Well here I am on my first major review and I hope not to disappoint. Obviously the title should say it all. A game that needs no introduction as one of the most anticipated finales of the year. As much as I have loved this series (which I have), this game did not receive the rating of what I will call “Perfect Score.” It did however get VERY close.
Kratos is going to brutally kill every God that gets in his way of revenge against Zeus. The story itself is well done. Kratos is the son of Zeus, and was killed by his father because of the realization that Kratos would one day dethrone Zeus off of Mount Olympus. A few of the characters in Kratos’ Way, are Poseidon, Hermes, Hercules, Hades, Zeus, Hephaestus, Gaia, Cronos, Skorpius, and others I might have missed.
The gameplay is awesome. The button layout has changed when in a major fight with a creature in utilizing the four pad buttons and/or control pad/analog stick movements. The movements have been refined and seem to be streamlined from the previous two games. The addition of being able to grab an enemy and have your way with him is very well done. The aerial combat and movement of attack as well as latching onto an enemy and smashing your way into them is a refreshing new appeal.
Visually the game looks great in high definition. The loss of frames is not apparent even under heavy fire, or large amounts of enemies onscreen. The GoW team has put more emphasis on larger enemy squad attacks on Kratos as well. The levels are greatly detailed, as well as the characters themselves. The boss fight for Hades, Hercules, and Zeus were amazing. The bashing of Hermes was awesome, and NO ONE can forget the tearing of Helios from his body!
The game provided a great amount of sound quality, especially for optical outputs from my HDTV to my surround sound speakers. I believe the neighbors were probably wondering how come it seemed I was watching an adult film when Kratos enters Aphrodites chamber! The bodies falling from above during the Hades campaign sounded hilarious. The music, and sound effects of weapons was great. The Nemean Cestus that is acquired from Hercules sounds mean and viscious.
The fun factor was way up on this game, both from the smooth gameplay, all the way to taking down Gods, enemies, and creatures alike. I know I had a great time in Aphrodites chamber, as well as smashing Hermes to smithereens, and pummelling the thunder god himself, Zeus. Taking down Gods in this game as well as Titans pushed the fun factor way up.
There is a new category here at MASH that we have put into our reviews. We are calling it “Addiction.” The game itself is definitely one of the best games I have ever played, and I should know considering I have been doing it since I was 4! Unfortunately, as soon as I got through the game (it was about 10 hours of gameplay). I felt as though there needed to be more. As if something was missing, and I still cant seem to put my finger on it. The game was fun, but I was not addicted that I needed to keep playing, even if to collect hidden items in the game. I believe this is where the game lacked.
Overall, the game is definitely well made and will go down as one of the best series for the Playstation. Unfortunately, on the new level of reviews we will be doing on this site, the game will receive a score of 4.75/5 from me. The reason will be on the open ended storyline at the end which made me scream for more. As much as it seems there might be more to the story in the form of another game, this game deserved a very high score, but not a perfect score based on the ending!
