With the release of God of War III, the final chapter in Kratos’s story is finally revealed. His quest for vengeance against his father Zeus and any other god that stands in his way is coming to a close. Does this game live up to the massive hype surrounding it or does it whimper out like a Cerberus pup? Read on to find out.



God of War III is certainly a God of War game. This game is an absolutely brutal, bloody, gory tale of vengeance like the previous two entries. Throughout the first two games, I found myself consistently surprised at how each new enemy I came upon and subsequently killed, died in an even bloodier and violent fashion. This game is no different in that respect. The high definition graphics make each slice and stab of Kratos’s blades that much more sickening and gory. It’s fantastic. Seeing entrails fall from centaur-like creatures and ligaments tear as heads are ripped are grossly awesome from the first time to the last time they occur. There aren’t many games that have grossed me out quite like this game did, and I loved every second of it.

While I loved the animations in this game, the overall package was far from perfect. At a few points in the game, there were some technical issues, such as frame rate drops and some clipping issues. I found this disappointing considering this is a first party exclusive title. These issues were made even more glaring thanks to the fact I just completed Final Fantasy XIII and it had very little technical issues. I also found that double jumping after hopping off a grapple point doesn’t always work. This led to a few deaths that shouldn’t have occurred. I also had a couple issues where save points didn’t work until I’d run around away from it for about 30 seconds then came back. Even when I did return to the save, it wouldn’t always work when I was standing right in it, but it would work if I was a couple steps away. It’s strange technical issues like these that caused the largest amount of annoyance while playing this game.



The issues with the game don’t take away from the enjoyment of the game though. The game’s opening sequence is easily as memorable as the Hydra from the first game. Sadly, there isn’t really anything quite as amazing and jaw droppingly awesome throughout the rest of the game. That doesn’t change the fact that the pace never lets up throughout the entire story. That opening sequence just set forth the crazy rollercoaster of action set piece after action set piece. While the rest of the game may not live up to that opening, that’s not to say it’s not good. I still found myself constantly wanting to proceed and not put the controller down. That may be why I beat it in two sittings. It also helped that this game only took about eight hours. I must admit that I appreciated the length of this one. I felt that God of War II dragged on a few places but I never got that feeling from this game. This game felt perfectly paced to me and that makes a huge difference for me in action games such as this.

Ultimately, this game was an excellent entry into the God of War franchise. Kratos’s anger never waned throughout the three entries of this series. He made an excellent anti-hero and I’m glad that this conclusion did the series justice by being as amazing as both of the previous games. I look forward to whatever this development team comes up with in the future.