God of War

[brkl]

It's a pain in my three-thousand-year-old ass, I tell ya. But I comply and don't play -- I don't want the Federal Bureau of Statistics after me again.

[Cigol]

...just thought I'd point out the E3 demo for the third God of War is now available to everyone on PSN. I never played the originals the first time around so am currently going through the God of War collection (which could very nearly pass for a 'next gen' game) but still won't be able to resist downloading it.

WsirJeo7HQU

[toblix]

I really love the trend of games having these horrible torture/execution scenes, as it makes defending games as a worthwile form of culture more of a challenge.

[Cigol]

Yeah but the laugh of it is I doubt God of War will be called out for its violence. Maybe someone should email the link of that video to the Daily Mail or something, get the game some much needed publicity...

...because oh mah gawd it's absolutely fupping brilliant from start to finish. Amazing stuff, a day one purchase for sure.

It's implementation of quick-time-events was slightly less intuitive than Heavy Rains David Cages though.

[DanJW]

I really love the trend of games having these horrible torture/execution scenes, as it makes defending games as a worthwile form of culture more of a challenge.

God of War got in pretty early on that trend. And there's a sense that it doesn't take itself so seriously that is lacking in imitators like, say, Danté's Inferno. The boss executions in God of War 2 in particular are so brutal as to be actually hilarious.

[dpp]

Pardon my language, but... HOLY SHIT!!!

I'm about 4h in, just freaking decapitated Helios (E3, demo, don't cry about spoilers here)... so far this game is amazing.

Two things pop right out of the gate: sense of scale and lighting.

The first happens when you're interacting with the titans, it's incredible how the camera pans out and zooms in, which gives an unique epic feeling about your actions.

As for the second, I love how they employ the chiaroscuro technique, since most of the environments are pretty dark but there are always sources of light to show you the way (or you provide the light depending on the circumstances).

I've played about 1/3 of the game from what I've heard... if it keeps up or improves until the end of the game, I can't see how this won't be GOTY.

[elmuerte]

I tried the demo... it feels like nothing else but button mashing and QTEs.

[Cigol]

I'm guessing you haven't played the originals? It has a compelling story tying it all together giving you a good enough reason to furiously mash buttons and rip peoples heads off. It unfolds slowly in the first game, only gradually revealing its backstory, before ending on a cliffhanger in the second that the third immediately picks up from. So ideally you'd want to play the first two before starting the third.

The pacing is quite good as well, with some real head-scratching but ultimately rewarding puzzles, and fantastic level design which creates a believable and rooted environment in amongst all the jaw-dropping vistas. * ...but I've not played the third game yet (mines still in the post), so I don't know, but based on the original games the E3 demo isn't going to be wholly representative of the full experience. There is more to it than button mashing.

*Ignoring some of the more difficult platforming sections and timed puzzles, that is.

[SoulChicken]

Spoiler - most of the bosses are greek gods.

I started playing it last night and kind of I regret buying it. It looks amazing but its still the same average gameplay. I just don't find the fighting to be fun. Especially compared to the recent fun I've had dipping into Bayonetta of an evening and knocking one out. A chapter I mean.

Actually that was an unexpected pleasure. I've been playing PC games almost exclusively this year and I got so much pleasure taking a break from that and playing Bayonetta and Super Mario Galaxy. I am living my 10 year old dream, playing two amazing arcade games in my living room and not having to put any quarters in to play.

GOW3 may well be a good game and I am just traumatised by QTEs after Shitty Rain. Heavy Rain recently showed me what a bad game looks like and God of War 3 is not a bad game, just not my cup of tea. I'm still going to finish though because I want to see more of the pretty graphics and spectacle.

[Murdoc]

I'm guessing you haven't played the originals? It has a compelling story

I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Granted I never got through either 1 or 2, but compelling story? From what I gathered you play the biggest asshole in mythology and the only reason your an asshole is to confirm your an asshole; the pr machine calls it "badass" but the guy is a dick and just yells at the top of his lungs how much of a dick he is to confirm it.

Nice visuals and alright game play though, but never held my interest long enough to finish any of them.

[MysteriousLeg]

I have a pretty unashamed love for the God of War series. They aren't the best games, and they certainly don't make an argument for art or intelligence in games, but they do two things well, environmental puzzles and combat. I feel like God of War III hasn't been as heavy with the puzzles as the previous two, but I may my misremembering, and there is one really well done puzzle that unabashedly cribs from Echochrome. While the game does cater to the most basic teenage kill-and-fuck-everything desires, it really is disgustingly satisfying to kill hordes of undead Greek hoplites and rip the eyes out of giant trolls.

I don't know, I think Robert Ashley said it best:

"Why is God of War so fucking good? That's a game that appreciates the fact that the ultimate thing in a game is for you to hit a button and for you to feel like you have all this incredible power. Like you're sitting there on your couch being, like, the laziest fucker on Earth, and you do the most minimal thing on Earth, you hit a button, and the button, it's not like you gotta press it really hard, you just gotta barely click it and all this crazy violence happens like you're an insane badass.... It's the most ridiculous feedback for the most minimal effort. You're not even trying. You're ripping people to shreds and the music comes and it's like '(operatic singing) KRATOS!' You're like 'YEAH! MOTHERFUCKER'. It's the most satisfying game. It's like the macaroni and cheese you get that has the breadcrumbs on top and the fancy cheese, it's not like the Kraft macaroni and cheese shit from the powder, it's like really good cheese. Ah man, it's just so good. It's comfort gaming."

[Cigol]

Totally 'like a painting come to life'. It's beautiful. I honestly can't believe how good the environments look. It's ridiculously good...

Granted I never got through either 1 or 2, but compelling story? From what I gathered you play the biggest asshole in mythology and the only reason your an asshole is to confirm your an asshole; the pr machine calls it "badass" but the guy is a dick and just yells at the top of his lungs how much of a dick he is to confirm it.

Nice visuals and alright game play though, but never held my interest long enough to finish any of them.

The story doesn't actually kick in until quite late in the first game, and even then it comes to you in dribs and drabs before being laid on thick towards the very end. The original is quite slow and if you're not a big fan of the combat/puzzles then I can see how you might lose interest long before they start fleshing out his backstory and your impetus for mashing peoples heads into a pulp... I can also see how if you jump and flit between the games without this prior appreciation for the character and his journey it's not going to have the same impact (especially when you're only staying around for a portion of the game and not seeing it through to completion).

And had I not done just that after buying the GOW collection I would have said much the same thing as you I'm sure - since from the outside looking in that is how it seems.

[Korax]

I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Granted I never got through either 1 or 2, but compelling story? From what I gathered you play the biggest asshole in mythology and the only reason your an asshole is to confirm your an asshole; the pr machine calls it "badass" but the guy is a dick and just yells at the top of his lungs how much of a dick he is to confirm it.

Nice visuals and alright game play though, but never held my interest long enough to finish any of them.

Gonna have to agree with this. In the first one, Kratos gets the butt because he's a selfish asshole, then "comes to his senses" and decides that the only way to fix things is to help the other gods kill Ares. He does so, and the story gets wrapped up with no real need for a sequel.

Then in the second one, everything happens because he's too stupid to recognize patterns. He starts doing the same things that Ares did, and is somehow surprised when the other gods don't like it and betray him with one of the most painfully obvious set-ups that I've ever seen in anything.

Because of the amazingly dumb story and frustrating QTE bullshit, I don't think I would have enjoyed the games if I had bought both of them when they first came out.

[dpp]

Only God of War haters here? Am I the only one who finished it?

I was hoping for an evolution in the GoW franchise but it was revolutionary in some respects... besides lighting effects and sense of scale, they used the camera magnificently in the game. Even better, it wasn't over-used and it didn't come out as a gimmick but as a pleasant surprise, each time they pulled something new off. The cinematics were also spectacular, they were clearly inspired by the greek paintings in vases, which was very suitable.

And the ending... oh the ending. Worthy of the overall quality of the franchise, perfect to send off Kratos. Can't wait for their next game, they are up there with Naughty Dog as the best studios IMHO.

[MysteriousLeg]

Only God of War haters here? Am I the only one who finished it?

I was hoping for an evolution in the GoW franchise but it was revolutionary in some respects... besides lighting effects and sense of scale, they used the camera magnificently in the game. Even better, it wasn't over-used and it didn't come out as a gimmick but as a pleasant surprise, each time they pulled something new off. The cinematics were also spectacular, they were clearly inspired by the greek paintings in vases, which was very suitable.

And the ending... oh the ending. Worthy of the overall quality of the franchise, perfect to send off Kratos. Can't wait for their next game, they are up there with Naughty Dog as the best studios IMHO.

I really love the entire franchise, but wasn't any more impressed by this game than the earlier ones in the franchise. You're right that the sense of scale is magnificent, they managed to wring impressively large environments out of the PS2 and it's even more impressive on the PS3. The commentary of Half-Life 2: Episode 1 talks about how they used scale models to create the Citadel in-world rendering, but it feels like the titans in God of War are rendered in full size, which makes really awe-inspiring moments in the game.

I really did have a few complaints about God of War III, though. The puzzles were few and not particularly difficult, which doesn't matter in the grander scheme of the game, but they only acted as small asides, rather than centerpieces of gameplay. The boss battles, though fun, didn't seem as grand as the previous installments (excepting, perhaps, the final battle), and environments were reused repeatedly, which actually fits in with the story, but by the end of the game I no longer enjoyed any sense of discovery. My biggest complaint was the rhythm game that had physical X, triangle, square and circle buttons rendered in world as well as a physical Guitar Hero highway, God of War is not the most realistic franchise, but this section of the game just pulled me out completely.

Ending spoiler ahead:

I didn't really like the ending, the veritable retconning of Kratos' character, changing him from a rage-driven asshole, only happy when he's ripping things in twain, to a benevolent do-gooder, empowered by love and hope, seemed cheap and pointless, as well as completely incongruous with the player's ability to kill civilians for an unimportant number of health orbs. I was fairly happy with the thought that Kratos had permanently killed himself, but of course, in a Halo 3-esque after-credit shot, it's plain that he's not really dead, opening the game up for yet another sequel or, indeed, trilogy.

So yeah, I still think it's a good game, but they didn't do anything new, besides a prettier presentation. If you didn't like the first two games, there's no reason to buy this.

[Sully907]

I don't know how you can say the boss fights weren't as epic, I mean think about the chronos battle? Or hell even the hades battle scale was easily as intense as anything in GOW2.

[MysteriousLeg]

I don't know how you can say the boss fights weren't as epic, I mean think about the chronos battle? Or hell even the hades battle scale was easily as intense as anything in GOW2.

After I submitted that last post, I kept remembering boss battles and thinking "Wow, that was pretty awesome." or "Oh, man, I forgot about that Hades fight." I played the game over four days, and finished it less than a week ago, you'd think that I would remember it better than I do.

[toblix]

Okay, so God of War III. I got it after some intense Twitter PR work by @Thayer, and it's all right. I can't really get a feeling for what's happening, though. I'm pushing the attack buttons and I slaughter a bunch of men, but in the boss battles I'm not really able to identify the various elements in such a way that I feel I'm having any sort of control. I'm quite sure the only reason I'm still alive is that I'm playing on easy. Is this like other games, in that there's a way of dodging or blocking each type of attack? When fighting, say, Poseidon, and he's going for you with his fork, what the hell do I do? I just got hit a bunch of times, but still was able to get him by running up to him and fire whipping him, but it's not fun when I don't feel like I'm using any tactic or skill. It's weird -- in a game like Arkham Asylum, I have no problem identifying the moments where the game is telling me I'm supposed to prepare for this or that kind of attack, but here it's just shit happening all over the place, and I just move towards the enemy, bash the attack buttons and suddenly I win.

[DanJW]

I finished God of War III the other night. I thought the whole series was great. The second game possibly has the edge though.

I had that feeling with Poseidon as well; my tactic ended up being "kill him before he kills me". However you do have a block and a dodge and I used them much more later in the game. Constant dodging in particular seems a good tactic. Different weapons and manoeuvres are definitely better in different situations, sometimes obviously so and sometimes not.

Seriously though, I can't think of many other games that have the ambition of the God of War series. It's not just the sheer scale, or the care and polish that has gone into the visual design of every asset; its the little snippets of divergent gameplay and the really clever work with the camera and lighting (I loved the silhouette battle in GoW II).

[toblix]

I

I had that feeling with Poseidon as well; my tactic ended up being "kill him before he kills me". However you do have a block and a dodge and I used them much more later in the game. Constant dodging in particular seems a good tactic. Different weapons and manoeuvres are definitely better in different situations, sometimes obviously so and sometimes not.

Okay, that might've just been the "worst" boss battle then. I tried dodging and blocking, and though blocking his huge fork seemed ridiculous, at one point I though I was onto a pattern using dodging: I thought that if stayed back until right before he attacked, and then dodged towards him, he would attack where I was earlier and miss, and I could run forward and get him, but I was unable to reproduce it.

[Sully907]

Yea the poseidon fight might be the least combat-skills dependent of the boss fights, but I guess that makes sense since it's at the beginning of the game. You do still have to have some skill for those first few sections though to avoid getting hit at higher difficulties, where it can be devastating. It was probably the most graphically impressive fight though, when you finally finish it, and you burst through poseidon like a missile, grab him by the leg and fling him against a rock i was like, "Hollllllyyyyyyyyyyyy shiiiiiiiit" out loud.

[Tanukitsune]

I just beat God of War III and.... I'M SO ANGRY! That was that most B.S. ending ever!

Kratos is ENDING THE WORLD by killing the gods and he doesn't give a damn? He never feels bad for a second seeing what his revenge is doing? BULL!

Pandora is introduced, she's supposed to die to open the box, but Kratos for some strange reason now has feelings and doesn't want her to die... why? EVERYBODY ELSE IS DEAD? Why let her live in such a dreadful world? But the worst part is, when Zeus reminds him that he killed his family he let's Padora die without a second thought just to punch Zeus in the face....

And then the whole "hope" cr*p... Hope.... HOPE? HOOOPEEE?!?! He killed his family! The world is ending! WHAT f'ing hope can there be?

The magical power of "hope" kills Zeus and Athena asks for the power back... and then tells Kratos that when he opened the box all the evils of the world possessed the gods, so yeah... EVERYTHING IS HIS FAULT! *head bang*

He all of the sudden kills himself which for some reason unleashed the hope unto the world... which is dead... and probably didn't need it because Pandora had hope...

Oh... and he "finds redemption" by forgiving himself... Kratos.. who killed everybody he loved and ended the world and has done thing that would make Jigsaw retch... forgave himself... #@$% Sony!

Phew... I've never been this angry at a game before... I'm better now!

[DanJW]

Hahah thanks for posting that.

yeah the

hope

stuff didn't quite make sense.

Pandora though - I think they were trying to make her a psychological surrogate for Kratos' own daughter. In his mind she becomes his daughter, which why he becomes protective of her.

I enjoyed the game a lot, in terms of impressive set pieces and playing with the conventions of third person action games it was almost as good as GoW2. But yes the story falls a bit short. A shame because I think with a bit more thought and conviction and the bravery to rise above the badassary it would have been great.

The

end of the world

sets up, I suspect, a rebirth into a different world for God of War 4. Possibly with a Norse or whatever theme

The whole story is Götterdämmerung anyway

.