God of Button-Mashing Action

**Note: As in all my reviews, there will be some minor spoilers. Nothing game-breaking but the warning still applies.**

Most good sequels to games work by a standard formula: Keep the fundamentals the same; streamline some of the functionality of the original; hide or get rid of the bad bits and most importantly- make sure the feeling and vibe the player got from the original is intrinsically there. It comes to no surprise then that God of War 3 pretty much plays the same as the previous 2 titles.

To the uninitiated, the God of War series is an button-mashing action game series with some minor platformer elements. You play as Kratos, a promising Spartan Army captain who starts as a man, becomes a god, loses his godhood, goes to hell 3 times, manages to fight his way out of hell 3 times, and commits some of the most gruesome acts of violence, brutality and evisceration ever portrayed on a tv-screen. In terms of personality- Kratos would fit into the anti-hero architype. His actions are seen as cruel and sometimes evil, but he maintains his own code of honor and only attacks/kills those who stand in his way (and even then, gives them fair warning to acquisces to his demands).

The plot of the series is that of revenge and the overall purpose of the series' stories are to provide an explanation as to why the Greek Pantheon vanished. Herein lies the problem I had with this game. The overall structure of the story was literally the same as the previous 2 games. The first level demonstrates all of Kratos's abilities at their optimum- as a means to acclimate the player to the controls of the game. After this, something happens as part of the story line which reduces Kratos's abilities and the remainder of the game is spent regaining those powers. Insert a couple chapters of Kratos overcoming adversity, random puzzles, a few epic fights against popular figures in Greek mythology, their subsequent brutal and interactive demise and a final fight against the antagonist(s) and you have the God of War story formula. While the story seems all too familiar, I can certainly say that the execution of the plot was masterful. I don't know of many other games where the second level is set in Hell, and the boss fight is against Hades- God of the Underworld. To reiterate- the second level boss is Hades. You kill the God of the Underworld and Death in the second level. That, my friends, is deep.

The real reason to play this game, is the gameplay though. True, the mechanics from the previous games remain unchanged. You still have the blades of , with the same combination attacks. Kratos uses magic, gains the use of several other weapons, the player ignores the new weapons since the blades happen to be the best weapon in the game (one exception is the new Nemean Cestus, a pair of heavy gauntlets shaped like lion heads). Combat is still a mix of button mashing, where combos can be performed by inputting button sequences alternating between light and heavy attacks. The QTE (Quick Time Event: where the player has to input button commands during a cinematic event- failure results in taking damage and having to restart the sequence or instant death) remains popular, and appears more often than before. One issue I had with this was a single boss fight in GOW3 is entirely made of QTEs. Granted, it was absolutely gorgeous and epic to witness, but playing through that part made me feel a little dissociated from the action. Thankfully, the makers decided to streamline item usage. Instead of items relying on your magic meter from the previous games, which led to some very dire consequences if you happened to run out of magic power in the middle of a boss fight, a new item meter has been introduced which regenerates. Overall, I was happy with the experience, and other than a few moments where I was frustrated with the platform jumping, I was able to play through the game without having to stop due to any sort of inherent flaws in the gameplay. Suffice to say, if you die a lot in this game- it's pretty much your fault.

Graphically, the makers clearly pushed the PS3 to their limits. The beginning cinema shows a very '300'-style motif, giving the backdrop of the current story (Kratos has united with the Titans to attack Mt. Olympus and take down Zeus and the rest of the Pantheon). In combat is where the graphics really seem to shine. Every gruesome detail is present. Finishing off a Centaur results in a rather gory scene where Kratos's blades tear into the hindquarters of the creature, letting out a stream of entrails and other viscera. And so it becomes prudent to issue a warning. This game is NOT for the faint of heart or squeamish. There is a lot of gore depicted in excruciating detail. The music is top-notch, perfectly providing the proper motifs for each of the areas and scenes. Particular highlights are the rearranged version of the God of War 2 theme (The End Begins) and Kratos's new theme, which is reminiscent of John William's Jaws theme (as in when you hear it, you know some bad shit is about to go down).

In closing, this game isn't going to make new fans of the series. Other than the story, the game does an excellent job of fixing those very minor quibbles I've had with the previous games in the series, without sacrificing anything in other areas. Replayability is a minor issue, as well as length (I finished the game on Normal in about 9 hours), but I can see myself jumping back to the game maybe after a couple of months- if only to watch the ridiculously graphic finishers. Definitely worth a purchase for any fan of action games- and not just to complete the collection.