are other things I could do with that money that would give me even more enjoyment. But still, looks like an awesome game.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

Now don't get me wrong. I didn't like the puzzles. Like you, I never enjoy having to stop and stare for a scene and waiting for my brain to figure out what goes where. I personally would rather enjoy a hack 'n slasher if all I did was hack 'n slash. Puzzles are okay, buy they sometimes feel out of place.

What I meant in my previous post was that if they're going to make puzzles a core part of the gameplay, at least make them actual puzzles, not just a big jigsaw where the pieces have been already sketched out for you. If a puzzle's going to stop the action for a while, it should at least do it's job, not just make the player push something over to somewhere else. That would be more of a waste of time than a puzzle.

I'm reminded of the tale of the Gordian Knot. For those unfamilar with this priceless gem of mythology, the Gordian Knot was a knotted, magical rope that was considered unsolvable by mortal man. There was a prophecy that whoever solved the puzzle would go on to conquer the known world.

Alexander the Great had heard of the puzzle, and, given he was interested in conquest, tracked it down. He approached it, looked at it . . . .then drew his sword and cut it in half.

THAT is a warrior's reaction to puzzles.

Maybe the developers could give the player this option, to destroy the puzzle instead of solving it, say, for lesser points or soul gems, whatever. It would be very satisfying to climb over the wreckage of these time-wasters, and a way for the player to thumb his nose at their developer.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

Damn it. Damn it! Damn it! I really want this game. I think I'm gonna have to lock myself off from the world from Friday night onwards until I've completed the GOW Collection, then I'll be straight off to buy this on Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to get a hold of this!

 

[antidonkey]

Too bad I can't find a PS3 to save my life. I finally get around to picking which console I want, well, the God of War series pretty much made that choice for me, and no one in town has any systems. Not even used ones. Le sigh.

 

[KorLeonis]

Just got my heads on this last night and I am LOVING it! Just got past Helios so far. I though this game couldn't shock me, having played all the bloody games I could get my hands on, but even I had to pause for a sec when he rips Helios' head off with his bare hands. I love what they've done with the game, just wish there was a GoW4.

 

[mip0]

This might be a console selling game for me.
Awesome!

 

[Jared]

Its certainly looking awesome, and, is a great example of this genre and what it can do.

Great game from what I have seen and look forward to actually playing it somepoint

 

[GameGoddess101]

I've never played God of War to be perfectly honest.
Actually, that's a lie. I played the PSP version... Chains of Olympus I think it was called. And I enjoyed it.
With a game like GoW you can't really fault it for not changing anything about the gameplay because it already works really well. Why change what you don't have to change when you have other things to worry about.
I remember a few months back when Sony was raving about why GoW3 was only capable of being on the PS3 graphically and at the time I thought they were a bunch of pricks. Well, looks like they were right, especially with the shift in perspective aspect.
I think I want to play this game now... 0-0

 

[Generic_Dave]

So...it's LIKE God of War...except with God of War then? ;-)