So there I was playing the new God of War 3 and the girlfriend walks in on me making a lantern out of the Greek god Helios’s severed head. Let me explain to those of you thinking that I was just simply walking around with his shining head PG-13 style. She walked in on me, playing Kratos, jamming the hell out of the circle button as he pulled (yes pulled) the god’s head off with a super close-up of the poor guy screaming for his life. Upon ripping the head off, Kratos holds the thing in front of him like a brand new toy, showcasing the lantern effect that the once sun god’s head produces, even without a living body to support it. The look on her face had to be one of “what the f—”. This is God of War 3, while in the past we thought it cool when Kratos would strangle Minotaurs, blind Cyclops and punk the gods. Part 3 ups the ante with a level of violence unlike any other Playstation 3 game I have seen. Slicing open a Centaur reveals writhing entrails, and the poor Cyclops – Kratos can mount him before pulling his eyeball out and taking it’s life. It is as brutal as brutal gets.

So for me to say Kratos is back is not only unfair to this game, it is a bit too cliche. How about I say Kratos is back to finish his motherf-cking breakfast and it looks like big daddy Zeus is the main course. Hosting gorgeous graphics… let me stop – it’s like this friends. When I played God of War 2, I was blown away, hell I gave it a perfect 5. The size of moving objects on which Kratos rode, combined with the non-stop action and jaw-dropping graphics was too much to contain my inner fanboi. GoW2 made me wonder at other companies for falling short since the Playstation 2 could produce something that epic. Well God of War 3 allows you to fight on the arm of a Titan… let me let that sink in. Greek mythology nuts, think about momma Gaea and what it would be like in terms of scale to be on her arm. You with me yet? Okay take some more time and think about it.

Okay, the Titan is also talking to Kratos,  she’s climbing Mount Olympus, and there’s a bunch of annoying gods trying to pull her down. Two words: REAL TIME. God of War 2 now looks like Contra compared to this game, YOU FIGHT ON A TITAN’S ARM PEOPLE! If you want a reason to purchase this overpriced Blu-Ray player, this game is it. All the familiar devices of destruction are back for Kratos, if you want weapons beyond the Blades of Exile, then you can bring it in close with the fist-like Cestus. If you want to whip the soul out of someone then break out the Claws of Hades. Feeling like mixing it up a tad then look to the Nemesis whip. Not to mention calling those souls of the dead to help you finish up a combo, or why go to the dead when your fellow Spartans can drop some Phalanx loving on your enemies? For those of you who have been through the first two, this game offers a nice seal on what I consider to be the greatest platformer to date. The intro movie sums up the first two epics with some very cool artwork and if you finished part 2 you will notice that this game picks up immediately where 2 left off.

Attention to detail – as a fan of the smaller trifles that spice up my gaming experience, seeing the world change as Kratos kills god after god was amazing. Poseidon yielded floods and continuous rain, Helios darkened the world and… let me stop, you get the point. It gets to the point where you start to wonder whether killing Zeus would be a good idea or not. The gods are necessary after all, but they screwed Kratos out of his family and left him the worse kind of nightmare that a man could live with. Then to top it off they denied him death, choosing instead to let him ascend the throne of Ares while they shunned him and treated him as an outsider. That made the darkened, plague-ridden, flooding world not so bad when I considered the bastards running it. No… Kratos needed his revenge, I put it out of my head and continued to play.

As far as story, ending etc. I will leave that up to you players to enjoy it the way I have. Anything stated will be a spoiler and nothing sucks worse than having Kratos push someone’s eyes into their sockets with you already expecting it. I was pleased overall, extremely pleased with the story. From reminders of atrocities committed by Kratos to the familiar faces of people sacrificed or saved from the former games. Interestingly enough, the violence should have been the main thing in my mind while playing but all I could remember was “must get to Zeus” in order to see Kratos finally exact his revenge.

God of War 3 is available for the Sony Playstation 3, and I hope that if you had doubts this review will push you over. Go pick it up and unleash the Ghost of Sparta on the gods. You know you want to.

GOD KING GRADE: (A)   ★★★★★