God of War III for Playstation 3
God of War III is a game developed for the Playstation 3 console. It was developed by Sony Santa Monica and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. This video game was recently released on March 16, 2010. The previous two games were made for the Playstation 2. This game, made for the Playstation 3, has better graphics and stays faithful to the gameplay of the other previous God of War games. In this blog, I will discuss what the plot of these three games, as well as, discuss advanced the animation is compared to the first two games.
In these next three paragraphs, I will give a brief synopsis of what happens. Therefore, if you do not want to know what happens in these games, do not read them (I recommend playing them if you have the console and are a fan of Greek or Roman Mythology). In the first video game, God of War, it starts off with Kratos jumping off a cliff. Then, the story goes to an earlier time before everything that happened. Kratos was a leader of the Spartan army and promised to serve Ares (the god of war in mythology) if he helped him defeat his enemies. In doing this, Ares burned chains to his arms with swords attached to each end. Then, while raiding a village for Ares, he accidently kills his wife and daughter. Ares forced Kratos to do so because he felt it would get in his way. So, Kratos, with the help of Athena (the goddess of Wisdom in mythology), Kratos seeks revenge on Ares. In order to defeat Ares, Kratos has to find Pandora’s Box. In the game, he goes on a journey to do so. At the end of the game, after finding Pandora’s Box, he is killed by Ares. However, Kratos goes to the underworld and fights his way back to the top. Releasing the powers from Pandora’s Box, he gains strength to defeat a god, Ares. After defeating Ares at the end of the game, he becomes the new god of war, hence the title of the game.
Playstation 2 God of War
In God of War II, while his Spartan Army attacks Rhodes, Kratos is up against a Colossus. Earlier an Eagle came and drained his powers. Zeus enters the game and gives Kratos a sword to defeat the Colossus. In order to use the sword, Kratos infuses his godhood into it, leaving him mortal. After defeating the Colossus, Kratos is hurt from rubble. When he gets up, he learns Zeus was the Eagle that took his powers and is actually there to betray him because of his behavior. Zeus impales Kratos with the sword as he is taken to the underworld. However, Kratos gets saved by Gaia, a titan, who wants Kratos to help them defeat Zeus and the gods because they were humilated and banished by them. Kratos agrees, but has to seek the Sisters of Fate. Only they can help Kratos go back in time to prevent Zeus what he did to him. Kratos finds the Sisters of Fate, defeats them and is able to go back in time. When he does, Kratos and Zeus battle each other. When Kratos is about to impale Zeus, Athena comes and steps in front of the sword, getting killed. Kratos finds out from Athena (who is dying) that Zeus is the father of Kratos. Angered, Kratos goes back to the Sisters of Fate and goes back to when the gods battled the Titans. Kratos persuades the Titans to leave battle, in order to prevent them from getting banished and humilated (defeated). At the end of this game, the titans climb up to Olympus to defeat the gods, with Kratos.
Playstation 2 God of War II
God of War III continues once again from the previous game. As Kratos is on Gaia, you start off fighting some enemies. Then, Poseidon (the god of water in mythology), comes to defeat Gaia and Kratos (mostly Gaia). However, Kratos tries to defeat Poseidon. After some running around, Kratos kills Poseidon. As Gaia is climbing Olympus, Zeus throws a lightning bolt at Gaia and they are about to fall. Kratos asks Gaia for help, but she tells him he was just a pawn to the titans to get to Zeus. Kratos then falls into the underworld once again, losing all of his power except for Icarus’ wings and the Golden Fleece (Acquired in the previous games). Athena’s spirit comes to help Kratos and she gives him some weapons and power. As he fights his way through the game, he kills Hades (the god of the Underworld in mythology), Hercules (the son of Zeus), Hera (the wife of Zeus), Helios (the son god in mythology), Hermes (the messenger god in mythology), and Hephaestus (the god of technology/craftsmenship in mythology). In order to defeat Zeus, Athena tells him he has to seek Pandora’s Box one last time because of a greater power to kill Zeus. In order to release it from the flame, he has to find Pandora (the daughter of Hephaestus). After finding her, she is about to release the box from the fire, but Kratos won’t let her. After Zeus comes and fights Kratos, Pandora jumps into the fire. Kratos opens Pandora’s Box, but it is empty. He eventually kills Zeus at the end of the game. We find out that the power to kill Zeus was already in Kratos from the first game, but it was hidden by guilt and fear. Athena wants her power back from Kratos, but Kratos insists he doesn’t have any power. He ends up killing himself at the end of the game because he is done with his task. After the credits, the body of Kratos is gone, with a trail of blood at the end of the cliff. Is this the end? We don’t know because it can be interpreted in different ways.
As you can see, the story to this game is incredible. This is just a quick summary of the games. It goes much more in depth. The animation in God of War III is very sharp and defined compared to the other two previous games. This is due to the fact that this game was made for the Playstation 3 compared to the other two that were made for the Playstation 2. This game was made with blue ray technology. Blu-ray technology outputs a much more clear and crisp picture. It also helps to have an HDTV to have while using a blu-ray based game. If you look at Kratos in the movie sequences, you can see the definition in his skin. Also, while playing the blood from enemies actual stain his skin for a little bit when it squirts out on Kratos. The movie sequences make it seem as if you are watching an actual animated movie. It is so compelling that you get lost in the sequences. The technology today is truly amazing. Due to this, video games are being developed on a higher level and greater images for the animations are giving characters from these video games a much more realistic look to them. The next thing you know, technology will be so advanced that when someone plays a video game, it will look like real life.
ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Chuck Soo-Hoo and Christopher DeMarco.
Til Next Time…
I love playing the God of War series. The plots are amazing and so is the gameplay. To me, it is the greatest button smashing game of all time. I agree its elements are the reason why the game is so success. God of War is Sony Playstation’s equivalent to Halo on the Xbox. It is one of the games where you buy a playstation because of that game alone. I recently played God of War III and it is fantastic. For it to be on Playstation 3 and hooked up to a HD TV, the gameplay looks even better. Kratos finishing moves looks sicker than before and I can’t believe this is the final installment of the series. Great topic!