zigfried's God of War III review

Hey, Zig... do you think they are setting up for a sequel with the ending? If you fear spoilers, I suppose you could HGmail me your thoughts. I am interested in hearing them!

God of World War II?

That is an awesome idea. You should pitch that as Sony's next idea. Or design it yourself even! Kratos can rip apart Panzer tanks with his bare hands or something. XD

Anyway, I just subbed a bunch of screens for this game. There are manticores as enemies! That's awesome. Although this fact doesn't change anything I've already said.

Zipp: No, I don't.

//Zig

In that case, someone dropped the ball somewhere along the line.

I've actually heard that a lot of the ending was cut and may be released as free DLC.

The more I read this review, Zig, the less inclined I feel to write a review myself. You say it all so well. Maybe I'll do another "concurence, but..." like I did for Half Minute Hero. There's a few other things that could be said, but nothing that would fill a whole review.

If anyone feels that my post was too harsh, then I'll invite you to give that Uncharted 2 thread another glance. How long did that conversation go on for, and what did it ultimately accomplish? I don't blame Venter or Zig for trying to be diplomatic about this given their positions as head of the site and writer of the review, respectively, but everything about how this fellow is presenting himself tells me he's not worth the effort.

People like this don't get turned. They don't suddenly come to their senses and apologize. They either stick to their guns to the bitter end or they run off and hide. The latter is the most we can hope for.

best.topic.evar.


By the way, great review, Zigfriend. It's very difficult to convey what it is you're saying here and NOT sound like you're just bashing a game because it's number three in the series.

So, a while back, IGN rated God of War 3 with a score of 9.3 and pretty much gushed over it.

They just posted a set of "second impressions" from the rest of their editorial staff. Out of all the editors (ten or so) there was one who unequivocally loved it. One of them clearly disliked it. Among the rest, there is a strong sense of reserved endorsement: words like "solid", "standard", "I've outgrown Kratos", and "God of War [1 or 2] was better" abound.

The only purpose of this post is to point out that people are already coming down off of their GOW3 high. Within a single year, those high 9 -and-10 scores that the game supposedly deserved are going to look pretty silly to the world at large. That's my prediction!

//Zig

Zigfried did not like No More Heroes 2 as much as I did.

In other news, Zigfried I hate you you are dead to me, you hear!?

I've never played a God of War before. I probably should, assuming I can find one of the first two for like ten bucks or something or wait for the remakes to go down in price. Whatever.

If you're going to play the first one and have composite cables, the PS2 version is better. For the PS3 remake, they didn't put the CG sequences into high-def, so it looks really weird when it switches from pretty gameplay to ugly movie scene.

I wanted to show "Man the Meat" to a chick I know, but I had already sold NMH2 for rum money. If only I had waited a week!

//Zig

Upon besting God of War III, I was totally in agreement with your review, Zig. I kind've felt the same way I did when I watch my cousin buy NBA2Kxx every year and just feel like I'm seeing the same game with prettier graphics and slightly smoother controls.

A more sensible (and older) person would realize that the accumulated GameRankings average for God of War III has no effect whatsoever on one's ability to enjoy the game

Yep. That in a nutshell states all that really needs to be stated.

I wonder if the Stu_J was just some sort of joke account. I don't think he's really a fanboy; I think it's some 15 year old with too much time on his hands who decided to start some ruckus.

Nothing he said made any sense. He never addressed Zig pointing out him erroneously citing a No More Heroes reference. As Felix astutely noted, his name is pronounced as "Stooge." Plus he hasn't replied back. Maybe the high school football team stuffed him in a locker somewhere.

Oh, and for the actual feedback. The only problem I have is Zig's problem seems to be with story issues. While story can help augment a game, there are several acclaimed franchises with more plot holes than swiss cheese. Maybe that doesn't make it right, but I feel too much of the review focuses on story and not enough on the actual mechanics. On the other hand, he did give it a 7, so it's not like he took off a bunch of points. No big deal, I suppose.

I would bet that Zig would say that there wasn't any gameplay to cover, at least nothing that hasn't been covered in two previous games.

Really, nothing's changed in God of War III. The moveset is only slightly different.

Actually, I would say that I did cover the mechanics. Look at the last half -- those are the parts that are easy to forget. I think Randxian is saying the review feels imbalanced, not that I failed to discuss them.

Once a game reaches competency, analysis of technical merit isn't particularly useful or memorable to me; that's when I look for analysis of content. Questions like "If victory over gods were so straightforward, why did Kratos need Pandora's Box to defeat Ares?" and "If Kratos were so intent on childish rebellion, why did Sony take such lengths to establish his hatred for Ares?" point beyond simple plot holes. They point to a lack of intensity and emotion that was present in the original.

Some people will forgive their absence because the game is flashy and fun. That's what a score of 7 is for: flashy and fun games. But a truly excellent action game needs to offer something more meaningful (and I'm not talking about story when I say that).

//Zig