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dkirschner's God of war 3 (PS3)
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| [March 24, 2014 07:32:09 AM]
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God of War 3 is epic. It approaches perfection as an action game. I've played all the main trilogy and this one is by far the most memorable. Kratos is still a badass, showcased perhaps more than ever here. There is a part where Kratos is trying to rescue someone, and on the way, you find one of Poseidon's (topless) mistresses. You shove her through the level and then chain her to a wheel that opens a gate so that you can go through. She's screaming the whole time, and halfway to the gate you hear a really loud scream and the gate lowers halfway. I went back to see what happened, and there was just a bloody mess on the ground. I was like "whoa." Kratos isn't as...aimlessly (?)...pissed off anymore. It's all directed at Zeus, and his goals are always crystal clear. As old gods, demigods and titans enter and exit the story, I realized that it has been long intervals between playing these games, as I frequently didn't remember what transpired between Kratos and [character], why Kratos got along with Pandora, why his relationship with Athena was ambivalent, why he hated so-and-so. I wish there'd been an in-game compendium describing old relationships and story events.
The main reason GoW 3 feels different than the other two are its coherent world and its sense of scale. The other games exist on massive scales too, but GoW 3 makes them look like Kratos on Cronos (ha-ha, bad God of War jokes..). You keep revisiting old areas through new entrances, modifying the old areas in some way, and finding new secrets and new paths. For example, at some point Kratos gets this super strong melee weapon that can destroy onyx. When I figured that out, I thought, "Hey, there was this onyx stuff blocking my way somewhere else." Sure enough, you'll end up going back, and it is very satisfying to see areas becoming discovered and modified throughout the game. All these areas are also linked together. You don't just magically transport anywhere. You actually climb a giant chain to get from Hades to the Judges to Olympus. You actually ride drafts of air with your Icarus wings. Each "hub" room actually connects to many places you go, and one by one, you're able to reach the different doors and portals that get you to new places.
The size of things in the world blew my mind. This is imprinted on you the moment the game begins, where the first section takes place ON THE BACK OF A TITAN CLIMBING MOUNT OLYMPUS. Yes, you run around on Gaia as she and other titans attempt to reach the summit to destroy Zeus. You fight a giant battle against Poseidon all the while, scampering around Gaia, going inside Gaia's wounds, all the while Gaia is moving, your freaking ground is shifting, talking to you. It was incredible. There's another amazing titan battle when you get to the Pits of Tartarus where you are actually trying to kill a titan. I remember in God of War 2, there was a part on a titan, but it was NOT like this. This is something I've never seen in a game before. The epic sense of scale is also apparent outside these combat situations. Climbing the chains that bind Olympus and Hades, for example, the camera zooms out in parts, showing tiny, tiny Kratos. The sequences in and around the Labyrinth have Kratos platforming and fighting on just massive box structures that move in an enormous cavernous room. For me, the scale has a humbling affect on how I perceive Kratos. In this game, he is still an angry badass, but there's some hesitation there, part of which is because I realize (and he must) how small he really is. I think this shows in his interactions with Pandora as well, and certainly plays out in the end.
God of War 3 didn't feel as repetitive or samey as the others for reasons I've stated, and also because there is less combat, which is a good thing. God of War 3 doesn't seem to throw as many endless waves of enemies at you. The ratio of platforming to major encounters to moving the narrative to regular fighting is more even.
The combat didn't feel as difficult this time around. Even the final battles I only died from screwing up quicktime events. I'll say that the hardest part of God of War 3 were the quicktime events, especially rotating the left stick. Platforming also caused a handful of deaths, just because I wouldn't know what was coming and would have to try a few times to learn the sequence. But combat itself, not as difficult as usual. Twice as brutal though! Kratos rips out eyes, pops off heads, disembowels, slices off tails and legs and arms, bashes in faces, and performs all manner of grizzly finishers. Loved it.
But Kratos isn't just a fighter. He's a lover too! There's another sex scene in this game. I thought the one in GoW 1 was funny, and apparently the designers did too, because this one is written to be funny. Instead of you seeing the action happening or looking at a bedside table, you see two other girls rubbing on each other watching. The first time you go through the scene, they say such things as "Oh my! This is mature content, for adults only!" "You should definitely not let your children watch this!" I loved how they made fun of the controversy like this. If you do the scene again, they comment on it more, like "Oh wow, if it looks that good from here, just imagine...!" and "[gasp] He's going to...! Oh my!" It cracked me up. Maybe next time they'll push the envelope and have two naked male commentators.
Finally, there are substantial extras on the disc. I watched about an hour-long documentary on the making of the game that spanned 2-3 years of development, showed the team preparing for their first media event, for E3, for alpha and beta and release. It was exceptionally cool to see. When you beat the game, you unlock about 20 more shorter videos showcasing every aspect of development, from animation to streamlining code to user experience to quality assurance. BADASS. I wish more games included things like this.
Phenomenal game, can't say it enough. 1 and 2 were great, but this blows them out of the water.
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dkirschner's God of war 3 (PS3)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 19 March, 2014
GameLog closed on: Sunday 23 March, 2014 |
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