[Official Review] God of War III - Monday, March 8th

[Teggy]

You won't need to drop to easy to beat the bosses.   They are tough, but nowhere near as obscene as GOW1 or 2, and thankfully nowhere near as controller-snapping as Ares was.  *shudder*

Something about the God of War games - they are like 1/2 hour to an hour too long in my eyes. Both times I got to the final bosses I was just ready to be done (although I really enjoyed the games), so when they gave me the offer to cheese the final boss, I gladly accepted. I think in God of War 1 I gave it a good number of shots, but God of War 2 I took the first chance to drop the difficulty.

[pr0ner]

I still find it amusing that there's a trophy in the PS3 collection for dying enough to be offered easy mode.

[skystride]

My really early impression is that the visuals are stunning.  Much better than a game like Bayonetta.  However, this type of gameplay might be starting to wear on me.  It feels so "samey" particularly with 2 other GoW games that did the same thing and the multitude of clones.  I think I prefer Bayonetta's gameplay (combat dynamics).  However, the cinematic vistas and graphics are probably good enough to recommend the game to anyone.  Mind you I only played an hour.  Four of my friends were watching me play and they were engrossed.

[leo8877]

My really early impression is that the visuals are stunning.  Much better than a game like Bayonetta.  However, this type of gameplay might be starting to wear on me.  It feels so "samey" particularly with 2 other GoW games that did the same thing and the multitude of clones.  I think I prefer Bayonetta's gameplay (combat dynamics).  However, the cinematic vistas and graphics are probably good enough to recommend the game to anyone.  Mind you I only played an hour.  Four of my friends were watching me play and they were engrossed.

You lucky dog!

[Chaz]

I wonder what my GF's going to think when the giant CE box shows up on Tuesday.  I started playing GoW2 from the collection disc today.  I got a few hours in when it came out, but never finished it.  I just knocked about 2.5 hours off.  No idea how long the game is, but it'd be neat if I could finish it by Tuesday.  Unfortunately, the PS3 is off limits for me for the rest of tonight and then again tomorrow night and Monday night.  Maybe if I get up early tomorrow...

Of course, then I can't really use the PS3 on Tuesday night either.   

[Kevin Grey]

I got a few hours in when it came out, but never finished it.  I just knocked about 2.5 hours off.  No idea how long the game is, but it'd be neat if I could finish it by Tuesday. 

Probably about 10-14 hours on normal difficulty. 

[Ridah]

I can't believe this is already almost here, I'm still bedazzled by FF13 

[leo8877]

Is there anyone else who has the ultimate edition pre-ordered from Amazon?  I just looked and saw that it does not have release day shipping.  The normal edition does, but apparently not the ultimate edition (according to my order status).  If you are in the same boat, do you also see Mar 19th as the delivery estimate for the ultimate edition?

[MonkeyFinger]

Out of curiousity, what was the pre-order price for this? I see I can still "pre-order" it from other sellers on Amazon for the oh-so-reasonable price of anywhere from $220 to $600. 

[Chaz]

Is there anyone else who has the ultimate edition pre-ordered from Amazon?  I just looked and saw that it does not have release day shipping.  The normal edition does, but apparently not the ultimate edition (according to my order status).  If you are in the same boat, do you also see Mar 19th as the delivery estimate for the ultimate edition?

Yeah, I'm showing Mar 19 too.  It's possible they're not getting the CEs in earlier to allow them to do release day delivery, which is very strange.  However, historically pre-order delivery dates have been very conservative, so it wouldn't surprise me to see it arrive before the 19th.  Since I likely wasn't going to be playing it on Tuesday anyway, I'm not too bothered.

Monkey, I preordered at the end of October, which was probably the first day they were available, and I'm paying $90 shipped.  The ones listed on Amazon now are from resellers.  Apparently this limited edition is actually limited.

[MonkeyFinger]

Is there anyone else who has the ultimate edition pre-ordered from Amazon?  I just looked and saw that it does not have release day shipping.  The normal edition does, but apparently not the ultimate edition (according to my order status).  If you are in the same boat, do you also see Mar 19th as the delivery estimate for the ultimate edition?

Yeah, I'm showing Mar 19 too.  It's possible they're not getting the CEs in earlier to allow them to do release day delivery, which is very strange.  However, historically pre-order delivery dates have been very conservative, so it wouldn't surprise me to see it arrive before the 19th.  Since I likely wasn't going to be playing it on Tuesday anyway, I'm not too bothered.

Monkey, I preordered at the end of October, which was probably the first day they were available, and I'm paying $90 shipped.  The ones listed on Amazon now are from resellers.  Apparently this limited edition is actually limited.

Right, was mostly curious and I recognize the whole reseller game, funny that the $600 price comes from GameStop of all places. For whatever reason, I never saw this until it was way too late to pick up or I would have popped for a copy since these kind of big silly 'deluxe/limited/collectors/uber editions' are right up my alley. 

[leo8877]

Is there anyone else who has the ultimate edition pre-ordered from Amazon?  I just looked and saw that it does not have release day shipping.  The normal edition does, but apparently not the ultimate edition (according to my order status).  If you are in the same boat, do you also see Mar 19th as the delivery estimate for the ultimate edition?

Yeah, I'm showing Mar 19 too.  It's possible they're not getting the CEs in earlier to allow them to do release day delivery, which is very strange.  However, historically pre-order delivery dates have been very conservative, so it wouldn't surprise me to see it arrive before the 19th.  Since I likely wasn't going to be playing it on Tuesday anyway, I'm not too bothered.

Monkey, I preordered at the end of October, which was probably the first day they were available, and I'm paying $90 shipped.  The ones listed on Amazon now are from resellers.  Apparently this limited edition is actually limited.

Yeah I pre-ordered from Amazon when it first went on sale, it's $86 shipped for me, but I applied a credit at some point.

[Chaz]

When GoW2 came out, I got about halfway through, and never finished.  I decided to play through it this weekend.  At this point, I'm probably 85-90% through.

It's completely maddening.  I've hit several sections that have taken me a dozen tries to get through.  The elevator thing with the spike ceilings and the skeletons has been the worst so far.  That took me 15 tries because I kept just barely missing the door at the end.  The worst part was that it was mechanically so braindead simple, it's just that the timing was incredibly tight. 

Now I'm at the run down to the loom chamber where you have to fight wave after wave of enemies.  This game is not good at group combat.  Most of the time, I can't see myself.  If I'm surrounded, I can't dodge out, and definitely can't interrupt the painfully long (and generally ineffective) combos to dodge, so I get interrupted a lot.  God help you if you accidentally hit square while you're blocking, that combo is so long that you'll get hit every single time.  It's like being punished for upgrading your blades.  And of course, no checkpoint mid-battle, so when you die at a section 2/3 down, you have to re-do the entire thing.

I just had to put the controller down in frustration for the third or fourth time tonight.  Now that I'm thinking about it, this is much the way I felt at the end of GoW1.  All I can think about while I'm playing is how little control it feels like I have, and how much better Bayonetta feels.  I'm starting to think it was a mistake playing GoW2.  My interest in GoW3 has gone way down.  Maybe I'll just re-sell the CE for an insane markup. 

[leo8877]

That loom chamber is rough for sure, but it's nothing compared to the QTE for the last boss.  You best step away, least your TV goes out the window.

[Kevin Grey]

I thought the loom chamber was the toughest point in the game.  Otherwise I never thought GoW 2 was particularly difficult, especially compared to a few of the sections in GoW 1. 

[Chaz]

Neither of you are helping my morale. 

I guess I could bump down to easy.  Not that that'll help with a ludicrous QTE section.  I just hate having to bump the difficulty down at the tail end of the game.

[leo8877]

Neither of you are helping my morale. 

I guess I could bump down to easy.  Not that that'll help with a ludicrous QTE section.  I just hate having to bump the difficulty down at the tail end of the game.

To be fair, the last QTE was easier on the PS3 compilation than the PS2.  I wanted to kill the game on the PS2 the first time I beat GoW 2.

[Bullwinkle]

I was hoping to get through GoW 1 and 2 again before three came out.  I just finished 1 tonight.  Guess not.

Fortunately, I finished 2 relatively recently, so it's still sort of fresh in my mind.

[Chaz]

Is there anyone else who has the ultimate edition pre-ordered from Amazon?  I just looked and saw that it does not have release day shipping.  The normal edition does, but apparently not the ultimate edition (according to my order status).  If you are in the same boat, do you also see Mar 19th as the delivery estimate for the ultimate edition?

Yeah, I'm showing Mar 19 too.  It's possible they're not getting the CEs in earlier to allow them to do release day delivery, which is very strange.  However, historically pre-order delivery dates have been very conservative, so it wouldn't surprise me to see it arrive before the 19th.  Since I likely wasn't going to be playing it on Tuesday anyway, I'm not too bothered.

Monkey, I preordered at the end of October, which was probably the first day they were available, and I'm paying $90 shipped.  The ones listed on Amazon now are from resellers.  Apparently this limited edition is actually limited.

Yeah I pre-ordered from Amazon when it first went on sale, it's $86 shipped for me, but I applied a credit at some point.

I just got my shipping notice from Amazon.  It'll be getting here on Wednesday.  Which figures, since that's the night I'm at rehearsal.

[Kevin Grey]

I guess I could bump down to easy.  Not that that'll help with a ludicrous QTE section.  I just hate having to bump the difficulty down at the tail end of the game.

Don't know if you played the demo or have seen some footage but the QTEs should be much easier in GoW3 since their placement onscreen corresponds to their placement on the actual controller (ie, If you have to press Triangle it will appear on the top of the screen, circle on the right, etc). 

[semiconscious]

All I can think about while I'm playing is how little control it feels like I have, and how much better Bayonetta feels.  I'm starting to think it was a mistake playing GoW2.  My interest in GoW3 has gone way down.  Maybe I'll just re-sell the CE for an insane markup. 

i am deeply indebted to bayonetta for effectively killing off any remaining urge on my part to once again subject myself to the yet another episode of 'kratos loses it - big time!' . maybe down the road sometime...

[WinoMcCougarstein]

Man, I bought GOW2 when it first came out but stopped playing for some reason.  Anyway, I fired it up the other day thinking I only had 1-2 hours left in the game but I was actually only 1-2 hours in.  I'm now about 8 hours in and just loving every minute of it.  It amazes me what that team was able to do on the PS2 hardware!  I also, I just beat Darksiders prior to playing this and it amazed me how much Darksiders ripped from this game.  Oh well, can't wait for GOW3!

[Autistic Angel]

Yeah, God of War 2 is a great example of a sequel that excised all the things I disliked about the original (spinning blade pillars, etc.) and ramped up all the good stuff.  It was challenging, but never in a way I felt was unfair or unfun, and it cemented my status as a fan of the series.

If GoW 3 continues in that same vein, with crazy ultra-violent combat set against epic backdrops, I think I'll be happy.

-Autistic Angel

[Harpua3]

Midnight hear I come! Go get a bite to eat and stop for a beer...then GOWIII!!!!!

[Chaz]

Finished GoW2 last night.  Wound up playing extremely conservatively in the passage to the loom.  Spent a ton of time running around like a little girl.  Did the same thing on the Zeus fight, which was also annoying.  This is two games in a row where in the boss fight they've taken away the sweet chain blades that I've been using and powering up the whole game and made me use a lousy sword.  I hope they don't do that with the third game.

[leo8877]

Come on UPS, let's GOOOOOO!

[spigot]

Picked mine up at midnight last night. That first battle against

Spoiler for Hiden:

Poseidon

we've seen in the early trailers is an undeniably explosive start which is just as much fun playing as it was watching. I can't wait to see what monstrous surprises and an epic journey Kratos will embark on.

Loved the

Spoiler for Hiden:

POV cam when beating Poseidon

to a bloody pulp.

[Ridah]

Come on UPS, let's GOOOOOO!

+1

[Crusis]

I just played this for an hour. It will probably take another hour for my jaw to close.

WOW.

[The Grue]

Picked mine up at Best Buy today using a $35 Reward Zone coupon.  Can't wait to play tonight.

[Chaz]

Has anyone got photos of the CE package? I want to see what I'm getting tomorrow.

[kathode]

Yeah the first section is amazing.  A new standard for cinematic gameplay without a doubt.  Can't wait to see what else it's got in store for me.  Not the worst day to be stuck at home with a cold

[Chaz]

Now you guys are making me want to go pick up a regular copy tonight and return the disc from my CE tomorrow.

[pr0ner]

Now you guys are making me want to go pick up a regular copy tonight and return the disc from my CE tomorrow.

Good luck returning the disc from the CE.  It has a "NOT FOR RESALE" logo in place of the UPC.

Plus, all of the bonus stuff is sealed inside the jewel case.

[Chaz]

Good to know.  I'd already decided not to, since I'm lazy. 

Something occurred to me while playing God of War 2.  Dante's Inferno caught a lot of flack for not being faithful to the source material.  Why doesn't the same accusation get leveled at God of War? I mean hell, the first game ends with you killing Ares, along with plenty of other bastardizations.  Basically, Dante's and GoW both take similar liberties with their source material, yet GoW gets a free pass.  Why is that?

[leo8877]

Holy shit that's an introduction!!!   

If you thought the building level in Uncharted 2 was something, then you are in for a treat.  Man they really know how to use some set pieces in this series.

I'd say visually it's on par with Uncharted 2.  The graphics are really very nice.

[Crusis]

I played a few more hours and beat the next boss. I'm really loving the puzzles. Sure they don't make sense but they are fun to figure out. The boss fights are just epic.

[KePoW]

I've played about an hour, and the graphics are even slightly better than I was expecting... which is to say pretty damn amazing.  The lighting is probably the most impressive thing.  Oh also the water in a certain river looked incredible.

The combat mechanics feel exactly the same as the previous games so far, which shouldn't surprise anyone.  It's nowhere near the depth of DMCs or Bayonetta, but that's never been what God of War is about.  GoW's presentation and cinematic story are the selling points, and they are second to none.

[leo8877]

Agree with KePow, the story and presentation are fantastic.  The "epic" feel of GoW is here in spades, just amazing stuff.  The Kratos model is so friggen detailed, it's crazy.  It looks soooooo good.  There's been some new stuff added to the series, but it feels just like the first two.  I'm loving it so far.  Probably about 3 hours in, at this time.

[Harpua3]

Only played about 45 mins due to my buddy wanting to play bfbc2...and the beverages that were consumed prior to getting the game.But WOW! Hot Damn WOW!. This game looks fantastic, plays even better and is just a hoot!