God of War III

God of War III is all about spectacle. During the intro, Kratos is tearing his enemies apart on the back of a titan who, in turn, is climbing Mount Olympus and battling a gigantic aquatic creature controlled by Poseidon. The camera is constantly moving in and out of the action to display how the scope is now even larger than before, allowing for truly stunning set pieces.

The premise of the game is very straightforward: Kratos must climb Mount Olympus and kill Zeus if he’s to fulfill his desire for revenge. In order to defeat the god, the Spartan needs the power of the Olympian Flames, which are conveniently stored inside Pandora’s Box. The journey to get the box leads Kratos to seek Pandora, a key that has human form and conscience, while destroying any god or hero that dares to protect her. Yet, even though the game has a very simple structure – Kratos climbs the mountain, stops to kill those that are foolish enough to oppose him, and then resumes the climbing – the narrative in God of War III still manages to be more convoluted than it has any right to be.

This is caused by the multiple inconsistencies in the story. It’s said, for example, that some gods, such as Zeus and Athena, have spirits that survive the death of their bodies. This allows Athena to keep manipulating Kratos in spirit form in God of War III. However, other gods, such as Poseidon and Ares, fail to survive as spirits after their bodies are killed and the story offers no explanation for that. The motivation of some characters also keeps changing for no reason whatsoever and without warning: Zeus is the most bipolar of the gods, even encouraging the Spartan to open Pandora’s Box at the climax.

It’s precisely the climax the most problematic point of God of War III. Kratos is a hero that destroys the bodies of his enemies after plucking their guts out with his bare hands. On his way to the summit of Mount Olympus, he leaves a bloody trail of victims behind him, floods entire cities and even unleashes a deadly plague on the general population. The Spartan is an extremely violent character – and it is worth noting that if this violence was once the result of a tragic past, now it is only fueled by madness – that never thinks twice before brutalizing innocent people to achieve his goals. All this means that, during the climax, when Pandora begins to speak about how “Hope is what makes us strong,” the player can only be bewildered by the sudden change in tone – which makes the whole trilogy conclude on a very bizarre note.

On the other hand, the game succeeds in introducing some changes in its combat system. An item bar has been added to allow different strategies in combat – the bow, for example, can burn enemies from a safe distance, while the head that Kratos pulls from a certain paralyzed opponent blinds small enemies. As for the secondary weapons, they are now tied to specific magic spells and have specific purposes. The Nemean Cestus, for example, break shields and deal massive area damage with its correspondent magic, while the Claws of Hades are more agile and release several soul creatures on Krato’s enemies, stunning them. On top of that, it is now allowed to change weapons in the middle of the action with the push of a button, which makes the combat system more dynamic and complex.

The focus of God Of War III consequently changes. If the previous title provided an excellent adventure, this one exists exclusively for the action. In other words, puzzles and exploration give way to more spectacular battle sequences. At one moment, Kratos will be on top of a giant cube hanging over an abyss, and the player will not only have to defeat several hordes of enemies but also prevent Minotaurs from destroying the chains that hold the structure. At another, the Spartan will find himself within a similar cube, which will rotates its axis after each victory, forcing Kratos to grab hold of harpies to escape deadly spikes.

While the game contains a huge amount of interesting and creative set pieces, it’s the boss encounters that really stand out. True to form, the first major battle opens the game: while Kratos is climbing the back of a Titan, Poseidon transforms himself into a huge aquatic creature with gigantic crab claws and tentacles that end in deformed equine heads. The Spartan fights upside down, adjusting to the Titan’s movements; he is launched against the mountains, leading to brief platform sequences; and even throws himself at the enemy, breaking the jaws of the horses, all under the excellent direction of quick time events – which are now more polished: the buttons appear in the corners of the screen that correspond to their position on the controller.

Some of these quick time events are really inspired, but in a very brutal fashion: there is one in which Kratos is going to finish an enemy and the player watches everything through that enemy’s point of view, in the first person – a scene that reaches its apex when the Spartan pierces that enemy’s eyes with his fingers and the player’s vision is completely obscured.

The game’s presentation is excellent, living up to the amount of carnage the protagonist unleashes: if before, in the first God of War, Kratos would cut the belly of a cyclops and this would be shown by a red line in the monster, this time you can see the creature’s flesh being opened and its intestines falling to the ground. The soundtrack continues to emulate the epic style of past games through the use of an aggressive choir and drums, although the real highlight is Pandora’s theme, which is both sweet and sad, as if it marked an impending tragedy.

With a poorly crafted story, but with considerable improvements in the gameplay department, God of War III is an uneven game. On the one hand, the elaborate action can excite us with its creative and brutal set-pieces; on the other, the context for such battles is not that great, lessening their overall impact. The franchise has never needed an elaborate story to work, but here, since it is considerably flawed, it ends up hindering the experience.

September 27, 2019.

Review originally published in Portuguese on November 07, 2014.