An experience of a very special kind
Then I played the first 10 minutes of God of War II and was very uninterested. I literally stopped playing and sent the game back. It seemed too familiar and I did not feel like playing it. I am sure this was a mistake, but this is how I felt.
So when God of War III was announced and the expected hype built around its impending release, I was very unexcited. I was sure it would be a well-produced game with incredible graphics and great combat. But, I was very wrong to underestimate Santa Monica studios masterpiece: GoW III is a work of art.
Many developers have aimed to make games that transcend "games": Ninja Gaiden gave us graphics so good it was almost like playing a CG; Gears of War gave us battles so intense and a world so destroyed we played on the edge of our seat - and so on. GoW III stands apart, though. It is not only the graphics, for they are incredible. And it's not only the combat, for it is as visceral as it gets.
GoW III conveys scope and the idea of the epic unlike any game I've played to date, including the overrated Final Fantasy XIII (and I am at core an RPG-er - not an action gamer!) From the first moment you are hanging on to Gaia and fighting Poseidon to an epic battle on the body of Cronos, to simply watching Haephastus operating in the background while you save the game, you will continously be amazed at a world that seems to truly operate independently of it being a game. This is the work of those who have vision and the determination to bring the magnificent to life. The adventure is one to exhilirate.
However, this is all not to say that GoW III is flawless. For example, as visceral as the combat is, taking out rooms of enemies can get hairy simply because in an effort to convey scope, the camera fails to provide a clear picture of the action. Similarly, the controls can be oddly finicky. In particular the double jump can refuse to work when you need it most. My biggest complaint is that GoW is guilty of the neverending ending - the boss battle that won't quite quit and an awkward interactive cinematic that frustrates rather than working to bring the gamer to a satisfying close - why am I running down an endless corridor for minutes and minutes?!?! I understand what the developers had in mind but the looseness of the end's implementation is at stark odds with the polish in the rest of the game.
In any case, even with these complaints made, I maintain that GoW is nearly perfect. If you experience it, you experience the love of making games and imagining worlds.