4/5 ★ – Empyrean's review of God of War III.

To this day the sheer scale of GoW3’s setpieces have yet to be rivalled, which is pretty incredible when you consider it’s two generations and twelve years old. The gameplay and combat are also the best the Greek era has to offer by a considerable margin, although the new weapons don’t feel as unique as, say, the Arms of Sparta or the Barbarian Hammer. Sadly everything on the writing side leaves a lot to be desired. Eight years before GoW18, the characters talking in a sarcastic, quippy, semi-modern fashion began here (albeit to a lesser extent). The story is basically non-existant until the finale and Kratos gets little character development. Persephone (or… the sentient key?) is also annoying. Perhaps it’s biggest crime, however, is that 80% of the Titans are immediately killed. Maybe expecting more than the two big set-pieces involving them is too much for the plucky PS3, but it still feels disappointing. So overall I guess 3 is a mixed bag but it gets a lot of good will for it’s opening. RIP Rip Torn