There is also a platforming element involved in traversing the God of War world so Kratos has the ability to jump and climb, a double jump will unfold his wings which he ripped from Icarus and will allow him to float for a short while. Certain walls can be climbed, you'll become accustomed to the tell-tale signs on walls as to which ones can be, Kratos can also carry this ability to make his way along ceilings. Obviously a man with as many homicidal tendencies as Kratos is going to need weapons with which to dispatch death and these are in plentiful supply; mostly your weapons will come from fallen Gods although you don't necessarily get a weapon from each God you fight, there are other abilities which you can collect from them as well. You start with the Blades of Athena, two swords attached to chains which can be thrown around in circular motions to slay any oncoming enemies, as you progress you'll get new weapons to play with; The Claws of Hades, the Nemesis Whip and the Neman Cestus are all picked up along the way. Unlike the previous games each weapon comes with its own form of magic, a special attack which can be used in battle but which drains Kratos of his magic until it can be replenished from chests marked with a blue ankh, for example the Claws of Hades can be used to summon souls back from the dead to help Kratos vanquish his enemies. These weapons can all be upgraded to become more powerful as Kratos aquires experience from treasure chests marked with a red ankh, and with each power up comes more vicious attacks that can be unleashed and upgrades to the magical abilities of each weapon. These aren't the only weapons available to Kratos he also finds a bow weapon similar to the Bane of Typhoon from the previous title, this time it's called the Bow of Apollo and can be used to set enemies on fire, the Head of Helios and Boots of Apollo can also be collected but unlike the previous weapons, and unlike in previous games, they don't use magic, instead they use a special items bar which can be depleted with each use but automatically refills itself.
It's not all death and destruction throughout however, there are times when you'll come across a puzzle in order to progress, although not particularly challenging to defeat they do bring a break to the constant onslaught of action. These are integrated quite well and never feel like they're just bolted in there for no reason; they range from simple things like moving pieces about to complete a maze or from finding a way to open a door. The maze section is probably the trickiest to get your head around, if you've ever played Echochrome then you'll be off to a good start; you've to move pieces around and activate a distortion effect so that the pieces can complete a 3D path that isn't really there, stairs may start on the floor and finish on a overhead balcony but it isn't until you view the maze from a certain angle that it will become a path that Kratos will follow. Not all the puzzles are taxing and not all the breaks from the fighting in the game are puzzles, there's also sections where Kratos takes flight, or plummets, which can be fun to play.
As previously mentioned the graphics will simply blow you away from start to finish, all of it is presented from within the graphics engine; the quick time event battles are without doubt the showcase pieces of God of War 3 with some stunning camera work which brings you the best and most exciting camera angles of the action. There are a few nice touches along the way as well, at the end of the battle with Poseidon near the beginning of the game the camera switches to the actual view of Kratos that Poseidon has, literally looking through his eyes as Kratos pummels him around the area. Perhaps the nicest of all touches is that there is no obvious loading time at all, occasionally when the camera pans to give you an idea of the scale you can tell that it's loading but even then you're still in control of the action, quite impressive when you consider that the game takes up absolutely no room on the hard drive whatsoever.
It's not the graphics that shine through either, the musical score in itself is an epic masterpiece; the main soundtrack on the title screen is reminiscent of classic composures, the main menu especially with a tune called Rage of Sparta and on operatic choir booming "Kratos" all to get you in the mood for the epic onslaught ahead. The other incidental music through the game is all done to the same high quality, again you can just tell that Santa Monica studios haven't let anything slip by them, no detail is too small and nothing is overlooked right down to using the right music at the right time. The voice acting is all well and above the usual standards that video games normally bring, not a voice is out of place or misused with all the characters looking and acting exactly as they sound, a rare treat in videogames.
If you're a fan of the God of War series then playing this concluding chapter, and it does conclude, is pretty much a must; it's not got anything new to it, there's no great changes in the style of the game, it really is God of War but bigger and better on a shinier platform. Some might say there is no innovation and it's just repeating an earlier concept, but when something works as well as this then there really is no reason to change it; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
