OK storytelling, but a Fitting ending. Though GOW doesn't do Greek mythology any justice, GOWIII is the king of action.
Pros:
-Best Intro to a video game
-A grade music score
-Outstanding Fun factor
-Better all around weapons
-Beasty graphics (lacking in certain areas)
-All 'God" Boss fights are Brilliant and Varied
-Fitting Conclusion
-High Replay Value
Cons:
-Nonimmersive
-Lack of Story driven narrative
-No Narrator
-Fixed Camera
-Annoying Platforming
-Invisible Walls
-Uneven Difficulty (Hard is too hard)
Let me begin by saying that stories come first before gameplay. In GOWI, the gameplay was based around its immersive and emotional tale of a man whoms thirst for power and greed caused him his humanity and worst, his own family to his own hands. GOW I was story focused and the music was stellar. GOWII was more of the same, but a little less story focused, but it was driven by Kratos rage (revenge) and ended with one of the biggest twist in gaming history. So what did next generation GOW do?
GOWIII was suppose to continue the engaging tale of Kratos' revenge, but it ended up being a random bloody mess and an ending that didn't hit home the way it was suppose too the first time, but if you learn to accept it, then you will find an ending that rounds the series off in the appropriate way. If you look at GOWI and GOWII, after you beat those games, there are a bunch of in-game and CGI cutscenes that amount to a full length movie that shows the epicness of Kratos journey. After you beat this game, the collection of movies justifty how stripped the games story had become towards the ending. Gods fall left and right with no other purpose than to waste time until you meet Zeus. You ask "Well all games are like this", yes, but the ones that focus on story give purpose to every action and do an exceptional job at portraying what they are trying to convince us of. With a game driven by an important journey, nothing feels important until the end. Now I may be looking for too much perfection, but I just think Santa Monica should have included more dialogue between Kratos and the Gods he murdered. Either way, what they did was good, I just wanted a little more. br />
The intro is just breathtaking and made me believe that the rest of the game would blow me away in the same manner, but ironically, the best part of the game, gamplay wise, take place in the first chapter. This is not a bad thing, but you will notice that the real potential of the game is shown in the beginning. The artistic design is great, the boss encounter is great, and the god you kill mocks your journey of revenge. Everything I wanted was being given to me, then after this fight, the game turned into your regular hack and slasher which is expected, but you never experience anything as wild as the opening of the game. But hey, all GOW's were like that. The boss fights that follow are the best boss fights ever in gaming in my opinon. For the most part, they are unique in setting and the selection of moves needed to succeed (if you play the game on Titan).
The gameplay is just marvelous. Most of the new weapons are beautiful to use except for one that uses electricity, the most pointless weapons in the game. The Cestus had to be my useful weapon because they are overpowered boxing mits that pack more force than a hemi. The same old same old is great, but Santa Monica enhanced the gameplay and created the most sound perfect gameplay in the GOW series. New moves, new powers, new counters, and the grapple pull attack, the most useful weapon in this game, especially when you are playing on hard. When you mix fanstastic combats with one the best graphic engines on the marktet, you get a game that is nothing, but candy to the eyes. There is no doubt this game is bloody fun and you will never be bored, so action fans will be pleased. On the other hand, I care about more than just action, and the action in this game has no substance behind in some instances. But for the most part, the pacing is just right. So lets get back to the flaws?
Playstation 3 is a next generation console, so instead of creating a more innovative and refined GOW like Metal Gear Solid did with MGS4, Santa Monica just polished up the old engine. This is great for fans, but I was expecting a more embraced feeling of control over Kratos and the world around me because that is the points of 'next-gen' gaming right. Fixed cameras were okay in GOWI and II, but jumping back into this type of gameplay is annoying. I forgave the GOW Collection for having fixed cameras because it uses last generation technology, but I still hated the fixed camera. Anyway, GOW III pays homage to fans, but this fixed camera results in cheap deaths. I wanted the camera to follow Kratos over his shoulder like most games nowadays (Batman), but the game still shows Kratos as an ant on the screen that can't be moved. Forgivable for the collection, not for a next generation product. The fixed camera could have been handled better, but you know what, its not that bad, it just depends on which difficulty you choose and hard is not good when the fixed camera is around.
The games dfficulty settings are imbalanced as well. Normal is too easy and Hard is well, Hard as hell if you are a pro at the controls. I am now and Hard is the way to go. But, the difference between Normal and Hard are dramatic. Platforming is annoying in this game like it was in the first two GOW's, but platforming is not a chore anymore and they did a great job at incorporating right into the gameplay. Some puzzles do break up the flow of the game. Couldn't imagine GOWIV using these tiresome puzzles. Another thing that God of War failed at was creating a believable world...again. GOWI and II were on the PS2, so it wasn't that important, but I was expecting a PS3 GOW to create a world that felt real. Olympus does not feel like Olympus, or what it is suppose to feel like. It feels like a cartoonish world that was created for Kratos to kill everyone in. The world is far from immersive. I think the fixed camera added to this lack of immersion. I could not imagine playing any other game like this. Bayonetta didn't even have a fixed camera. When the game did focus in over the shoulder camera, the camera work and view was amazing. If the game played like that and resorted to fixed camera in certain battle sequences, man this game would have been the most beautiful thing in the world. And you know what, GOWIII is brillant.
God of War III is definitely an achievement because alot is going on and the world is always moving and changing even though it may be hard to really notice without cutscenes to provide the visual scope to see so. Santa Monica took alot of time in creating a menaciing and foul looking Kratos and it pays off. His art design it great, but when you compare side characters to Kratos, they can look blah and unpolished to an extent. But besides that, the graphics are nice and the game can run from 7-10 hrs, depending on your skill level. The first time I played the game, I took me 13 hrs on hard, second playthrough, 7 hours on normal, and I played the game on hard the third time and it took me almost 9 full hours. So is this worth $60?
At $60, GOWIII is both an easy and hard sale. I never cared to play GOWI or II over again and I wasn't mad because I bought the collection for $40, thats two games. GOWIII is one game, that is shorter than any game in the series, and it is priced at a hefty $60 dollars. I am a fan of GOW, so $60 is nothing too me when it comes to GOW, but for newcomers, they may feel the game is lacking when it comes to value. I am not saying GOWIII is not a must play, it just not a must buy for non GOW fans. Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2 have multiplayers after you are done, Infamous is an open world game as well as Demon Souls which has amazing replay value. MGS 4 has a great story that I don't mind watching over and over wtih top notch gameplay as well as Heavy Rain. GOWIII has none of those things when you done except challenge rooms, but GOWIII has high replay value and I am now on my fourth playthrough so that proves how fun this game is. So if you feel like you will be playing this game more than once, definitely pick up, and as a fan, I know this will always stay in my collection.
GOWIII feels like a Micheal Bay creation though the story is better than most of his movies. The game costs alot of money, but once you play it, you wonder where all the money went into creating such a short product. The graphics are nice, but if you pay attention, you will notice that GOWIII is full of GOWI and GOWII textures. So where did all the money go, maybe the action like a Michael Bay movie, but again like I said, I don't care about action, I care about the story first. That is why I hated both Tranformer movies. And this game is full of action, and no 'true' story until the final end. One thing I hated about this game was the quality of the storytelling. Santa Monica gave no justice to Greek Mytology, but honestly, Santa Monica did a great job finishing Kratos' tale, they just should have included more Greek Mythology in this final cut. I am very familiar with Greek Mythology and I thought GOW I and II were leading up to a Greek Mythology explosion of back stories in GOWIII, but that expectation was not met, but that it no reason for me to downplay the story because that is not the point of the story, it is about Kratos' vengeance. Also Santa Monica tries to explain the importance of the Gods and Olympus, but thats the problem, they only 'tried' and in some parts they are successful, but more backstory and immersive cutscenes would have created the perfect product. Also, this game not only leave questions unanswered from the first two, but it also creates some new one as. (Who is Kratos mother?, Did Kratos know Hercules before they faught?, What about Kratos Brother?, What does Athena want the power for?, Who is 'the other one?). So many questions, but no time is given to answering them. Most are not important, but it would be nice to leave no loose ends like MGS4 unless they are trying to leave it open to another game because that is not a bad thing at all if this holds true.
I may be reading too much into the story, but its hard to take such a deprived story seriously when you are 20+ years old. GOWIII, to me, disrespects Greek Mythology because Santa Monica only uses the mythology as back drop to Kratos' rage. The ending does round the series off though, but it did not hit the same quality note as GOWI. Everything is there to make a great ending, but everything is shortchanged making me very upset when I compare it to the story focused GOWI. If they would have gave Kratos a closing monologue which reflected on his pass include his pain from the lost of his family, the worth of his revenge, and the reason for ? himself, the ending would have been perfect. The quality ending that was given to Snake's send off in MGS4 is not seen in GOWIII. Kratos' bloodlust career is closed on a low note in some sort of fashion, and looking back at how GOW I and II turned out, I am confused how Santa Monica thinks this is better than their previous two creations. Maybe in terms of action, weapon choice, and pacing, but when it come to storytelling and great endings, GOWI will always take the crown, but GOWIII hovers over GOWII slightly, but I will honestly say, GOWIII is better than GOWI and II.
In the end, I am left with a little dissappointment, story wise, but the gameplay is perfect and that is why the game receives a 9.4 , even though more than half of it feels like the other two GOW's. In my first review, I said Bayonetta had a better story than GOWIII and I am here to say I take that back. But I will say the Bayonetta had a more story focused orientation than GOWIII which made it more enjoyable. So GOWIII is the game I expected wtih an unexpected form of story telling, but the story is a fitting conclusion. The game is more of a quest, than a story driven narrative with Kratos at the center. Yes Kratos is the story, but this game plays to much like a quest. If you spent money to see how Santa Monica closed Kratos' tale, you may be met with a little dissappointment if you love storytelling the way I do, but you will know doubt be happy with the choice Santa Monica made for Kratos'. It took me two playthroughs to realize that the story was actually not that bad, but by no means is it great. Everyone is posting reviews about how EPIC this game is, but no one is talking about how good the story is...makes you think. As a game, Kratos journey far exceeds expectation in terms of gameplay satisfication, but the story needed better storytelling if this is truly the end of Kratos' journey for revenge. Clearly I love this game, but the story did not hit every note for me, but it hit most and this is why I had to change my score because I was taking too much away from such a sound product. The story is good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't satisfy my mature adult narrative thirst in some instances, but no so stellar storytelling aside, this is the best game I have played this year.
And for those who read my first review and read the part where I said "non-PS3 owners shouldn't be jealous of or worried about this game"...I take it back, this game is definitely one of the reasons to own a PS3, but for people who don't care for hack and slashers or GOW and only care about stories, this games is not a great buy, maybe a rental just to see what the fuss it about.
Actual Score: 9.4