There’s a lot to be said about God of War, some of it good and some of it bad. The game is nonetheless a hit that now spans 2 generations of the Sony console. Starting just 5 years ago, players were introduced to Kratos, the Spartan warrior who would challenge the Gods. At first, Kratos finds himself a tool of the Gods sent on what is later revealed as a fool’s errand to kill Ares, the former god of war who overstepped his bounds in the eyes of Kratos. In the second installment, Kratos does as he pleases resulting in being stripped of power and put to death by Zeus only to find within himself the resolve for vengeance which lets him claw his way from Hades fueled by revenge and with the support of the Titans locked away by the gods.

Now, right as the Titans are clawing their way up Mt. Olympus God of War III puts Kratos in the middle of a three front war; Kratos vs Titans vs Gods. As a character concept Kratos has been pretty bland. It’s a common trait among character in his role. And like many mythological Grecian demi-gods, he is both celebrated and despised by those around him yet has roots as a mortal where he was a figure of an extreme nature. Kratos takes charge of his own destiny, abandoning all alliances to fight this leg of the war on his own terms, that is until he learns that his success hinges on yet another person. All bets are off, as Kratos makes his grand last stand for Zeus atop Mt. Olympus to end Zeus’ life and release himself from the bonds of his twice tormented soul laying waste to his only enemies – anyone not Kratos.

There are unmarked spoilers in the review, so if you’ve not finished the game or have yet to purchase it – perhaps a spoiler free review would serve you better.

CONCEPT: Conceptually the game is blunt simple: Kill Zeus.  On a deeper level, I’m reminded of Robert Burns “To A Mouse”, specifically “The best laid schemes of mice and men, Go often askew, And leaves us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy!”.

Everything leading up to the events in part 3 become linked and the consequences of Kratos’ hatred and anger begin to take form in ways that even Kratos’ hadn’t foreseen (not that he cared anyway).

God of War offers a much higher level of brutality this time around, with entrails and more gallons of blood. Ripping the eye out of a Cyclops looks much better and while strange to say, the first couple of time I went slowly just to see the level of detail put into the action. I did the same thing for gutting a Centaur.  Perhaps my favorite brutal addition was being removed from a third person view and shifting at key moments to first and second – in second person to illustrate the pure brutality and determination that Kratos wields like a lead pipe and first person to give players the feeling towards how personal the actions taking place are for Kratos. God of War III makes a serious attempt at giving Kratos a bit more life not only in how he looks and moves, but he conveys something he’d kept secret for the previous titles – remorse.

Weapons in the game are generally just a revamp of previously used items – for example the Nemean Cestus is basically the same weapon as Gauntlet of Zeus. It’s unique in it’s move list, but serves the same underlying purpose. The same can be said about the Claw of Hades, the Nemesis Whip and Blades of Exile. The Blade of Olympus however only appears in Rage mode, which also desturates the screen from most colors except red.

STORY: The path the Kratos has before him to kill Zeus once and for all places him in search of a means to pull Pandora’s Box from the Flame of Olympus, a fire that instantly kills all who touches it - man and god alike.  Players get to interact with some characters from the past, Hephaestus and Helios for example and Athena makes a return as an astral being from a place unknown and serves as the narrative guide to Kratos in the same way that she had in GoW 1 and Gaia had in GoW2.  There are new players in the game as well; players get to meet and interact with Pandora, Hermes, Hera and Poseidon...and yes Aphrodite. The overall plot line of God of War 3 makes the most sense to players that have journeyed through “God of War: Chains of Prometheus” as well as God of War I and II.

In a sense less meta, Santa Monica studios did well in the presentation of the title. Those familiar with a bit of intermediate Greek Mythology should find certain aspects of the game ‘neat’, such as seeing King Minos as one of the three Judges in Hades, hearing Daedalus talk about the Labrynth, Hephaestus creating Pandora and so on. While the literary Greek mythological characters differ strongly in parts from their game character counterpart0,s most of it seems to keep the game a snug fit in pre-existing stories. In this way, God of War tells a much stronger story because players who know some Greek Mythology can have fun with the concept of Kratos as someone who could have been written as the game depicts given the adventures and challenges he faces.

Some characters are written in the game as one can imagine them in legend, for instance, Hera in myth was a spiteful b*tch who was full of contempt and jealousy. In God of War she’s given a similar personality. Heracles is also a much darker character. Allegedly Kratos’ half brother, Heracles seems bitter by the fact that Kratos has been enjoying the limelight and considers the 12 labors busy work devised to allow Kratos’ rise to power. Finally, Zeus and his behavior is explained going all the way back to the original title. Overall the continuity between games in the series is really well attended.

Players will note a more human side to Kratos in this game than before, as he gives slight pause before taking certain scripted actions and based on things he says in certain situations Kratos feels less consumed by hatred and more by regret. He is still however, fueled by anger and only a little less empty as a character and slightly more focused than previously, all things considered.

MECHANIC: There’s not a lot different about how to play the game in the third installment. Quicktime brutalities and button tapping remain staples but the way Kratos unleashes certain attacks has changed, and for the better.

Rather than having a set of weapons and a set of magical abilities, each weapon is imbued with a secondary magical attack, for example the Claw of Hades is a spirit attack based weapon that lets loose a spirit enemy upon foes. As the red orbs are siphoned into the weapon the strength of the spirits also grows in the form of bigger, naturally tougher enemies. Aside from this Kratos gets more refined use of the trophies he’s claimed from fallen foes, for example the Boots of Hermes allow him to run up walls or across them as various points in the game just as the head of Helios can stun enemies, light a path or reveal hidden doors and chests.

Upgrading has become simpler in that the trophies and weapons have a set number of levels. Main weapons level up to 5 times and trophies only 2. Since weapons now contain what used to be magical abilities, Kratos’ attack and magic damage progress uniformly. Upgrading trophies won’t stop Kratos from reaching his goals, but they do make it easier to get some of the hidden items. This allows the player to determine the progression of the character rather than the game dictating it.

As with the previous God of War games, there are puzzles. Unlike the rest of the series they’re not as numerous; however they are much larger in physical size and number of steps to complete them. Players won’t find themselves punching a baby trying to figure out any of them and they won’t see repeated game over screens due to ‘barely enough time’ or continuously being knocked off the map. Puzzles like the Labrynth take a lot of time to complete but keep the player engaged with the steps of the puzzle as well as fighting off waves of enemies. Other puzzles simple require the player to think about them in a procedural manner, doing a piece at a time and really looking to understand that mechanical puzzle pieces (literally) at play.

GRAPHICS / SOUND: From the opening lead in to what felt like 30 minutes of credits the graphics were well done. There is room for improvement as there were some things that felt a little off and the textures in certain lighting situations felt ‘gummy’ in a similar way to BioShock 1 & 2. Some of the lights were ‘painted’ and the Helios Beam caused some strange effects when used in areas already in alleged broad daylight or at least that had light cast on it already (it had an opposite effect in its outer field).

The world environment that Kratos finds him self is as expansive as impressive. From dark cavernous walls to abysmal chasms full of dangling boxes that Kratos must navigate in and on or the living forest on the back of Gaia as she climbs the rock face while Kratos fights off encroaching enemies; the world setting delivers a sense of appropriateness in size, and shape. Nothing seems out of place, and the environment feels alive in spots. Swimming the river Styx, or running along the Olympian citadel giving Hermes chase, the water elements act and react as once might expect in the game. The cameras play with the depth of field which at times seems hyper real, but they do well in giving focus on key moments of the game such as breaking off the Chimera horn and stabbing the goat head in the eye  or holding charge as Hermes waits patiently for his legs to be severed in acquisition of Hermes Boots.

With choral chants and orchestrated marches, God of War III retains the same overall quality feel fans have grown to expect, but on a much higher level with cleaner sounds and greater channel separation.

FUN: The game is immensely fun, but because it’s more of the exact same it was much harder for me to sit though and play non-stop. At the time of release the reported total play time of the game was around 8 hours. Shortly after the developers came forward and claimed that this number was grossly inaccurate and the fastest playtester got finished in a little over 12 hours. Having finished the game, all feather and eyes, missing 1 horn, missing 1 collectible, missed the 1000 hit combo, having done half the challenges, and having seen the game over screen 7 times – I finished it in 10:19:28. What does this have to do with anything? It says the game itself is formulaic enough that a ‘regular joe’ can do it in about 10 hours. Understanding the combo system and what weapons get best results on what creature is simple and allows players to focus on important things like… timed puzzles and hoards of enemies, afterall, the ‘fun’ and appeal of God of War is in the visceral methods of dispatching enemies.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that any fan of blood and violence should pick this and any other God of War title up. If you’re a classic hack and slash / puzzler fan the game should provide a high entertainment value.

There is a bit of warning. The game has been hyped up to be a monumental game that would appear much larger than it is. In truth the game is merely a continuation of the series. It’s fun, epic, and a slew of other fitting adjectives, but it doesn’t by itself make the series as one might expect in reading pre-release hype. In this way some players may be met with some disappointment. It doesn’t offer much new to the existing formula, but it didn’t need to in order to say fun.

REPLAY: In total the game is fun, and possibly worth playing again using the “Fear” Kratos skin (especially since at the time of writing this Sony hadn’t emailed the pre-order skin code). The story is also pretty memorable and worth seeing a second or third time. Like its predecessors, GoW 3 should be a stable title for PS3 owners the across the globe and a system seller if it weren’t for the PS3 shortage.

Trophies within the game are inaccessible when players use enhancements like the Helm of Hades, or wear costumes, so replay is for a direct challenge only. If players enjoy GoW for the gameplay and care less about the story and puzzles, then the replay should be higher with a degree of difficulty. Players who enjoy the story and don’t care to really worry about the battle sequences will have a slightly lower opinion of the replay because there’s no choices to alter the story, another difficulty doesn’t reveal more than another lower difficulty and for the most part the access to weapons and their upgrades remains the same irrespective of level.

Some have considered the after credits sequence to allude to a God of War IV, and it’s really hard to say either way as there’s a lot of room for interpretation as to what it really means. Most likely the vagueness is purposeful as it allows the developers to make a part IV if they want and retain material to work with, or it allows them to drop it and cite the scene as a definitive end. There are however untold chapters of the series, such as Kratos’ brother who was dragged to Hades as a child (referenced when Zeus told Gaia that perhaps she should have picked the ‘other’ pawn and told in one of the secret movies of a previous title).

VERDICT: Is the game great? Within hesitation, yes; it’s a terrific and fun game. It’s brutally violent, full of blood and gore, you know, the things that have made it appealing, but it’s also full of a simple and effective mechanic that’s made the game accessible and enjoyable for a growing number of fans. The lack of weapon archetypes and overall lack of progressive game play might be somewhat of a turnoff to long time fans, but won’t be so much of a detriment that there should be a shortage on excitement if for no other reason than HD brutality, guts, well textured ample breasts and of course – chain blades among three other destructive and sadistic weapons are once again your toys to play with.

Trivia:
In GoW3, Kratos can ‘entertain’ Aphrodite. Upon doing so and stepping through the Hyperion gate, Hephaestus asks Kratos if his wife had “conquered’ another God of War” to which Kratos coyly responds “That is something you should ask your wife”. According to myth, Hephaestus was cripple, and considered ugly. Aphrodite was made to marry Hephaestus by Zeus in order to keep the other gods from fighting over her. Displeased by this, she had an affair with Ares, the God of War. Hephaestus caught them and while he tried to expose them publicly for infidelity, failed in embarrassing them publicly. Aphrodite was adored by all the gods, used by many of them but cherished most by Hephaestus.

Pandora was created by Hephaestus, and this much is stated in GoW3. However, her creation was a punishment of Hephaestus brought about when Prometheus stole the sacred fire (touched on in GoW2). Pandora was created with ‘seductive gifts’ made by offerings of all the gods. In the myth, Pandora opened the jar and let loose the evils to the world leaving only hope to remain, forever trapped.  In GoW3, Kratos frees hope and delivers it to mankind in an act of penance for opening Pandora’s Box in GoW 1 in the first place. To what end is something you’ll have to beat the game to discover.

In GoW3, Heracles makes note of his Nemean Lion Cestus, which Kratos acquires from him. Heracles’ first Labor was to kill the Nemean Lion. His reward was the pelt of said lion granting him impenetrable armor. The Nemean Cestus is in the game as a means of giving Kratos skull busting arm casings.

In several instances, Kratos comes across the River Styx and actually has to swim in it in GoW3. Styx is commonly thought of as the river to cross to get to Hades. There are however 5 rivers in myth, Styx is the river of hate. Players might notice a lack of the ferryman Charon at the river. This is because Charon ferried souls across Acheron, the River of Woe and only if buried properly. Many gods and mortals made promises on the River Styx because it was considered the foulest of them, causing even a god to vomit upon tasting it. Kratos never vomits - which could symbolize both his immovable resolve and the concept that his very soul is at this point, so consumed with hate that he is immune to the effects.

In the God of War series many of the lures, traps, mazes, and puzzles Kratos must solve were in myth designed by either Daedalus or Hephaestus. Most of the equipment and weapons that adorn Kratos were also smithied by Hephaestus, but not for Kratos as well as the bindings that kept the Titans in check.

Players fortunate enough to milk the game dry already will be met with the "King of the Hill" Platinum trophy. This trophy gives players a web address to go to -  http://www.spartasstandtall.com

On this site is this image in the upper right, but what does it mean?

the Λ (Lambda) in Greek means the letter ”L” and indicated Lacedaemonia, a Grecian prefecture with an administrative capital of... you guessed it - Sparta. Grecians never had flags, rather symbols that hoplites would use on their shields - Athenians used the Owl and Corinthians a Pegasus. Since Greece was a collection of city-states, it's not dissimilar from walking by someone bearing their home state flag on their arm.

The real mystery however is the quartered gauge, and the watery backdrop. We only assume Poseidon is dead. As he fell to the ground, he was encased in water and his remains are believed to have caused the flooding, but we never see his dead body like we do with the others.

If we invert the shield, it is the Greek symbol for "Two" and as stated earlier, we've not heard anything more on Kratos' brother.

Finally, I'm going to go way out there and call it now: IF there is a GoW 4, it'll contain Morpheus, The River of Oblivion, and more on the Greek concept of "Chaos" - as well as get into the story with Kratos' brother. And if you'd like to really think that over, what is it that Kratos says "There will be only chaos"