God of War 3 was originally released in 2010, by Santa Monica Studios, for the PlayStation 3. Upon its initial release five years ago it was met with commercial and critical acclaim, being one of the best looking games of last generation, with an upgraded combat system from its predecessor, epic soundtrack and cinematic style. The game’s only major criticism was with its story, which essentially boils down to a basic revenge plot. Now, in 2015, with the release of the PlayStation 4 we have been treated to a remastered edition of God of War 3. It’s the same old God of War 3, just with a shiny new paint job that runs at 1080p resolution, and can hit about 60 frames per second. The combat is tight as ever, and the game still has its brutal, bone crushing violence. So how does this five year old game stack up compared to current generation releases?
Incredibly well to be honest. What is strange about the game is that it is the final chapter in a long running series, which has its hands full trying to tie up a lot of loose ends left over from the first and second game, not to include the side stories from the PSP games Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. God of War 3 opens with a brief recap of the major plot points of the series, dealing with the ascension to godhood of Kratos as well as his eventual betrayal by the hands of Zeus, and this might be just enough to get someone through the door who hasn’t played the original games. That being said they miss that investment to the characters, and let’s be honest – Kratos isn’t exactly the nicest person by the start of the third game, and his sheer blinding rage and single minded killing machineness might alienate some new players. It basically boils down to a revenge plot, with Kratos trying to enact his revenge on the whole Greek pantheon. By the time the third game starts, half of the gods of Olympus are dead, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as what little plot there is left is focused like a laser on a few key set pieces. The showdown with Poseidon while climbing the titan Gaia, early on in the game, is just one example of how God of War shows off its sheer epicness. Another would be the battle with Hercules while Hera watches on. Halfway through the fight the building, taunting score of God of War 3 kicks in to add to the extreme ferocity of Kratos and Hercules tearing each other apart. That being said there are a couple that miss the mark, like the Hermes boss fight which while fun, didn’t achieve the grand awesomeness of a lot of the others.
If you can get past the fact that the game literally starts where the cliff-hanger ending of the last game left us, or if you just don’t care for story, then you’ll stay for the combat and platforming. Combat has always been God of Wars A-game, no other series quite does combat like it. It’s tight and responsive and brutal and makes you feel like you are a god of war. There are more enemies on screen in this game than in any other in the series and Kratos slashes and bashes his way through anything and everything that comes into his path. The controls feel intuitive and it’s not long before the combos are second nature. In this respect it feels a lot like a fighting game and the battles and boss fights are more intense because of it. The combat is complimented by an almost hyper degree of violence and brutality. Kratos rips eyes out of orgres, cuts heads off gorgons and tears skeletons apart over his head, all of this drenching Kratos in a shiny, fresh film of red blood. This isn’t a game for the faint of heart, but it’s also easy to see how Kratos ended up as a guest fighter in 2011s remake of Mortal Kombat. The platforming and puzzles are good head scratches that always tease an easy answer, but will have you sitting there for a couple of minutes trying to figure them out. Whether it’s trying to find the right combination of levers and latches in Hades, or trying to put together the puzzle like landscape of Hera’s garden, when you do figure out the solution it has a way of making you feel like you actually achieved something.
Visually the game is pretty. The graphics don’t stack up against games specifically made for the PS4 such as The Order: 1886, but the game does look better than its PS3 counterpart. It has been touched up to run at 1080p and can hit up to about 60 frames per second, compared to the PS3 version which could only get up to about 40 frames per second. The high definition textures and lighting makes the games vivid colour palette come to life even more so, with Kratos’ Blades of Exiles burning and cutting through everything in glorious HD. It still employs a fixed camera which helps the game achieve a high level of artistic cinematic quality, but at times it can make combat a bit tricky by hiding enemies off screen. The use of the fixed camera frees up the right stick for purely evasive moves making investment in the action much easier for the player. Some of the set pieces that God of War 3 throws at you are so vast that you can lose sight of Kratos at times. The opening scene sets the pace pretty quickly, as you climb up Gaia’s back as she and the titans scale Mount Olympus to once again confront the gods, or even the fight with the titan Cronos, as you climb all over him fighting of enemies and trying to stay out of the way of his crushing hands.
God of War 3 was an excellent game five years ago, and that fact hasn’t changed. The combat is as good as it has ever been, and there isn’t a game on current generation that can quite match its frantic arcade style of kill everything in sight and ask questions later. Graphically and visually you can tell that it is an up scaled PS3 game, but it is still pretty to look at and doesn’t detract from the experience what so ever. Story wise, God of War 3 was always the weakest of the series as it sort of buckles the weight of its predecessors, but it doesn’t get in the way too much and is a good set up to kill hordes and hordes of enemies. Overall the game is definitely worth playing, even if you have played it before or never looked at a God of War game. God of War 3 is one of the first of many planned remastered games for the PS4, and it has ignited my excitement for other remastered games that are soon to come out like Darksiders 2 and the Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection.
Rating: 8/10