God Of War 3 has very high standards to live up to with both its PS2 preprocessors (and PSP counter-part), being amongst some of the most highly rated and loved games of the last generation of consoles. So for GOW3 to even get close to there calibre set by them would take something special. yet some how it surpass virtually all the benchmarks set by them with relitive ease. So without ferther ado, lets get stuck in.
GAMEPLAY
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This I would imagine is what was going through the minds at sony santa Monica, and for good reason. GOWs combat is easly some (if not) the best there is in the hack and slash genre. And GOW3 is the best in the series with most of the niggles ironed out and taken care of. There are more of the epic (and I really do mean epic) boss battles, combat is more fluid with magic being attached to the weapons them self instead of being separate.
Something new to GOW is items. These are used to solve puzzles in the game but also can be used in combat. For example, One item that will blind enemies will also show a hidden door behind a wall and certain magic chests. Although there not necessary, it can help make the (already big list) of combat moves more fun to play around with. Although the Camera can still be awkward in places, I found myself alot less frustrated than in previous titles.
GRAPHICS
Both GOW1 and GOW2 Pushed the PS2 past it's known limits. be it the (then)God of War crushing the Athenian army beneath his feet, or scaling the titan Atlas to escape the underworld. So GOW3 Has very high standards to live up to, and yet it shatters what the first two games established in the first 10-20 minuets of the game it self. I won't spoil anything but for those that know in what fashion the GOW games start off with, God Of War 3 beats them without braking a sweat.
The detail from the Titans enormous body's down to the entrails spilling out of a centaur general is scarily good. As you would expect from the GOW games the detail is in the gore, with plenty of be-headings and skull crushing happening it all looks awesome. I can't really describe the stand out moments without giving away spoilers, so what I will say is to those that are expecting brilliant looking battles, with stupidly big (but brilliant) looking enemies, you won't be disappointed.
PRESENTATION
Lets not beat around the bush, GOW3 looks awesome in all aspects. The animation of the characters is superb, with enemies bouncing off walls and Kratos fluid movement, GOW3 gives Uncharted 2 a run for its money. The opening 10 minuets sets up the scope of the game with a fight that embarrasses the colossus from GOW2.
With enemies that are bigger than the sears tower that you actually traverse across you would expect large load times. Yet I haven't come across one (I am currently on my third play-through). The technology powering the game is incredible with up to 50 enemies on screen at a time and little to no frame rate issues, it's impossible not to be blown away by it all.
SUMMARY
It's hard to put down in words how I felt when I played God of War 3 for the first time. So when I say that this is the most fun on, not just this generation, but any generation of consoles I genuinely mean it. If you have a PS3 you must play this game. if you don't, buy a PS3 then get God of War 3, it's that good.
The PlayStation 3 is Sony’s most interesting home console ever, but what’s most interesting of all is trying to nail down the very best games on a console with hundreds of incredible games. Let’s give it a shot.
We desperately need Motorstorm back. Evolution is no more though and this makes me sad
Sly Thieves in Time
Stay the Party
Portal 2
Dj Hero
Demon’s Souls
God of war Ascension
2 of those games got railed through the “gaming media” during release.
Sly and god of war.
Both of which were fantastic games.
Yes it’s a decent list of popular games with a heavy hand on FPS and no Warhawk or Starhawk 2 of the best games (not sale wise) on ps3.
I would buy a Starhawk again even if it didn’t have a graphics upgrade hell I would even take a new one with micro transactions 😱🤯
I've noticed a recent nostalgia for the PS3 and I don't get it for me it's been my least favourite generation to date and I've been gaming since the NES I just feel like the ambition of the developers outweighed the capabilities of the consoles so I remember lots of games running in the lower end of 20fps range and I remember for the first time ever actually disliking the duelshock 3 and it's curved triggers
Sure there were some standouts and great games but that's the only gen I switched entirely to PC gaming
Maybe the recent nostalgia is because pretty much all of its games are trapped on that console. People want to play them on more modern hardware. hell... if XB can do it then so can Sony. there are competent emulators out there that can run on PS4/5 hardware but Sony just wont let them become official... why is that?
If we are talking least favorite generations (personally) then this one is certainly mine. i had more fun playing 8th, 7th and 6th gen stuff than 9th. And it isnt like i dont have access to do so... the heavy hitters just havent shown up anywhere close to those previous gens. The few here and there just doesnt cut it compared to the likes of constant good games that showed up in 6th, 7th and 8th gen. hell.... I'll even throw in 5th gen has been better than this one.
I tend to agree there's lots of amazing games locked to the PS3 like GTA IV or mgs 4 but then again my issue was never with the content the PS3 had but rather it's performance many other people have said the PS3 felt like it couldn't walk and chew bubblegum at the same time using PSN and downloading a game could take a few minutes to just start a download.
I typically don't worry all that much about performance I've never had a problem with games that run at 30 but games like crysis 2, Skyrim are good examples where the performance was so unstable you would never even touch the top of the frame cap and the hitching was worse than say Goldeneye on the n64
I think emulation is more than possible on the ps5 though it's just that Sony has no incentive to rush it's development it will likely be a ps6 feature if it ever happens at all.
But yeah the 9th gen has been so bad from a content perspective thats a given I see constant articles where people are frequently expressing their disappointment around the industry as a whole right now to much live service competition that sinks longstanding studios and consumes Devs time less ambition and games cost so much to make they have to play it safe.
The 5th gen was easily better than the 9th we had some all time greats crash, Spyro, Tony hawk, mgs, Mario,64, Goldeneye, Mario kart 64 the list goes on. The 5th gave us a new dimension and I remember being blown away by how much more open gaming had become the 4th gen with the mega drive and SNES was great and very easy to still revisit some of the greatest games of all time came out like earthbound, secret of mana, sonic , Mario world etc but saving our games was still not a standard function or a given so gaming was still evolving but it was very impressive to see some of the tricks Devs used like dithering to give us new experiences those earlier gens limitations bred innovation.
if XB can do it so can sony? I didn't know xbox had a cell processor in their older consoles, that's the reason why ps3 was so cool, but also the reason why games are hostage there and no, xbox did nothing similar even though their backward compatbility is good, they always had a similar architecture to their consoles.
Sorry Michael... I guess you missed the obvious part where i said there are already emulators out that do this. and that is what XB is doing... emulators for OG and 360 games. Its why the full slate is not BC on XBO/Series.
Kratos' journey in God of War 3 was an angry rampage against the Greek Gods, resulting in some of the best boss battles in gaming.
They went from amazing, huge scale bosses to shirtless Norse people with tattoos...
The only good boss in the new god of war was the mountain dragon.
I like the new GOW games, but I do feel that the brutality of the games were toned down way too much in favor for (what some people may call) heartwarming stories. I think both things could co-exist, but if I had to choose, I'd rather have the brutality back.
Agreed. I... barely even remember any of the bosses in Ragnarok even lol. Story bosses only, optionals excluded. Kinda wish Kratos was still an all brutal angry man that way we do go after pretty much all the gods in each mythology. New gow, you feel bad about them...
I have to agree. Some of the best boss fights. Felt so good to get a new weapon when you beat em. The Hades fight and Hercules fight were dope. The Poseidon fight was fire especially when you went first person. Damn I want to play it over. Sadly all I have is 3 and the new ones. That's why I want a remaster of the first two.
And we will never.. EVER, get an insane awesome game like this ever again (at least not directly from SSM and Sony)
Hey do you remember those Atreus sections and that Angrboda section where you collect fruit or whatever the f was happening? No. You remember when Kratos ripped off Helios’s head just to use as a flashlight. You remember when he chopped of Hermes’s legs to just so use his boots and you remember the Aphrodite section, when he was gutting Centaurus’s with guts spilling out and when he tied a half naked girl to the gate mechanism pulley thing or whatever it’s called just so she can hold the heavy gate by being mangled into a bloody mess. Good times. 😂
Mark my words, maybe not God of War, maybe not SSM, but a few years from now, the story will be one of vengeance, the protagonist will be there, the gameplay will meet the expectations, and the right team will be put together, it will feel so refreshing again, and we will rejoice. It’s inevitable.
I remember it slightly more fondly because with only 2 characters it was nice to have less yapping and mimir not yelling forced tutorials at me
I do love the hades fight...so fricken brutal how you bash him into the ceiling with his own weapons over and over.
The Opening Levels that hooked gamers from the outset.
quite profesional if i may add.
am on my 4th playthrough on chaos mode and damn that bloody scorpion boss!