God of War III smashes the standards of the action adventure genre.
Hell yes.
As you may recall the finale of God of War II left Zeus' not so rag-tag brotherhood of gods in quite the predicament, with a super pissed off spartan and time-travelling titans climbing their back yard ready for a fight (now that I think about it, God of War II introduced rather obtuse story branches). God of War III begins with a very snazzy looking comic-book like cutscene which stylishly recaps the preceeding events of Kratos' adventure, and then our angry spartan sends forth his army of giants, all in highly dramatic fashion.
The events of God of War III are a lot more significant, because, well let's face it, gods are going to die. The death of a god is the big climax of the first game in the series. It's something you worked for, for about seven hours of solving puzzles and defeating hydras. All of that was for the awesome death of Ares. That feeling of satisfaction first occurs in God of War III about forty-five minutes into the game. From there, things just get more intense, and the level of seriousness and conflict only heightens from there.
A superb cast of characters truly rounds out one of the more impressive tales of the gaming medium. Character designs are very unique, and a few standouts really steal the show. Kratos, of course, is a great character as well. In the first two games, and even the PSP iteration, he's been a very one dimensional killing machine, but there were some glimmers of a real character. This time around, he's a much more involved protagonist, while still keeping that murderous mentality. In fact, his anger has been turned up to 11, which definitely increases the heat, but it unfortunately seeps into some of his less provokative lines. It really just seems like he needs to sit down.
Much improved cutscenes and a more involved script present the story in a way adjacent to Hollywood-caliber games such as last year's Uncharted 2. When all is said and done, you'll be impressed with how the story was handled in this concluding chapter.
One thing that simply rarely changes in God of War is the combat. It's simply too great to renovate. Although a lot of battles can molt into simple button mashing, there's still a lot of depth to be found in experimenting with combos. The action is fast and fun throughout, maintaining an emphasis on offense. There's still the vital roll ability which you'll need for dodging, and the golden fleece does return to provide crucial counter-attacks against some of the tougher enemies. The combat feels the smoothest and most polished of all the God of War games. It's faster, there's more enemies, it requires much more thought, skill, and technique as opposed to simple button mashing, although that can still get you through a few fights.
Some of the new weapons have really awesome abilities like the ability to rip the souls out of enemies or electrocuting several enemies, but many of them control and feel very similar to Kratos' double chained blades, which are the most effective of those kinds of weapons. The cestus, or two golden boxing glove-like attachments, do a great job at dealing heavy damage on bosses and groups of smaller enemies. The controls have been refined to near perfection, as the ability to swap weapons mid combo becomes an option, and having each magic spell tied to an equipped weapon gets rid of fumbling around with weapon and magic selection. It allows the player to get into great rhythms of two to three hundred hit combos. With blood and bodies of the damned flying everywhere, it becomes apparent that God of War III's combat is truly the greatest in the series.
More depth has been added to context sensitive gameplay. While the quicktime events are still quicktime events, Kratos now can use enemies as battering rams, or simply rip smaller enemies in half. When you merge the ability to handle enemies like that, the flow of combat improves tenfold.
Brutality has always been a selling point of the God of War franchise, but the level of just what is possible in that regard is spat upon in God of War III. The patented quick time events lead to just disgusting animations of snapping necks or slicing down the middle, to anything and everything in between. What SCE Santa Monica calls "Zipper Technology", intestines and other vital organs of enemies spill out when an enemy is sliced open. Blood can actually cover Kratos dynamically, which is pretty impressive graphically. You'll really have to see it to believe it.
Platforming and puzzles still play a healthy role in the game, and go a long way to help the pacing reach a perfect pitch. While the fixed camera can get in the way of some of the platforming, almost all the time, it does a good job. The level design is also extremely inventive, with a few sections playing with gravity to great effect. Aside from the simple switch pulling, block pushing, and jumping, more variety finds its way into the formula. Puzzles are much more inventive this time around, and there are a number of flight sections using Kratos' Icarus wings, which are some of the more liberatingly fun sections of the game.
But the combat, platforming, and gameplay variety has always been a strongsuit of God of War. What makes everything better this time around? It's what the developers have been able to push onto the screen. Without a doubt, the most incredible level designs and grand set pieces are found in God of War III. A few levels occur on the backs of titans, with hundreds of events occuring around, while fighting enemies, and it's all just so awesome. That's the one word to describe God of War III if there ever was one. Clearly, the last three years have been hell for SCE Santa Monica, but it's all been entirely worth it. It's impossible to place into words what is so incredible about the pacing and level design that makes God of War III better than just fun.
God of War III only lasts about eight hours, but the replay value is immense. There's a myriad of unlockables, and several increasingly infuriating difficulty levels. The challenge of the gods also returns, which has always been a nice addition. A full making of documentary is also avilable on disc. And it's all so good you're going to go through more than once or twice or three times.
Visually, God of War III is the best looking game available, hands down. While you may find off textures here and there, just about every aspect of the graphics is amazing. The 2D-style flashback cutscenes look great, the art design is extremely intricate in the world, vistas are amazing, the use of colour is inspiring, animations are great, it all runs at a perfect clip. Almost every aspect of what makes a game look good is present in God of War III, and it all comes together so perfectly that it's unbelievable. The audio does just as impressive a job. The orchestral score has a much darker tone than other entries in the series. The voice actors all do a great job, save for one or two characters, and the script is pretty decent as well.
There isn't a whole lot to say about God of War III if I'm going to keep it compact. Why should you buy God of War III? Because it's a gamers' game. It's a purely excellent experience the entire way through. Everything about it is the reason you've bought a Ps3, and the reason turning up the sound and turning out the lights is so attractive. Lastly, it does a phenomenal job with Kratos' saga, and whether or not it has come to an end, it's all very, very awesome. And yes, there is a sex minigame too. But that's not entirely relevant.