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Name: God of War III

Santa Monica Studio has finally let Kratos loose on the PlayStation 3; it's been five long years since the end of the epic trilogy began and now the Greek mythology tale that has had fans salivating like rabid hell hounds for any kind of news on the game is out in the shops. Is it worth buying? Can it satisfy the need for vengeance? Can Kratos's blood lust ever be sated? Is Kratos ever going to stop and pet the cute little bunny rabbits? All these questions and more can now finally be answered in God of War 3.

The God of War series started back in 2005 on the PlayStation 2; fans were drawn to the anti-hero Kratos, a Spartan warrior who makes a deal with the God of War only to see that deal turn bad when the God Ares engineers the death of his family. Kratos sets off on a quest for revenge against Ares and despite slaying the God and indeed assuming his position as the God of War he has never stopped paying his own penance for what happened to his wife and child. Events in the second game saw Kratos suffer more cruelty at the hands of the Olympian Gods with Zeus himself engineering his downfall and stripping him of his Godhood, once again setting Kratos off on a murderous rampage across ancient Greece in order to take back what he see's as rightfully his. As the second chapter drew to a close Kratos had gone back in time to bring back the original Greek Gods, the Titans, to help bring his revenge against the Olympian Gods; he was last seen riding the back of Gaea climbing Mount Olympus with an eye for killing the Olympian Gods once and for all; the full story of the previous two games has been detailed here for those not familiar with the story so far or for those who want to refresh there memories without playing through them again. This time round Kratos is out to kill the King of the Olympian Gods, Zeus; in order to accomplish this he must first find the power to kill a God which is being held within the Flame of Olympus, but before he can do that he needs to find out where it is and deal with all the problems Zeus throws at his way in an attempt to stop him in his goal.

You'll be pleased to know that God of War 3 starts exactly where the last one ended and within the opening scenes Kratos is back in full God slaying glory, it's obvious from the start that this game isn't going to pull any punches and that's exactly what people have been hoping for. The first thing you'll notice is the graphics, they are truly outstanding; as you're riding on Gaea's back skeletal warriors sent down from the top of Mount Olympus begin their attack on both Gaea and Kratos, as the introduction ends you find yourself waiting for the action to start and then you suddenly realise that the game has actually started and you're in control of the complete eye candy laid out before you. As you fight your way through your enemies on Gaea's back, other Titans climbing Mount Olympus can be seen in the background as well, as Gaea's arms move into position she pulls herself up to the top leaving you with no doubt that you are in the midst of an epic battle. As the opening unfolds Gaea comes under a serious attack from a sea based creature sent by the God Poseidon, this causes Gaea to wrench herself about in pain which in turn flips Kratos up, down, left and right as he tries to stay aboard Gaea and deal with the big bad all at the same time. It's through this fight that you are introduced (or reintroduced if you played the previous two games) to the workings of God of War as surfaces can go from being horizontal to vertical causing Kratos to climb up where he previously was standing. As the attack continues you're taught about the different faucets of the game and what you can expect from it, after a certain amount of damage has been inflicted on the larger enemies you'll often see a spinning circle appear close to them, getting the circle button near them will activate a quick time event, this is when you need to press buttons in a certain order within a certain amount of time, these appear on the edges of the screen and pressing them will cause a scenario to play out which normally involves much pain being thrust upon Kratos's enemies. Should you miss the button press or press one incorrectly then the sequence will end and you'll need to deal out a little damage to begin it again.

For the most part God of War is a third person hack and slash affair, the camera is fixed and all you need to do is deal out the damage as the enemies approach. There are two main modes of attack while fighting normally which are executed by pressing the square or the triangle button for light and heavy attacks respectively, you can also grab hold of an enemy by pressing the circle button where you can do some up close and personal damage or simply rip the poor soul in two, these grab actions largely depend on which enemy you've gripped hold of and are always fun to execute as they normally involve a great deal of blood and screams of anguish, few enemies square up to Kratos and get away with it. As much as he thinks he's invincible, Kratos isn't, so he needs to replenish his health. Health can be found in treasure chests carved with a glowing green ankh, opening these chests gives Kratos back his energy which is noted by a green bar at the top of the screen.