A quickie review of God of War 3 to finish off the week. This game probably deserves slightly more verbiage than I’m willing to dedicate to it, but suffice to say that there are many ardent supporters of this ground-breaking series (often literally) that blends together 3D action platform gaming, excessive violence and Greek mythology.
The game borrows heavily, but largely successfully, from other genres: there are bits of Shadow of the Collossus, Street Fighter, and even bits of Echochrome, all seamlessly integrated into the overall narrative structure. This game closes off the the storyline from the previous games, which sees the “Ghost of Sparta” exacting revenge on the Olympian gods for causing him to accidentally kill his own family.
The plot is driven along by crappy, but mercifully sparse, dialogue and finishes with a climax that leans quite heavily on existentialist claptrap. But the point of the God of War series was never the story; it’s about dishing out retribution with extreme prejudice, and in that sense the game delivers in spades. In this final instalment Kratos is not content with taking down monsters and gods, but also Titans of such immense proportions that they form entire game levels by themselves.
By the way, was it just me, or did the lyrics for the Ominous Latin Chanting in the final battle sound a lot like “Kratos, Kratos, Kratos, ha ha ha…”?