God of War III | 9.0

Thanks for reading my first review here on Amazon. I normally don't review stuff like this online but I can't get this game out of my head. I've had my jaw hit the floor more times in the first couple hours than I've ever had in an entire game before. When people describe this game as epic, they are not just using some cliche word everyone on the internet throws around. The cover of God of War 3 should be in the dictionary next to the word.

First, I highly suggest anyone new to the series to go ahead and pick up the God of War Collection. It is some of the best the PS2 has to offer for only $30. It will bring you up to date on the story and help you get aquainted with the combat system so you can jump right into part 3 no problem. This brings me to my next point, difficulty. I'm hearing the term "button-masher" thrown around quite a lot in regards to this game and while this might be true for the easy and normal difficulties, it couldn't be further from the truth on Titan (hard) mode. Having beaten the two previous games recently, I started GoW3 on Titan difficutly. There is no way you can spam the same combos and expect to make it anywhere. For those familiar with the previous instances of God of War, or for you hack-n-slash pros out there, I highly suggest starting off on Titan mode. This will provide a much greater challenge and get you ready to play on Chaos mode after you've unlocked it.

For the most part, the gameplay remains unchanged from the previous titles. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? However, there are a few differences that greatly enhance the experiece. For starters, the QTEs now put the button prompts in relation to their location on the controller (triangle appears at the top of the screen, X on the bottom ect.). This allows the player to view whatever violent act Kratos is performing at the time without having the button prompt cover it all. Another great change is the ability to switch weapons on the fly, mid combo. This allows for a lot of creativiy to be used in how you dispatch each enemy. Lastly, one of my favorite additions to the combat system is the combat grapple. Kratos will fling both blades into an enemy and pull himself towards them. This greatly increases combo variety and makes it easier to string together lots and lots of hits.

When it comes to presentation in video games, God of War 3 takes the cake. You can tell a lot of work was put into making the game look amazing. I must have spent the first 10 minutes just staring at how detailed Kratos looks. The boss battles and level design redefine what scale is in games today. Some people might be put off by the fixed camera, but this allows the directors of the game to give you breathtaking views and truly show off all the hard work they put into making this one of the most visually pleasing experiences you will ever have. All the trailers and screens you could watch won't hold a candle to how this game looks live on a nice 1080p TV set.

In closing, God of War 3 is one of most amazing experiences you can find in gaming today. Other games might have a little more depth to their combat systems, but none of them put together the entire package of gameplay, graphics, sound, story, and overall fun. If you've been on the edge about picking up a PS3, let Kratos make that decision for you. Do yourself a favor and BUY this game!!!