God of War 3 delivers another adventure worthy of the praise of action-loving mortals everywhere.
The first area of the game you're thrown into is incredible. It won't take long before you're squaring off against very cool giant horse-crab monsters. After being sent down to Hades not too long after, I did get a bit of a been-there-done that feeling, but it was still very enjoyable. Sure it was pretty standard GoW action, but even at it's worst God of War is lots of fun.
Then I got to the Hades boss battle. Incredible. It really keeps new momentum going, and reminds you that the development team can still suck you in to it's proven game-play formula and pull a few new tricks out for you to enjoy.
In fact, it felt like boss battles in this game play a bigger role than in previous ones. There's more big fights this time around, and none of them feel repetitive or boring, and each bring little twists that mixes things up and keeps the action feeling fresh and intense.
On the flip side, the puzzles felt like they took a bit more of a back seat this time around. Despite this shift there are still a few creative scenarios thrown at you that will have to pausing while you try and put the pieces together in your head.
The prominent Quick Time Events have not only made a return but have been improved, which was nice to see. It's now easier to play attention to the action on the screen, now that you don't have to pay quite so much attention as to what the button symbol is, and can pay more attention to just where it appears on the screen.
And then there's the game-play that fills in the spaces. The bulk of the action mimics what can be found in previous installments. From what is mostly shown in an isometric point of view, hoards of enemies will rush you and require a heavy dealing of hack'n'slash combat to get through them. Much of the population of smaller foes feel reused from the previous titles; but even with that in consideration there's a decent selection of bad guys you'll come across and it doesn't make it any less fan to take them out. Thankfully you are well equipped to do so. You're primary weapons are a set of two short yet wide swords which are attached to your wrists. You can use these swords in a conventional matter, or swing them around on their chains for both focused and area attacks.
As you progress you'll gain new melee weapons, such as a pair of lion-head gauntlets for slow but powerful attacks, as well as 2 more chained weapons. One of which has the power to rip souls from an enemy which will then turn and aid you in battle for a short period of time, and the other, quicker weapons that carries some electrical damage with it. Although this adds up to 4 primary weapons in total, as it did in previous games, I did not find the weapons tactics or functionality varied as I remember them being in God of War 2.
Magic attacks are available, and there's one type associated with each of your primary weapons. Magic attacks are mostly used to cause area damage, such as the ability to electrocute a group of surrounding enemies, let a rain of arrows fall from the sky, or summon the soul of a beast to come charging through the screen delivering damage to anyone in it's way. Magic attacks will draw from your pool of magic power. You'll be able to recharge your magic by finding chests filled with magic orbs, or collecting magic orbs by performing certain kill moves on some enemies.
You also get some special items such as a bow and arrow for long range attacks, the head of Helios which blinds enemies as well as lights dark paths and find hidden doorways, and the boots of Hermes which allow you to run up certain walls and perform dash-attacks. Similar to the magic attacks, these items can only be used for a limited time until their power runs out, but their power will automatically recharge over time.
Weapons, magic, and items are all upgradable which will unlock a variety of new and stronger attacks for each. Upgrades are achieved by cashing in red orbs that you'll acquire after killing enemies, opening chests, and breaking objects. The upgrades add a certain level of strategy, as you'll have to decide which items are most important to you to upgrade first. Eventually though, if you've scoured the levels thoroughly and killed enough enemies, you'll be able to max out all upgrades.
Kratos himself can be upgraded as well, in terms of how much power his items have available to use, how much magic he can have stored at one time, and how much health is in his health bar. These traits are upgraded by finding special items hidden throughout the levels. For example, finding 3 gorgon eyes will increase your health bar to the next level.
The amazing action is supporting by the equally impressive visuals and sound design. The environments look both cruel and beautiful. The orchestral music is epic, and talented voice acting help drive another strong story. Although I did like the script overall, I must confess to not being a fan of the ending. Without spoiling anything, I will say that it wasn't what happened that I found disappointing but the context put in place for Kratos' actions. I didn't feel the subtext was in line with the rest of God of War story and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
The only other issue I have to pick on are in respect to some of the save points. In previous titles they always felt like they were evenly spaced and right where you needed them. In GoW3, they often felt unnecessarily close, or too far apart for my tastes.
Despite some minor gripes, what you get in this title is a well balanced mix of old and new elements. God of War 3 manages to deliver one more time what the series has always delivered: intense, brutal, crazy-fun action that encourages you to keep going.