Call me crazy, but God of War III is the pinnacle of the original God of War series. It impressively iterates on the foundation created by the PlayStation 2 God of War games and elevates the series stylistically and in a game design sense. I'd been feeling like both the PS2 games and the PSP games were too similar, perhaps from fear of deviating from a winning formula, but God of War III manages to take the series in some new directions. Tweaks like making certain enemies less frustrating by adding new moves for countering them, tying magic to weapons, and having a host of items all aid to make the combat feel fluid and free-flowing. The game's story is still a little juvenile with its treatment of women and its dialogue, but there are hints of the maturity seen in 2018's reboot. This was a wonderful conclusion to the original trilogy, and I think it will remain my favorite as Ascension's reception appears to be more mixed.

Such a legendarily epic finale to an already over-the-top trilogy. Kratos' slaughter of all the Gods of the Greek pantheon is amazing. The remaster allows this game to appeal to modern standards, with set pieces that were so ahead of their time I still think back to this game when I see modern day titles do large scale boss fights. It set the standard. Gameplay wise, this is the pinnacle of the old style of GoW combat, though I believe it would've gotten stale had they kept doing it for any longer. The gameplay overhaul of the 2018 reboot was much needed.

This might be the worst game I've ever played in my life. It was free, and I wasn't able to beat it during the time when I had nothing else to play.

The gameplay is all QTE, mostly implemented in the dumbest way possible. Along the perimeter of the screen a button will appear, which means that you're often not even looking at action in the center of the screen. Gameplay isn't responsive enough for this kind of game, either. If you look at Google, tons of people have issue with the double jump timing. There were times where I would stop, practice my timing, repeated "Jump. Jump." to myself as it worked, walked to a nearest pit and fell in because suddenly second jump refused to work.

The violence is just boring. It's no Mortal Kombat, DMC or Bayonetta. Kratos just pummels his enemies with his fists. He's a very boring protagonist that could be a fitting boss for any other game. He's not an anti-hero, he's just an asshole. The game doesn't even present his enemies as interesting, they're just some guys.

What made me drop this game was when you find a half-naked (as most women in this game are) sex slave who is deathly afraid of you. I was legitimately afraid a rape scene was about to start and I can't recall a single game that made me so uncomfortable.
Instead, Kratos jams the woman into a puzzle contraption that rips her apart.

Fuck this guy.

Peak hack and slash action game. The third game in the God of War trilogy continues to improve on everything the first and second game did right and I think it all adds up to one of the greatest action games ever made.

I think the story and presentation is the best so far with the new graphics of the PS3 (or in this case PS4) looking amazing and all the effects and sounds being stunning too. The story without getting too much into it I think was more engaging than the last two games and kept me entertained for longer.

The gameplay continues to be great fun and visually stimulating. The 3rd game adds tons of new unique weapons, enemies, and locations to keep the game moving and keeps me interested. You're given blood orbs at a regular pace to keep upgrading consistently so you feel like you're getting stronger constantly. Another thing I love about these games is you start with all you're upgrades from the last game so even if you lose them early on I still love the continuity.

I think this is just a great game overall with very few flaws and its just a straight up fun action game.

Pros:

Fluid Combat and Stable Performance: Experience seamless transitions between moves and enjoy smooth gameplay on both PS5 and PS4, with a consistent 60 fps. Technical enhancements, including improved graphics and reduced loading times, enhance immersion and polish.
Cons:

Opening Momentum: While the game starts with a thrilling cutscene, it struggles to maintain the same level of excitement throughout the experience.

Boss Encounter Disappointment: Boss encounters in 'God of War III Remastered' disappoint overall. Helios and Hermes are missed opportunities, and encounters with Poseidon and Leviathan feel out of place and underwhelming. Additionally, battles against Scorpion and Cerberus, while challenging, often become more annoying than enjoyable.

Difficulty Balancing: Certain sections, particularly in Chaos mode, suffer from unbalanced difficulty spikes, leading to frustration and encouraging gameplay styles focused solely on efficiency.

Simplistic Puzzles: Puzzles lack complexity and fail to offer significant mental challenges, serving as mere breaks in combat.

Repetitive Combat Mechanics: Combat can feel monotonous due to reliance on button-mashing, QTE events, and simple enemy patterns. The inclusion of an upgrade that auto-wins QTE events underscores the need for a more dynamic combat system.

Extended Labyrinth Section: The labyrinth feels overly long and tedious, disrupting pacing and testing players' patience.

Missed Opportunity with Titans: The potential for deeper exploration of Titans as allies or adversaries is overlooked, representing a missed opportunity for narrative and gameplay depth.

Unskippable Cutscenes: The presence of unskippable cutscenes disrupts player pacing and leads to frustration during repeated playthroughs.

Lack of New Game Plus: The absence of a New Game Plus mode and the need to recollect items in a new playthrough may detract from the action experience, though this can be mitigated by utilizing a 100% save file.

Comparison to Other Titles: "God of War III Remastered" falls short compared to other titles in the series, lacking the balanced narrative and gameplay of "God of War II" and the improved mechanics of "Ascension." Additionally, the absence of a strong narrative in "God of War III" is a missed opportunity, making it feel more like a glorified tech demo.

As someone who only played the new God of War series before, I had a hard time getting into the older series; I tried streaming the first 2 games on the PS4 but they didn't run well and the only thing I could do is to directly jump into the third game... and so I did.
I got to say, even though the story in this game is very simple and not engaging at all, having played the newer series first made the story more meaningful than it seems to be.
The story isn't an important part of the older series though, the gameplay is, and surprisingly enough, God of War III's gameplay holds up extremely well; it almost plays like a modern hack 'n' slash game. The amount of QTEs in the game is overwhelming, sure, but still, the gameplay is very enjoyable, with many different weapons and abilities.
Another important thing in the game is the bosses; they're a major part of the game and they're quite impressive. The music, the spectacle, the scale, all of these elements combined make some of the bosses stand out.
Also, the soundtrack is amazing; no other game has made me feel this way with its music before.
Lastly, the graphics and the audio design are slightly outdated for sure but they hold up well for the most part.

Pros:
+ Great gameplay
+ Spectacular bosses
+ Fantastic music

Cons:
- Many QTEs

Narrative: ?/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Characters: ?/10
Music: 9/10
Graphics/Audio: ?/10

Final Rating: 8/10
- Great -
God of War III is an epic, fun and special hack 'n' slash game even to this day, despite coming out more than a decade ago.

Do I recommend it?:
Yes, for sure, especially for fans of the newer series.

I've been going on a journey through God of War since July and this one has been favorite game in the series by far. It's gorgeous and it's been such a blast to playthough. Once I started it, I struggled to put it down and ended up finishing it way before I expected.

It's hard to decribe the experience without spoiling the events but to put it simply, the journey in God of War III is truly epic from start to finish. The battles you face throughout the story are plenty and they really pay off.


I felt that parts of the final segment of the game kind of dragged a bit, but it was for the conclusion of an epic saga that had been building up since the first game so I can see why Santa Monica Studio went all-in on these moments. Plus the ending is sure to leave players satisfied, I know I sure was.

God of War III, the final installment in the legendary God of War trilogy. After I played Ragnarök: Valhalla DLC, I couldn't help but revisit this gem after a long time. I remember the first time I played this game I was only 10 years old and I went with my dad to buy a PS3 in 2010 just for this game. It's a game that has high nostalgic value for me, but I'll be as objective as I can and I won't spoil the story.

The game starts right after the epic finale of God of War II. Kratos using the powers of the Sisters of Fate to bring all the Titans from the past to his own time, shouting over Gaia's shoulder, challenging all of Olympus... If that doesn't sound cool to you, I'm not sure what will.
Like every God of War game, God of War III starts with an epic beginning and an epic boss battle. If I compare the epicness of this boss battle to other games, this is the MOST EPIC opening in ALL God of War games. This gives you a special feeling that makes you say "This is the best game I've ever played in my life!".

After the epic Intro, the real game begins. Our ultimate goal is to take revenge on Zeus by finishing him off and destroying everything and every god in our path. Even if it means bringing the whole world to the brink of chaos and destruction.

If I have to talk about the story and bosses very briefly, this game has the most epic boss battles of all God of War games, but this has both a good and a bad side. Unfortunately, after the first two main boss battles in the game, it takes too long and a lot of thing happens before you get to a proper boss battle, and again, specific characters that I won't name die so easily that I can't even call these battles "boss battles". This is probably the first thing I dislike about God of War III. Some of the gods are so weak and die so easily that I can't learn much about these characters and their deaths have little impact on me, even though their deaths wreak havoc on the world.

My second negative thing about the story is that Zeus, the main villain of the game, is not a very active villain. Ironically, we learn a lot about Zeus but we never see him actively in the game. To clarify this point, the game tells us a lot about Zeus. "How much?" you ask, "Almost every character we encounter tells us what Zeus did to them." Likewise, in general, we even learn exactly what Zeus was up to between God of War 1 and God of War 2. But I still think it's a bit annoying that Zeus first appears at the beginning of the game and then doesn't show up again until the end.
On the other hand, God of War III might be the game that contributes the most to the story compared to the other two games. There are a lot of characters, a lot of different locations. But I can't say that the plot is perfectly executed. It still doesn't give me the same flavor as God of War II. It feels like God of War III is a mixed soup, trying to tell too much and touching too many different aspects.

Also, if you liked the first God of War game more than God of War II, you will probably like God of War III. But if you still don't find the epic scenes in God of War III cool, like I said, I don't know what else will impress you... :D

Now let's move on to the gameplay.

We use the Blades of Exile in this game instead of the Blades of Athena that we used in the previous game. I won't tell you the reason of this change in order to avoid spoilers. These blades are similar to the weapons we used in GoW 1 and GoW 2, but the Blades of Exile have slightly different movements. I can also say that these blades attack a bit faster than the previous ones. But one thing I don't like about these blades is their design and the fact that they don't change shape as you level up.

If you've played any God of War game other than God of War III (including 2018's Reboot and Ragnarök), you can see that every time you upgrade your weapons in God of War games, they change shape in-game. They look sharper, more vibrant, cooler and more powerful. Unfortunately, in God of War III, none of the weapons we use, including our main weapon, change their appearance when we level up. You may not care about that, but I do.

In addition to weapons (and their spells), we also have other items that can be used in battles. Since these items aren't spells, they don't consume the mana bar, nor can Kratos use them as straight weapons whenever he wants. Instead, there is a yellow bar below the health and mana bar. This bar fills itself up very quickly over time and Kratos can only use these items when it's not empty. It's a nice addition, but the gameplay impact of these items is minimal except when they are mandatory, and the number of times they are mandatory is very small.

Apart from these items, Kratos has 4 different main weapons in this game. I personally preferred the Blades of Exile and the Nemean Cestus, which looks very cool. I won't say anything about the other two weapons, but the new weapons other than the Nemean didn't seem special to me.

In conclusion, I can say that God of War 3 is a game that has a lot of good things in it, but at the same time it feels like a soup and yet it's a great game. The music and the atmosphere are great. Kratos is even more greater. You should definitely play it before moving on to God of War (2018) and Ragnarök!

Personal note - FINALLY finished the game after waiting for 13 years!
I played GoW 2 and 1 back in 2009, was really excited for GoW III but could never afford a PS3. After getting job and PS4, its my first game to beat on it

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REVIEW - (Writing it just after finishing)
Pretty much the height of the (classic) series with a fitting conclusion, though not without flaws.

- Gameplay - It is brilliant, loved the idea of joining magic with weapon. The game is very satisfying to play if you feel like releasing your IRL anger. Not really fan of Relics (L2 actions)

- Puzzles - While lighter compared to previous entries, they were still really fun to solve. I've personally loved puzzle solving sections in games.

- Level design and art - I can't state this enough, it is unbeatable to this day; truly god-like. Its like old epic paintings come to life, and playable.

- Story/Cinematics - Lot to say here. First third is truly epic, firing on all cylinders. Second third is equally great with more puzzles and new weapons/relics, though cinematic quality is lower. Last third is rather baffling, its like too many writers tried to do their own thing. That said, I loved the actual conclusion, very fitting for the (classic) franchise.

God of War III takes a fundamentally damaged character, and twists him even more into the “monster” he’s described to be in the rebooted series.

A man who killed his family. Killed dozens of innocent people, including ones who beg for their lives. The game forces you, the player, to often take these lives. And in the final stretch… the last act… Kratos the irredeemable Ghost of Sparta has an idea planted within him. One that not even he considered possible.

The idea that even he is capable of changing after all he’s become. That what he’s done doesn’t have to define him forever. An idea planted by a young girl… similar to that of his daughter. He’s reminded of his humanity. He’s reminded of hope. And in his final moments in the game, he does the first selfless thing in all of the series. He gives a bit of hope to the world he’s destroyed along his path for vengeance.

His first selfless act while on a new path. A fresh start Pandora suggested possible. One that we would later embark on with him. Kratos is not forgiven for what he’s done. He’s not justified in it either. But maybe with the rest of the life, he can continue to make better choices.

…This game dials up the storytelling another notch over the previous two entries. Pandora often reminded me of Atreus in the time I spent with her- shaping Kratos into a gentler soul, while giving him something to care about other than vengeance.

The boss battles were more frequent, yet they never lost the epic scale I’ve come to love about them throughout the series. Each was exciting, and revealed something new about the world and its story. Though the gameplay is distinctly similar to the first to games, maybe to a fault, there were still plenty new mechanics that allowed the experience to feel fresh and satisfying. The level design is at least just as mesmerizing as the first two… yet somehow they do it even better here.

The graphics were nicely improved, which feels really rewarding for the last entry in the franchise. And having more cutscenes allowed for more storytelling, which was more payoff I wasn’t expecting. It’s the perfect follow up to the incredible cliffhanger the second game leaves things on. I couldn’t imagine how this could succeed things in a satisfying way… and yet it did at every turn. It has all of the elements I was hoping for and plenty of elements I love that I wasn’t expecting.

Then of course, by that same token… an element I absolutely hate that hurts the experience significantly… though it’s not reflected in my rating because in all fairness, it isn’t in the game very long. There is an over abundance of sexuality and eroticism in one portion of the game that became incredibly obnoxious remarkably fast. It also goes hand in hand with the over-sexualization, and treatment of women in the game.

If you’ve played it, then you already know that there’s an entire quick-time sex mini game randomly thrown in and completely out of place. I’m positive it was to appeal to male gamer incels who never leave their basement… but I think just about every other type of person who’s played this can agree that we can do without it. I genuinely can’t believe it’s in this game. The first game in the series had some similar issues… but not this bad.

However, if you’re able to move past this and continue playing, the storytelling does make up for it tenfold. It is the definitive experience in the trilogy, and it’s given me memories I won’t forget.