A few weeks ago I started playing God of War 3. Seeing as this wasn't my first time with the old girl and I didn't want to beat the game over the course of a weekend, I decided I was man enough to play on Titan Mode (Hard). I've since come to loathe that decision, but like a mad Spartan out for vengeance, I pressed on. Being a veteran of the franchise and experiencing the cliffhanger ending coupled with massive hype for the game, I had some great expectations. Kratos was able to partially live up to them, but overall, I was left with the feeling that the game just didn't deliver on its promise.
Graphically and auditorily speaking , this game is marvelous. The musical score of God of War 3 really helps to set the ominous tone. The sound effects add to the depth of the violent and brutal combat. Other game designers should take note; you can make a "darker" themed game but still include a full spectrum of color. The scars on Kratos from previous games are all present and look awesome in high definition. Ripping enemies to pieces will cover him in blood, lots and lots of blood. This game is about the goriest I've ever played and falls just short of being a mythological snuff film. It isn't necessarily a bad thing as Kratos is all about rage and vengeance, but it tends to make him feel shallower. The grandiose scale of the levels will leave you breathless. Kratos feels small and insignificant amongst the Gods and Titans.
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The combat is what you'd expect out of a God of War game, press square a few times, hit triangle, repeat. What you don't expect is the frequency of being "trapped" in a combo. The regularity of switching between weapons while trying to block or jump. Trying to roll dodge out of the way only to get hit mid-animation. These are some of the minor frustrations you'll experience over and over again. The game on hard isn't so much that it's more difficult, it's just that it's cheap. Getting trapped in a combo is easily the most hair pullingly awful; enemies continue to attack, even when you've landed a successive series of blows. Somehow, while you’re giving a beating of biblical proportion, they will magically hit you. I died many, many times as a result of this.
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God of War has always been famous for their boss battle/quick time event system, but like the high school prom queen at her reunion 10 years later, she’s starting to show its age. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying, the boss battles are cool, but once you've done one, you've done them all. Every fight follows the same path, damage boss, QTE, damage boss, QTE, damage boss, QTE to kill boss. As with fighting the grunt enemies, it's easy to get trapped in a combo and infinitely more frustrating as a boss can take 1/4-1/2 of your health in a single hit. Keep in mind, this was on hard, but it just felt like I was being cheaped to death. Boss difficulty balance is a little off; some bosses are harder than others, but by the time you're fighting the final boss, it’s just too easy compared to what you put up with earlier in the game. Granted, I just wanted to end the at that point, but Zeus was nothing compared to Hades or Poseidon. Even the Cerberus you fight to get back into Hades' Realm was harder than Zeus. I had to put the game down for about a week because of that damn dog. I honestly thought I'd never beat this game because of that infernal mutt.
The story itself was also puzzling. This was supposed to be the culmination of a series, but it was more or less a hashing together of the previous games into one. God of War was all about getting Pandora's Box to take down Ares to get revenge. God of War 2 was all about killing Zeus to get revenge. God of War 3 is all about getting Pandora's Box to get revenge on Zeus. Notice a trend here? I know writing is difficult, especially when you're creating a game based on an almost unending supply of Mythology, but let's step out of the comfort zone. Kratos runs through a full gamut of emotion; angry, very angry, even angrier and, get this, uncontrolled rage. Kratos killed his family and has never forgiven himself for this, but he's played the role of soulless, woe-is-me killer in every game now and the shtick is getting tiresome.
Once again, as the game starts, your weapons are taken away from you. Your life, magic and item meter dwindle down to almost nothing. Yet again, you have to fight your way out of Hades' Realm. Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but I've played all of this before. The only new parts to this game are some weapons and boss battles. The puzzles are as easy as they are sparse. How many times do you have to kill Kratos to kill Kratos? He’s the freaking Energizer bunny.
I keep thinking of a quote from an old episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror special:
All story gripes aside, the gameplay is largely unchanged and remains solid. There are plenty of hidden items and challenges to keep you coming back for more after you've completed the game. If you put aside prejudices about the story and can just appreciate a raging madman hell bent on taking down Olympus in the most brutal way possible, you'll love this popcorn game. Assuming you've never picked up a God of War game before, the intro does a nice job of summarizing the first two so those new to the series can pick up and play. Just don't play it on hard unless you're a glutton for punishment or you're a trophy whore.
