!!!God of War III Review!!!

The magnificent games based loosely on Greek mythology God of War have been a massive hit in the Sony community. I mean what could be better than an angry Spartan who wants revenge on Zeus and will kill any man or god who gets in his way? Well today I have the honour of giving you guys a review of the most recent game, God of War III (That’s 3 for people who are still in kindergarten).

Now before I start, I will give you a quick update on what has happened in the God of War series. If you wish to skip everything that has happened in past games, just scroll down until you see ON TO THE REVIEW in bright red letters:
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God of War was first released in North America on March 22, 2005 for the PlayStation 2. Kratos is introduced as having been the servant of the gods for ten years, and is tasked by Athena with finding Pandora’s Box, the key to defeating Ares, the God of War. Through a series of flashbacks it is revealed that Kratos was once the servant of Ares (who saved the Spartan and his army from annihilation) in battle, and tricked him into killing his family, forcing his metamorphosis into the "Ghost of Sparta." Kratos eventually locates the Box, and after finally killing Ares, ascends to Olympus to become the new God of War.

God of War II was first released in North America on March 13, 2007 for the PlayStation 2. Betrayed by Zeus, Kratos is saved by the Titan Gaia, who states Kratos must now find the Sisters of Fate. The Sisters can change his fate and prevent his death at the hands of Zeus. Kratos is ultimately successful, and learns from a dying Athena (who sacrificed herself to save Zeus and thereby preserve Olympus) that he is the son of Zeus. Kratos then joins forces with Gaia and the Titans in an attack on Olympus.

God of War: Betrayal was released on June 20, 2007 for mobile phones. Taking place between the events of God of War: Ghost of Sparta and God of War II, Kratos is framed for murder and rampages across Greece, seeking the true assassin. Kratos succumbs to bloodlust and kills Ceryx, the son of the god Hermes - an act that alienates him from his fellow gods. Betrayal is the only game in the series to be released as a 2D side-scroller and released on a non-Sony platform. This is also the only God of War game that no one cared about because it was absolute poo.

God of War: Chains of Olympus was first released in North America on March 4, 2008 for the PlayStation Portable followed by a limited edition PSP bundle pack released in June. Set in the time of Kratos' ten years of service to the gods, Kratos halts a Persian invasion of the Greek city of Attica, and learns that the world has been plunged into darkness by the god Morpheus. Learning that the sun god Helios has been abducted, Kratos investigates and prevents the machiavellian plan of the goddess Persephone to use the Titan Atlas to destroy the world and as a result Olympus.

ON TO THE REVIEW!!!!
Now as this is a review I will do my best not to spoil too much and try to explain every second of the game, if you want that, watch a walkthrough on YouTube. The one thing that I do want to mention though is the nice little cartoon like intro at the start of the game. You see certain scenes from previous titles like killing the God of War and Athena sacrificing herself for Zeus. And that brings me to my next point, God of War’s storyline. In my eyes, one of the reasons God of War is such a brilliant series is because the story and how they say it. The storyline to start off with is great, revenge and anger, the story getting darker and darker with each game is what I love. It is easy to understand, yet it is still somehow complicated and intricate. And the way the characters talk, their reactions and what they do makes it feel like more than just a game. By the end I really wanted to kill Zeus, not because the game told me to but because after everything he put Kratos through, I truly hated him.

Now you can’t have AI characters giving out good reactions if the graphics are so bad you think there face is a mutated spider. Luckily for you God of War doesn’t have those types of graphics, they have amazingly pretty graphics. I can only explain the graphics like this: You know when you’re playing a game that goes into a cutscene and the graphics are really amazing CGI. Then you go back into the normal game and the graphics are at a crappier level. In God of War III it’s those amazing CGI cutscene graphics every second of every minute. The colour scheme matches the games dark theme and there is no limit to the amount of gruesome, gruesome damage you can do in the game. The graphics are so good that when you cut people open and all their blood and guts are coming out of their stomach, it will actually make you partially sick! From ripping the head of people to cutting the belly of a Centaur there is no place for the weak here.

Just like the storyline and graphics, the gameplay is amazing. The controls are easy to get used to and the 3^rd person camera is never an issue. Throughout the whole game it was constant smooth and fluid gameplay, I was never experiencing Kratos getting stuck on random things or not responding to the controls, it was just always working the way it should. When you kill people or break things you get little red orbs that you can then use to upgrade your items, abilities or yourself. You start off with Kratos’ Blades of Athena but just like every other God of War game you soon get the Blades of Exile. You will also eventually get the Claws of Hades, Nemean Cestus and Nemesis Whip. All weapons have their strong points and from a personal point of view I found that I was constantly switching weapons throughout the game because some are just fantastic for certain situations. Kratos also has items and magic to help him on his journey but we would be here a while if I was to name everyone. So the gameplay is smooth and fluid, controls are great and lots of weapons and items to use. You must be thinking “Holy jeepers Bat-man, we should get this game!” well no Dick, there is something I must state before you get the game. God of War III is very hard, when I review a game I tend to play on normal. From the start of the game till the first Boss fight I died a fair few times. I’m not bad at this game, it’s just really, really hard. Now I’m not going to mark down a game just because I died a few times, but I do want to state that it is hard, VERY, VERY HARD!

Overall God of War III is a great game, the storyline and storytelling is amazing, graphics are absolutely beautiful and the gameplay itself, although challenging, lots of fun and very well done. Along with the amazing over look of the gaming in the menu screens and what not, awesome sounds (anyone would think that SCE Santa Monica had the monsters in the studio, recording their sounds) and the replay value found in a few bonus modes (no multiplayer unfortunately, but there is a second play through mode were you keep your fully levelled Kratos but start the game again with more difficult enemies) make God of War III one of the most amazing games on the PS3. I give this game a 10/10 and think that everyone who has a PS3, a brain and a working controller should buy and play!