Game Review(s) : God of War 3 (and a bit of God of War 2)

As you might have known, I have already reviewed the first GOW game on the PS2 which had blown everyone's mind when it first came out. Hell, even today, I like playing that game. Also you might have noticed that I haven't reviewed GOW 2, even though I've completed it. It wouldn't be fair to review GOW 3 without reviewing the second installment and thus, I think now is the right time to do it, albeit alongside the main focus of this review - God of War 3. Moreover, I will be making some comparisons between the games in the series. That being said, this obviously is going to be a longer review so if you don't want to read a lot of text, I suggest you look elsewhere. I will being adding a title before each so that you can go straight to the review you want to read. Onto GOW 2 first...

God of War 2 : Ironically, GOW 2 was the first game in the series that I completed. When I first played the original GOW, I was shocked at the nudity in the game (I was a kid back then and a weird one at that) and didn't want to touch it again. So my friend asked if he could have it and I exchanged it for a copy of Midnight Club 3 ( if I remember right). A few months passed and I found myself in New Delhi because of my dad's job and it was there another friend of mine insisted that I try GOW 2. I played it and I loved it like mad at the time. But now that I've played the original GOW, I must say I have a second opinion on GOW2.

Firstly, the graphical overhaul is obvious as you load the game. The graphics of GOW 2 blow the original out of the water (wait till you play GOW3 and this statement won't apply). The textures are crisp and the animation was fluid. The pre-rendered cutscenes were absolutely amazing to look at. The graphics were superb at that time and even today for a PS2 game!

Now the story - yeah, it sucks. All you need to know is that Kratos is betrayed and killed by Zeus at the start of the game and after that, he is revived by Gaia(?) who then goes to the sisters of fate to return back to the moment when Zeus killed him and exact his revenge upon him. The plot doesn't move the series forward in any way, shape or form. All it does is stall the game for an obvious third game in the series. The whole game might as well have been a tie-in comic book or a second spin-off PSP title  (instead of Ghost of Sparta) explaining the events between GOW and GOW 3. The story is not at all engaging like the first game. The first game unfolded Kratos' character as it moved on and it was quite interesting to sit through it. But GOW 2s story is not anything to brag about and was pretty boring than GOW 1 to be honest. And not to mention, plot-holes were aplenty.

 

The gameplay is where this game goes a step further with a multitude of weapons like the Barbarian hammer, the spear of destiny etc. However, my trusty 'Blades of Athena' were enough for me and the extra weapons were an added attraction and nothing more. The number of bosses were also increased from 3 to 6 (I think) and that is always a plus. The voice acting is what you'd expect and so is the music, so nothing much to talk about.

That is pretty much all you need to know about GOW 2. In my honest opinion, I find the first GOW to be much more engaging and interesting than GOW 2, basically because it focused more on the plot and the character. It took into consideration quality over quantity, so to speak. If I was to give a score for GOW 2, it'd be a 7/10 - just an okay entry. Now onto the third game...

God of War 3 : Let me start this out by saying that I liked GOW 3 more than GOW 2 but a tad bit lesser than the first one. The first GOW still hasn't been beaten as a game by the other installments including those of that on the PSP (IMO). Firstly the graphics - The graphics are the best that could have been possibly done on the PS3 system. This is a title that Sony would be proud of for another decade and with good reason. Even after half a decade, the character models, the dynamic lighting, the textures, the visual effects, the scaling etc. are all excellent and even rival that of the current PS4 titles. It is that good! However, with the realistic approach that they went for with this title, the animation is sometimes a bit cartoonish...just sometimes. There was one fight with Cronos which left my jaw hanging in awe. The graphics absolutely kick-ass. Nuff' said.

The story thankfully progresses unlike the previous game. The plot can be summed in a single line (maybe a spoiler for those who didn't play GOW 2) - Kratos is on a quest to kill Zeus. It is as simple as that. As trivial as it sounds (not really, I mean Zeus is the King of the Gods for Zeus' sake) more things happen in this game to keep you from being bored. Even though not as deep as the first GOW, it is quite convoluted. I had a hard time understanding some of the plot points even after going through all the other games prior to this. It was better than second's, but nothing too interesting. Also, we see more of Kratos as a character which was nice. A good story but not a great one.

The gameplay has been tweaked a bit. For the most part, it is the same. You have your usual square and triangle combos, circle grabs and jumps and glides and blocks and parries, all that stuff. However, we have a chain pull move added to the mix and a move where K grabs and slams his enemies into other enemies, which was quite satisfying. There 4 new weapons you get out of which two are very similar to the chain blades and didn't capture my interest for long. The only weapon I found to be cool and useful is the Nemean Cestus. Basically, they are gauntlets - a pair of huge metal boxing gloves and extremely powerful against any and all odds. Cestus saved me. There are also flight sections that were punishing to say the least. They exist just for a few minutes but man, do I hate them! The gameplay has been improved just a bit but nothing has been changed drastically and for the better. If it ain't broke...

There is one thing I'd like to mention right about now. If you have been reading my reviews regularly, you may have deduced that I love Quicktime Events in videogames. It was this series that made me love those button prompts in the first place. Usually, in the previous games they appear at the center of the screen where the action is going on so that you can see the action as well as get ready for the next button prompt. However, in this game, they appear at the corners of the screen (refer to the image on the right) which annoyed me. These prompts appear for just a second during which I would have to pan my eyes way across the screen where they appear, recognize the button, and then push it on the controller. For those having a large T.V. like me, that is too much work and you tend to miss the action and quite possibly, the timed button press. That I didn't like. The analog prompts are better now as they register the motions quite well unlike the previous games where they annoyed me to the core.

The music is largely unchanged with some more tracks added. The voice acting can be a double edged sword - Kratos screams all his lines like a maniac which was irritating whereas some of the supporting cast did their jobs fairly well. The thing with Kratos is, he is like Christian Bale's Batman. Over-the-top voice acting for no particular reason which turns out to be irritating. Overall, an okay job, I'd say.

If you haven't played this game yet or the series for that matter, I'd suggest you to go through it atleast once, just to experience the sheer scale and the scope of  it. Though the series/this game has a few flaws, it is well worth playing through just for the experience. The GOW series is, without a doubt, my favorite action game series and I give GOW 3 an 8.5/10.