God of War 3 Review

You're always working towards another breathtaking encounter

To really get across how much of a stunning spectacle God of War 3 is would require a review spoiling each and every one of its breathtaking moments. After completing it I thought about my favourite moments, eventually ending up with a list so long I felt compelled to start the game again - something that you'll want to do, either to play on a harder difficulty or to use the many secret items found during your adventure that tweak certain settings. If you're like me, you'll want to play it in front of other people, just to show them how incredible video games can be, or just get them to play it themselves. There are a number of challenges and a combat arena to play around with, too, should you grow tired of the game's many sights, but I doubt that will be any time soon.

Nitpickers might argue that God of War is a button-masher, and in some ways they'd be correct, but to dismiss such a polished game because it doesn't fall into the same hardcore category as the likes of Ninja Gaiden would result in missing out on one of the finest cinematic experiences money can buy. Really, God of War 3's combat doesn't feel that different to the combat in games that dare to challenge it, like Dante's Inferno, but the experience is so much better because the presentation is through the roof. There are some minor technical issues, including the odd frame rate issue, that are bound to get a few people up in arms, but it really doesn't matter. The odd stumble below 30 frames a second is a miniscule trade off for what are the most impressive visuals this console generation has seen.

Whether looking at the way the camera moves around the environment, the detail in Kratos' character model, or the sheer beauty in the locations, picking fault in the game's presentation (the audio work is also spectacular and fits the epic tone perfectly) is somewhat churlish. If you leave God of War 3 feeling let down by its visuals, you really need another hobby. There are moments that I really couldn't believe were happening; moments that will live long in my memory.

You might have worked out that I like God of War 3 a lot. A game with this much hype always has the potential to disappoint, but Sony and the team at Santa Monica Studio clearly knew what they were doing. This is a video game developed at the very highest level and takes what I thought was possible to new heights. God of War 3 is easily the best PS3 game I've played and sits comfortably as one of my favourite games of all time.