God of War III Review

January 18, 2023

Kratos is back! The all-famous protagonist of the God of War series returns for yet another epic tale rich in mythology, an interesting plot, and last but not least, outstanding fighting scenes. Some of the series's fans were a bit worried that the game may lose its sense of uniqueness after a third release and the series should probably be left alone – but heck no, not only did GoW III prove that Santa Monica Studio are far from exhausted in their ideas, it actually showed that a lot more could be done with the franchise in the future without resorting to “milking” techniques.

Gameplay

The gameplay remains more or less the same as in the previous games in the series. Controlling Kratos, you'll come up against large hordes of enemies which you can dispose of in a variety of creative (and usually gory) ways. Some changes have been introduced to the combat system though – for example, you can no longer choose your magic skills as you wish, and instead your currently equipped weapon will deteremine what kind of magic you can use. An addition to Kratos's arsenal comes in the form of secondary weapons, which you can use for brief periods of time before having to recharge them.

Aside from the previous combat techniques you could use, you now have several other moves at your disposal – such as pulling your enemies towards you, and an especially spectacular move which allows you to pick up a smaller enemy and outright use them as a blunt weapon, bashing around with them and even breaking through barricades. For better or worse, the sex-based minigame from the previous two games is back and this time it actually plays into the game's plot, so if you're into this sort of thing, you should be happy about this.

Graphics and System Requirements

One of the major aspects of the God of War series has always been how truly spectacular the games are, even if you're just watching someone play. The third game makes no exception from this, as you'll get to see combat depicted in a completely breathtaking and unique way.

From the colorful particle effects flying around with every hit (be it yours or your enemies'), to the realistc (yet artsy) effects used for the blood and gore in the game, you should probably set aside a few minutes to just enjoy the game's visuals so that you don't get distracted while you're playing normally.

Upgrading the visuals doesn't mean that the game has become slower though – quite the contrary, it feels more optimized than ever, and playing the new GoW is the smoothest experience in the series so far – without any exaggeration.

Other

Several collector's edition sets were released along with the game, each offering different contents in the package, though most of them were quickly sold out. You may be lucky to find used copies on sites like eBay though, so give it a shot.

Conclusion

A game you'll never forget, and one which will leave you asking for more, God of War III is the ultimate experience in action games.