Myth & Millar Week: God Of War III Review

It’s not necessarily something I’m proud of, but I should probably admit to it soon: I’ve never played any games in the God Of War series. Until now. God Of War III, the latest game in the series, brings to a close a trilogy that began with the original game on the PS2 (supplemented by some PSP titles.) But coming to the franchise as a newcomer, just how much can be gotten out of God Of War III without playing the original titles?

The answer might surprise you.

Set in a time of Greek myth and legend, the game picks up with Kratos, the titular God Of War, (he took the title from Ares after the first game) attacking Mount Olympus with the aid of the Titans. As Zeus and the remainder of the Pantheon defend their realm, Kratos finds himself falling to the realm of Hades, from where he must prepare himself for a final confrontation with Zeus and the other gods.

Coming off the back of two other games, it’s to be appreciated that God Of War III would have a rich and deep storyline, but little of that is really explored in the game, and little of the game is allowed to stand on its own. Kratos’ back-story (and motivation) is explained through some artistically beautiful cut-scenes, but never really explains the manipulations and dealings that contribute to the story, nor why Kratos is raging against the Gods.

And raging he is. In fact, Kratos is a fairly two-dimensional character driven solely by anger and rage: I’m no stranger to video games expecting me to sympathise with an unlikeable character, especially not with a game like this as said character cuts his way through hordes of enemies who have wronged him. But God Of War III invests so much in wanting players to want to kill bad guys, in wanting to be the instrument of Kratos’ revenge, and it never really gives anything to make this happen.

Making his way through the realms of the Gods (the underworlds of Hades, the city of Olympia and Mount Olympus itself) Kratos never really does much in the way of interacting, and it does little to create the sense of depth so badly needed in the game. As characters are introduced, their name appears on screen (and you might even figure out the role that they play if you know your Greek mythology) but little is done to explore their roles in the greater scheme of things: the sibling rivalry between Kratos and Hercules is lain on thick, but never gets mentioned again (mostly, because this is seconds before a fight against Hercules which you’re expected to win) and in other cases, Gods are introduced just as a means to an end, namely the acquisition of an item that will be required shortly afterwards.

Story aside, there’s a great deal of gameplay in God Of War III that expects the players to be left in awe of the events on screen: an early, three way fight between Kratos, Gaia and Poseidon is indicative of that, with the environment constantly shifting and changing, not to mention moving angles completely. Some later fights take on a similar feel, and the presence of the Titans prove that size is everything, with Gaia (and later Cronos) embodying the game’s aspects of level, puzzle and boss-fight all in one. But for every fight on this massive scale, there’s many more that forget this scope, and just take the form of guy-slightly-bigger-than-Kratos-with-a-big-weapon.

The shifting environments are also an important part of the gameplay in some areas, and totally frustrating in others, in no small part due to an unforgiving lack of camera control. With the camera constantly adopting fixed positions in relation to Kratos, there was more than once that I couldn’t find the suggested route due to it being slightly off-screen. By suggested route, I mean the only route, since the game gives Kratos one path and only ever deviates for the occasional bit of treasure.

By holding players’ hands throughout the game, God Of War III offers some other frustrating elements: puzzle elements either offer no hints, or give a lengthy camera movement around a room showing the exact route to be taken, but none of the puzzles are well enough realised to make need of this explanation and few of the puzzles require any real effort to solving. Combat is similarly unbalanced, with the game giving Kratos massive attacks, but never really providing the enemies to prove a challenge in using them, certainly not what you expect for the third game in a trilogy.

Graphically, God Of War III looks amazing, but is still rife with inconsistency: the engine runs smoothly and even when attacked by hordes of enemies (with moving backgrounds to boot) there are few glitches. And yet some of the character models and textures are straight out of the first game, and really don’t take advantage of the PS3′s capabilities.

Having not played the series before, there’s little in God Of War III to encourage me to come back and play it again, not least due to the short running time of the game: a day’s sitting finished the main story and while challenges and trials are included, the game’s combat features never really keep things fun enough to warrant returning. For a standalone game, God Of War III provides some good hack-and-slash moments, but certainly not enough to convert me to a fan of the series until it gets a lot more meat on its bones.

Zombie Rating: B-

God Of War III is available now for Sony PlayStation3