God of War 3

God of War 3 is an action-adventure game where you control Kratos, a Spartan warrior who seeks vengeance upon Olympian gods. The game is very violent and brutal which is shown very clearly during every boss fight. The game has many of these boss fights so the violence has a big role in the game, but what can you expect from a true Spartan warrior whose only reason to live is revenge.

I never played God of War on PS2 so when the God of War Collection was published I just had to have it. It was nice to finally be able to play one of the biggest PS2 games (or two of them actually). The actual games didn't impress me so much, good hack'n'slash with puzzles and quick time events, but I liked the theme. Greek mythology is interesting so it was nice to see those familiar faces and kick their asses! The ending of God of War 2 left me thirsty for more so lets find out what the third chapter has to offer.

"My vengeance...ends now."- Kratos

I really didn't have very big expectations, just wanted to see how the story ends. More killing and better graphics was what I expected and what I got. At first I was actually little disappointed. After the ending of GoW 2 I was waiting to see some cool action between the Titans and the Olympians, but it didn't really go that way. Instead Kratos falls and he has to start a long journey to get back to Zeus (is someone surprised?).

The game sure is violent. You might guess what happens here next.

Like I said the game mainly offers more the same as the first two. That is either good or bad depending what you thought about the first ones. I think it is good. The action runs smoothly forward. You fight, solve some simple puzzles and fight a little more. Luckily the fighting is fun and with a little practise you learn to use your weapons with deadly accuracy. Well I have to admit that during some fights I felt like the battle was just a tangled mass of creatures, but as I took some distance to the enemies I finally managed to survive. The game offers four different weapons and three items which you can all use to kill your enemies. Talking about killing, yes the quick time events are still there. Some say there are even more of them than before but I wouldn't say so. Some like them and some don't, I personally see them as a good way to have a little variation during the fights.

The graphics are indeed good. At the beginning when you see the Titans climbing the Mount Olympus it really looks awesome. The Titans really look like Titans and not just like some little pesky giants. Otherwise the sceneries are pretty much familiar from the previous episodes. They look really nice though. Developers should have come up with few new locations as Kratos now visits few places more than once. It's not a big mistake but I'd rather see new places than the ones I already visited.

The Titans are big, I mean really big.

Now to my favorite part, the story. If you are not interested in Greek mythology or just don't like games like GoW it would be easy for you to say that "what is so great about that?". Well basically it's just a simple story of vengeance, yes, but at least for me the point is the theme. You are kicking the ass of the gods. How can you top that? That is what makes the game and the story "epic" for me. It really helps you to get to the mood if you are interested in or familiar with Greek mythology. Apart from the gods and mythology the story is just about a man and his obsession with revenge. I also liked the ending. It shows us how Kratos is a man who keeps his words. The ending was satisfying, sad and it leaves the story a little open. I guess they always have to have a way to continue the story. It was also nice to see Kratos have some other feelings besides hatred.

So now I have only praised the game, but is there something bad about it? If you would have asked me that during the few trickier battles I'd have said "WTF?!?! this is so unfair!!", but after a good night's sleep they took only few tries and voilà. It can be little frustrating when you kick someones ass four times and still they keep on charging, but I'd still say that the game is fair. It lets you save really often and gives you health boosts before every big fight. Like I said before during some battles I felt like the fight was just a big hassle and I couldn't see anything, but that only goes if all the characters are in the same spot. I was also a little disappointed that Kratos had to kill practically everyone. I found some of the characters very sympathetic. Although it's good that the game makes you feel something towards the characters, whether it's anger or joy or something else. Maybe the last bad thing could be that there really wasn't anything new in the game. It was pretty much just like the other two. I really hope that the story ends here.

Hades was one of the tough ones.

Summary: GoW 3 continues and ends the epic saga of Kratos. It has the same good qualities as the first two with better graphics. If the first parts had something you didn't like then you probably find them from this one too. God of War 3 is a game for those who like good hack'n'slash and enjoy epic stories.