So I joked about Kratos being the shoutiest video game protagonist of all time in my God Of War II review, but I had no idea what I was talking about, it turns out. Kratos has now lost his indoor voice along with his mind.
He'll scream at, and kill, anything and everyone in this game. The constant murders of important Greek mythological figures and gods are an amazing spectacle, likely pushing the PS3 to it's absolute limits, and the voice acting and music are as spectacular as ever for the series, but with that comes the complete eradication of anything that was interesting about the story or Kratos as a character.
It's not a huge problem, since the story is obviously not a big focus, but if Kratos had just been the biggest jerk in Greece I would have been fine with it, but then they start trying to give him a redemption arc that feels as hollow as the insides of most of Greece's monsters at this point. If this had been the Kratos from the first game, whose rage was all-consuming but at least focused on someone who basically deserved it, and was occasionally remorseful, it might have worked, but when Kratos is channeling judge, jury and executioner - emphasis on the executioner - to virtually everyone he meets, it just feels insincere and unbelievable. Plus, the entire game's narrative feels like it only exists because GOW II ended on a cliffhanger, and they had to fill the time necessary for a whole new game somehow.
Fortunately, the trend this series has of the story getting worse, but the gameplay getting better continues. This is by far the best gameplay experience in a GOW game up until this point, the idea to tie magic into the different weapons was a fantastic touch, allowing for even more items to be usable in the same way magic was in the last two games and making the game much deeper than the last installment.
In the end, GOW III is fun, but doesn't really feel like it should exist, story-wise anyway. I'm glad they drew a fine line at the end of the Greek era and started something new, because this was a good conclusion at the end of the day.
He'll scream at, and kill, anything and everyone in this game. The constant murders of important Greek mythological figures and gods are an amazing spectacle, likely pushing the PS3 to it's absolute limits, and the voice acting and music are as spectacular as ever for the series, but with that comes the complete eradication of anything that was interesting about the story or Kratos as a character.
It's not a huge problem, since the story is obviously not a big focus, but if Kratos had just been the biggest jerk in Greece I would have been fine with it, but then they start trying to give him a redemption arc that feels as hollow as the insides of most of Greece's monsters at this point. If this had been the Kratos from the first game, whose rage was all-consuming but at least focused on someone who basically deserved it, and was occasionally remorseful, it might have worked, but when Kratos is channeling judge, jury and executioner - emphasis on the executioner - to virtually everyone he meets, it just feels insincere and unbelievable. Plus, the entire game's narrative feels like it only exists because GOW II ended on a cliffhanger, and they had to fill the time necessary for a whole new game somehow.
Fortunately, the trend this series has of the story getting worse, but the gameplay getting better continues. This is by far the best gameplay experience in a GOW game up until this point, the idea to tie magic into the different weapons was a fantastic touch, allowing for even more items to be usable in the same way magic was in the last two games and making the game much deeper than the last installment.
In the end, GOW III is fun, but doesn't really feel like it should exist, story-wise anyway. I'm glad they drew a fine line at the end of the Greek era and started something new, because this was a good conclusion at the end of the day.