So I just finished the game, and it was great. I have no idea why I waited so long to get it.
My only major gripe is the jumping mechanic. If you pause at all between the double jump you die. I did this way too many times.
I'm debating whether or not to go through it again. The only thing stopping me is my backlog. I might just try to finish the Challenges and come back to the harder difficulties later.
I've played this when it came out on my brothers PS3, now having my own, I had to get it again. I didn't get to do the challenge mode or anything. So sad its a short game, but its an awesome ride, and worth experiencing a few times.
Picked this up a few days ago and just finished it 15 minutes ago. To give this some context - I am more or less new to the franchise... I played literally 1-2 hours combined of GOW1 and 2 due to not having a working PS2 90% of the time that I had the games. I also played God of War 3 for the first hour or two on hard mode and then restarted on normal (didn't want to revert to easy) as I struggled in the bigger battles (boss fights seemed fine).
I guess I'll knock the good stuff out of the way... music, voice acting, image quality, Kratos' design and the introduction movie (the art-sy one) were all brilliant. No fault there.
I found the battle system to be a mixed bag. As far as having a fighting system that plays decently and looks good in both 'normal' fights and 'boss' fights go - it does a wonderful job. However in either one by itself - the system is balls. The crowd control moves (L1 + Square etc) have little to no impact - so I never feel like I am doing what I need to do, the normal combos are generally cumbersome to use even if they prove somewhat effective, and the magic/item system is boring outside of the Claws of Hades summons. While the boss fights are entertaining - I never felt like I was in control or knew what to do. It was more or less a guessing game, trial and error learning the bosses moves and where I have to evade in the arena to avoid damage. The combos and moves REALLY lack impact during many of these battles and I find that I am simply slicing away at a gigantic enemy waiting for him to do something different to let me know I am hurting him in any way at all. It doesn't help that many of the enemies are poorly designed - the flying/diving bats/imps being a major culprit. The only enemies I found to be truly enjoyable to fight and somewhat 'challenging' in an AI sense, was the Satyrs and the Shielded enemies (where you have to break with the Cestus) - everything else felt like throw away crap that I just wailed on and dodged obvious tells, to finish off. That being said, I struggled on Hard, so there is obviously some level of skill or practice involved in breezing these difficulties that I didn't get a grip on.
The puzzles were pretty good overall. Some were boring and bland, but the Javelin/Portal one, the Olympus Garden puzzle (with the stone altering platforms) and a little of the Labyrinth ones had some clever mechanics. However, the platforming, 'flight/dive' sections, and alot of the design in general towards the end of the game (particularly everything after you
escort Pandora
) was mediocre and really tested my enjoyment of the game - I found myself just pushing through to the end to get it over and done with.
I think some of the cutscenes and views really showed the strength of the engine Santa Monica managed to create. The first battle against the Water God was particularly well done, as was the Titan in the Pits. They obviously have an engine capable of some spectacular moments, and it's a shame that so much of the game was confined to linear areas or small arenas give the potential these areas gave insight to. I finished Castlevania Lords of Shadow recently, and given the copy-cat nature of CV, it's only natural to compare the two games. I'd say for sure that while I enjoyed the overall 'look' of CV much more in some areas (the Vampire Queen's castle and everything leading up to it was some of the best design and art I have seen this generation), God of War really has a strength graphics and design wise that is unrivalled next to its competitors (Dante's Inferno, CV etc).
My main issue with the game was the story and 'attitude'. As I said before, I am more or less new to the franchise but had a rough idea of what to expect. Within the first hour I was fucking sick of Kratos and his constant yelling or 'vengeance'... it is a tired concept in gaming as a whole, and given how thick they lay it on in this game, it's an absolute bore. I laughed the first time I killed a civilian or needlessly sacrificed someone (Bow of Apollo), but his 'I don't care' attitude is shallow and entirely tailored for a type of person I can only imagine is a 'dude-bro'. I enjoyed the 'concept' of the story (Greek Gods, Kratos hunting Zeus, running into some past enemies/friends etc) but the way it played out left alot to be desired. Not to say it is 'bad', but given the potential of the concept and how truly epic it could have been, the game manages to fall flat alot, and really dropped the ball for me at the end when
Zeus kills Kratos and you have to walk through darkness
. I'm not sure who that was meant to appeal to, but the idea of 'hope' etc did not fit the theme of the game at all, and certainly didn't add anything except probably 10-15minutes of boring gameplay. The final scene + after credits was interesting, and I look forward to seeing what Santa Monica come up with next.
With all that said, it was by no means a bad game... I just think it had some questionable design decisions and needs some work with the story/characters/attitude. As far as how it rates next to other games, I much preferred Castlevania overall as I felt the 'adventure' was better (less epic however) and the battle system was stronger (the ability to evade at any time, and interrupt combos is a major factor for me) - leading me to be interested in what Mercury Steam does next more so than Santa Monica. I think Bayonetta was also a better experience (the best even) as the battle system is so strong, and the adventure again, was a little better (the story was a mess).
A solid game, definitely a respectable mark in the genre - but it's not something that was meant for me from what I experienced.
Sorry to bring this thread back up but I'm extremely late to the God of War 3 party and have some issues that I need to figure out before I begin.
1. The option to change the screen scale was set all the way to the right when I first opened up the display options. It was so out of wack I can't figure out what Im supposed to lineup exactly. Should I take it to the leading edge of the arrows or is supposed to go where it just covers up the entire corners? The default setting made me think Im supposed to go where it just covers up the entire corner. Nothing seems right now :lol
If anyone does look at this thread again... I finally got this (I wanted to beat 2 first) and it's not working. Every time I get thrown down into the River Styx, the audio goes crazy and the game pretty much freezes up. I read some fixes for this online, like deleting the save and starting over, but nothing worked. It's not the disc, so now I have a brand new copy of a broken game.
If anyone does look at this thread again... I finally got this (I wanted to beat 2 first) and it's not working. Every time I get thrown down into the River Styx, the audio goes crazy and the game pretty much freezes up. I read some fixes for this online, like deleting the save and starting over, but nothing worked. It's not the disc, so now I have a brand new copy of a broken game.
You can delete the actual game data to see if that works, but that really does sound like the disc--like it's getting a to a portion and basically can't interpret the data.
Take the disc back and get a different one for starters. I don't know if the last update screwed up anything, but I haven't had problem at that part.
You can delete the actual game data to see if that works, but that really does sound like the disc--like it's getting a to a portion and basically can't interpret the data.
Take the disc back and get a different one for starters. I don't know if the last update screwed up anything, but I haven't had problem at that part.
I made it all the way to the end of the Labyrinth and couldn't get past the one fucking room where the enemies just keep coming. I gave up and went to bitch made mode.
I made it all the way to the end of the Labyrinth and couldn't get past the one fucking room where the enemies just keep coming. I gave up and went to bitch made mode.
So my experience with God of War before now was playing about 2 hours of the first game and getting bored.
Buttt I just started a new rental service and a Steam friend was playing this, so I figured I'd give it go since I needed to fill out my list a bit before the big few releases over the next few months start coming out.
Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised. Very cinematic, very good looking... but still very boring when you're forced to do any sort of platforming or just fighting the minions. I've just left
Hades
and I suspect there's a whole lot more of this game left, but I'm worried I'm going to get bored by the all of the pointless combat between the next big action sequence or boss. Even though
Hades
was cool I found quite a lot of it to be a chore because they locked me in a room to fight 25 guys when I just wanted to progress. It seems like a game that for me would be better as an action packed 3 hours, rather than a more relaxed 10 or so.
Still, I am enjoying the crazy moments a lot, so I'll continue. If I manage to make it all the way through I may rent the God of War collection as well to see if the first two can win me over. The spectacle of those games is probably underwhelming now though I imagine after seeing what this game does with PS3 tech.
I also just finally got around to playing this yesterday. Kept putting it off over the past year for some reason. Now I know why.
Two major criticisms that kill the game for me:
1) What's with the laggy, unresponsive controls?! I remember hearing something about a patch, but if there was one, it doesn't show. The double-jump only seems to work a quarter of the time. And the dodge-roll doesn't ever happen when it should. Everything just feels sluggish and clunky. Nothing at all like the first two (very well made) games.
2) This game is seriously over-directed. It's like the lead designer couldn't just leave the action alone. Everything comes with over-done cinematics, too much voice acting, poorly coordinated QTEs, bad camera movements, etc. The series has always been bombastic, but that was more because of the writing, not the direction. Art design was always great, but now it's buried beneath a game with delusions of cinematic grandeur.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't plan on finishing this game. I've played the first two multiple times, but this one is staying half-finished for good.
Just finished it. Good game overall, it's made me want to get the collection to give the first game another go and play 2 for the first time.
Took way too long to finish though. I kept thinking I was about to trigger the credits about 5 times in the last 45 minutes. Stretched it out way too long and was pretty anti-climatic.
Keep at it. I had a fair bit of trouble with Poseidon as well, but beyond that the difficulty balances out as you upgrade Kratos. The only other point in the game which became a brick wall was the point towards the end where you have to deal with a whole bunch of enemies. IIRC, it's the last big fight of the game before you meet up with Zeus.
I gave up after a little while, and I've yet to go back to it. I just realised it's been almost a year. :/
Sorry for the bump, but I need help. Are the costumes region-specific? I bought the 3 costume pack, but they don't show up in the Treasures. I'm not sure if this is because I own a UK version of the game and bought the costume pack from the Portuguese Store. Any ideas?
This is driving me nuts. I even deleted every GOW III data on my PS3 and finished the game again, still didn't work.
Sorry for the bump, but I need help. Are the costumes region-specific? I bought the 3 costume pack, but they don't show up in the Treasures. I'm not sure if this is because I own a UK version of the game and bought the costume pack from the Portuguese Store. Any ideas?
This is driving me nuts. I even deleted every GOW III data on my PS3 and finished the game again, still didn't work.
DLC is region specific. You would have to buy it from the UK store.
Finished it and finally beaten it on Titan Mode on my first playthrough. So many times I wanted to quit, especially in the labyrinth and the second time at the three judges. The game is so awesome, but the ending was weak. Gonna finish off the last few trophies I need for platinum.
i am not sure if i get which one you are talking about, but i will try. Is that one where you flood the cavern? Or the one where when you use the scorpion´s tail and the rooms flip over?
God of War 3 is due out next week, and Sony is mulling over the idea of adding downloadable content. VG247 reports that design director Todd Papy hinted at DLC at this year's Game Developers Conference. "We're talking about DLC, and the possibilities of it, to see if it's worth for us to do it," he said. "From a fan standpoint, I think it's very worth it, but at the same time we don't want to compromise our next projects."
If DLC does come, it may not be for a while. "We're going to take a break, come back, look into new IPs, and at the same time we're going to look and see if there is anything left in the God of War series that we feel is very compelling that we can sink our teeth into," Papy said. If the team is planning to give the series a short rest before even starting development on DLC, it may actually be quite a while before any of it comes out. Papy refers to a few ideas the team is looking into, but says "we'll see if it ever comes to market."
As one of Sony's most popular franchises, the title is set to bring in plenty of sales for the company, which has already launched a new God of War ad as part of the "It Only Does Everything" campaign (above). If DLC is financially viable -- and we bet it will be -- then it will almost certainly be released at some point. Check out our review while you wait anxiously for next Tuesday to come.
