The fall of Olympus... the fall of Kratos.
The beautiful art design and superb graphics are not enough to save Kratos from being repetitive and shallow, where we can see many elements from the other two games weakly reproduced. All elements of God of War 3 are infected by those two flaws.
This third game starts in the exact moment where the second ends. Kratos, allied with the titans, is climbing high in the Mount Olympus, seeking for Zeus destruction. But what seems an easier task, soon proofs that will demand a lot of our semi-god to achieve, mainly when Zeus' family interfere with plans of Kratos.
And here in the beginning is where the repetitive appears. Kratos start with full power from the previous "adventure" and is ready to eliminate Zeus. So, same combos, same weapon and weak enemies will be in our path. And after the first boss fight, will be like in the second game, Kratos losing his powers again, so he must gain power all again to reach Zeus, using the same weapon with the same combos that we see in all the previous game of the series.
Of course that he'll get another three other weapons that are really powerful and all, with some different combos and a new way to combine them together to deliver a new and more powerful combos in the foes on Kratos path. But those weapons ALL look like the Blades of Exile (the new Kratos' blade) or like previous weapons used in past games. Two of these new weapons use ranged attacks, where a blade is attached in chains, making everything look the same blade - only changing some little effects.
He also has other artifacts that we'll collect through the game. And you can really think that is a good thing, but I say that is not. Similar weapons more useless artifacts to kill repetitive enemies that we're tired to see from the past games are all here again and that is not cool.
Not believe yet that God of War is a repetitive game? How about the same weapons, enemies, footsteps, water, doors, screams and all sort of sound effects are almost identical from the previous game? And the same extras like combat arena and all other challenges? And the same screen designs? That the red orbs and all the way to use them are here like in ALL the other games of the series and in an almost identical screen?
If your answer is no, then you never played any of the God of War games.
And if you never played, I cannot recommend this game for you. Instead, take the God of War Collection and go play the first and second games of the series and be happy, no matter who you are. But if you're a fan of the genre, it's an "ok" game for you.
Well… continuing the review, let's go back to the history.
But hey! What history? If you ask me, I could resume in few words: Kratos wants to kill Zeus for vengeance and he will not falter to stop, even if this mean the destruction of everything that he knows. So, destruction and death will prevail where Kratos is passing by, and he will show no mercy to achieve his main objective. That's really strange, because in the end, he will strangely show a weak to protect someone that did not deserve it at all, even when others have suffered a merciless death by his hands.
The difficult of this game is also something to consider. Not that is very easy or very hard. Not when we play in the "normal" difficult, that is easy for any veteran. But the "hard" isn't just hard, but really hard, where we don't have fun at all, because this game do not reward the player in any form or even is a game that deserve so many time to fully dominate all the Kratos powers. Actually, is more a point to have patience, and not skill.
At least the boss fights could be memorable like always, any player can think… But this is so untruth! In the first five minutes of the game, Kratos already face Poseidon, one of the great gods, brother of Zeus and ruler of the oceans. After a boring fight with some kind of water horses, we just have to use a sensitive attack on the ocean god to finish the fight. And is not even cool to do it… not like the others…
Sensitive attacks will not only proof of poor creativity when finishing boss fights, but in any other enemy that we'll face in this game – exceptions exist to this. Maybe the true nature of these finishing moves is to show how cold blood and shallow character Kratos has become.
Then we have the puzzles. Maybe any child can solve those puzzles... they're not easy... but too easy. Really easy. They don't fit in the game, looking some sort of weird paths that Kratos must, for some reason, solve to pass through. They just seems pointless and out of context, like "why this exist? Only for me solve it? I mean... and the others? They must solve the puzzles and remade all again and again just waiting for Kratos?". At least, I had this feeling while playing.
Now, let's consider that you're not playing God of War 3 because of Kratos and all the background history that supported him to be a good character and was not used in this game, or if you was always in love using the same combos again and again to kill enemies with a miserable challenge, or even if you just only want to see how Kratos' muscles are all in high definition or his hot body covered in blood when swinging blades, then I have a good point here, better than the previous games. Ancient Pedestals and Ancient Murals will give a lot of "eye-candy" for the graphics enthusiastic, showing a lot of the great art design and beauty of the game.
Probably this isn't one of the better opinions of all, but I had to put it out, all my sadness towards this game. Even the music score was unable to catch my attention. A "7" is too low for this game and a "8" is too high, so it goes with "7,5". I cannot recommend this game to new players of the genre or to a player that is new to the series, but I do recommend to fans of the genre – but you have been warned!
#1° Revision - I forgot the "puzzles".