The Xbox is back! After it's 3 week Magical Microsoft Tour, the 360 is back in action, and hopefully no hotter than ever. But, more importantly, it's been a big week for operat1ve's trophy collection, three platinums! And one of these is from what is easily one of the very best games of this generation, the incredible God of War III, a game so excellent it gets its own blog post! Read on!
3/21 to 4/5 At a glance
Currently Playing:
Borderlands (360) Secret Armory here we go!
Mass Effect 2 (360) Renegade playthrough!
Assassin's Creed 2 DLC (PS3)
Currently Playing:
Borderlands (360) Secret Armory here we go!
Mass Effect 2 (360) Renegade playthrough!
Assassin's Creed 2 DLC (PS3)
Rock Band 2 (PS3),
Recently Finished:
God of War III (PS3) Platinum #8!
coming next post:
Resident Evil 5 (PS3) Platinum #9!
Infamous (PS3) Platinum #10!
Call of Duty 2 (360) Story Playthrough
Resident Evil 5 (PS3) Platinum #9!
Infamous (PS3) Platinum #10!
Call of Duty 2 (360) Story Playthrough
My God of War III Stats:
- Platform: PS3
- Playthroughs: 4 @ 40+ hours
- Trophies: 36/36 (Platinum #8!)
- I compare it to: It's F****** God of War! 3!
- Play it again?: I would be if I weren't blogging about it!
- Urgency: Buy, Borrow or Beg!
I've been excited for God of War III since the credits rolled on God of War II. The God of War series has always been a paragon of precision gaming, as well as a graphical benchmark and a study in creating a compelling protagonist. God of War's gameplay relies on a simple yet elegant formula that has been borrowed from (it, along with Resident Evil 4, is responsible for the many quicktime events now all too common in gaming) and in some cases, outright copied (see my upcoming Dante's Inferno review). After God of War II, while the series' impact was still beginning to be felt throughout the industry, Sony Santa Monica was already hard at work evolving this formula to a height that no one at that time (myself included) could ever dream of. The developer had the option of developing GoW II on the brand new PlayStation 3, however, they were practically masters of the PS2 hardware by that time, and were able to push that system to use 97% of its total hardware capability, and created a game that looked better than most of the PS3 launch titles. Knowing this, I asked myself, "If they can make the PS2 run a game this amazing, what will they be able to do with the PS3 after a few years with it?"
Three years later, I found out.
The sheer scale of God of War III is breathtaking. It only takes a few moments into the first level (sans any prerendered cinematic, the in-game graphics are way past the need for those) to see why this game would be impossible to make on any other system. Massive Titans scale a Cyclopean spire of rock, doing battle with the gods above, and Kratos scales the Titan Gaea, battling the many minions of Olympus. It's every bit as epic as I'm making it sound. Kratos is more detailed than ever, which is all the more amazing considering the fact that he exists in the same space as the towering, 1500 foot tall Titans. And all this is only the beginning.
God of War III is amazingly tight, even more so than its predecessors. The game flows almost perfectly all the way to the end (with the exception of one extremely bizarre puzzle), interspersing spectacular set pieces with intense combat, mixing it up frequently. One feature of this game that deserves special mention is the boss battles. God of War was light, with only 3 real bosses, God of War II had them all over the place. God of War III falls somewhere in between the two, with the focus more on quality than quantity, and has given me at least two of my favorite boss battles of all time. Each battle is different, and most are highly technical, and when it's done right, I love technical.
The squeamish had best beware, God of War's trademark gore is in rareform, and Kratos inflicts horrors upon his enemies the likes which even the most hardcore gamers have not yet seen. However, this violence IS Kratos. I've never felt this series to be utterly gratuitous, simply because of how central Kratos' rage, viciousness, and lack of foresight are to his character. The fact that Kratos uses violence as the answer to his every problem is not simply due to the fact that he is a video game character, but has shaped his backstory, and the ramifications have always shaped the plot of the series.
When I don't have enough good things to say about a game, I still try anyway, and then take 6 months to publish my blog post about it. So, all I can say, is that if you have a PS3, get God of War III. Now. If you don't have a PS3, go buy one, then go buy God of War III. It's worth it.
Next time: More Platinum! More Zombies! More Superpowers!
God of War III is amazingly tight, even more so than its predecessors. The game flows almost perfectly all the way to the end (with the exception of one extremely bizarre puzzle), interspersing spectacular set pieces with intense combat, mixing it up frequently. One feature of this game that deserves special mention is the boss battles. God of War was light, with only 3 real bosses, God of War II had them all over the place. God of War III falls somewhere in between the two, with the focus more on quality than quantity, and has given me at least two of my favorite boss battles of all time. Each battle is different, and most are highly technical, and when it's done right, I love technical.
The squeamish had best beware, God of War's trademark gore is in rareform, and Kratos inflicts horrors upon his enemies the likes which even the most hardcore gamers have not yet seen. However, this violence IS Kratos. I've never felt this series to be utterly gratuitous, simply because of how central Kratos' rage, viciousness, and lack of foresight are to his character. The fact that Kratos uses violence as the answer to his every problem is not simply due to the fact that he is a video game character, but has shaped his backstory, and the ramifications have always shaped the plot of the series.
When I don't have enough good things to say about a game, I still try anyway, and then take 6 months to publish my blog post about it. So, all I can say, is that if you have a PS3, get God of War III. Now. If you don't have a PS3, go buy one, then go buy God of War III. It's worth it.
Next time: More Platinum! More Zombies! More Superpowers!
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