God of War III opens with the gods on the offensive. Helios rides his chariot over Olympus, Hermes sprints down the peaks, and Poseidon drops like a missile, killing the Titan Epimetheus with a blow through the chest before spawning water horses called Hippocampi. The scale is the point.
Trailer, via SpawnofSephiroth.
Kratos Climbs Mount Olympus
Kratos, the ex-Spartan warrior, ascends Mount Olympus for revenge on Zeus, the father who betrayed him. The Blades of Exile carry the combo-based combat, backed by up to four magical attacks, a power-enhancing ability, and secondary weapons. Quick time events decide the strong enemies and the bosses.
It is the same fight the series has run for years, tightened rather than changed.
The puzzles vary. Some ask only that an object sit in the right place. Others demand timing and precision, including one built on mechanics close to Guitar Hero. Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers return to raise health and magic; Minotaur Horns are new, feeding the Items meter that governs secondary weapons.
Poseidon’s Death Floods the World
The set pieces are the reason to play. Kratos drags Poseidon into Gaia’s grasp, knocks him out of his godly form, beats him, gouges out his eyes and snaps his neck. The kill lands. So does what follows: the seas cataclysm, the oceans rise, and a flood swallows nearly all of mankind except those standing on Olympia.
The new engine, built from the ground up, quadruples texture resolutions over God of War II on PlayStation 2. Characters move fluidly, lighting shifts, and the battles run four times larger than the predecessor’s. The camera holds a fixed perspective, which frames the spectacle and keeps the player slightly removed from it.
The Labyrinth and the Underworld
Santa Monica Studio builds a real geography: the Tomb of Ares, the city of Olympia, the Path of Eos, the Labyrinth that Daedalus constructed to imprison Pandora, the Palace of the Gods with its Forum and Hera’s Gardens, and the Underworld divided by the River Styx. The Labyrinth is the best of it, an aerial puzzle box with a purpose beyond scenery.
This is the first mainline God of War made without series creator David Jaffe. That absence shows in the middle stretch, where the combat repeats itself and the puzzles thin out. The spectacle carries the game past those hours. It does not fix them.
What the Third Game Gets Right
God of War III is a spectacular, uneven close to the Greek trilogy. Its best moments — Poseidon’s death, the flood, the Labyrinth — rank among the finest in the series. Its worst are the stretches between them, where the formula shows its age. Better textures cannot hide the same loop, and the game does not try.
KEY FACTS
– Release: March 16, 2010
– Platform: PlayStation 3
– Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studio
– Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
– Modes: Single player, third person
– Score: 7.9 of 10
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