Kratos makes his triumphant return, but does his jackassery stand in the way of his revenge?

God of War 3 really surprised me. I expected a game that would follow in the tradition of terribly aborting Greek Mythology beyond any recognition while offering a clever, fresh take on action gameplay. What I didn't expect was that the game would actually do little that felt entirely new action-wise, while actually going back and fixing some of the egregious mistakes made in the storytelling of the first two games.

God of War 3 opens with Kratos scaling Mount Olympus atop the Titan, Gaia, as they attempt to defeat Zeus and bring an end to his reign. As usual, Kratos is spurred on only by thoughts of revenge, but I've grown accustomed to this sort of behavior out of him by now. This first sequence seems largely thrilling at the outset. Much of the level takes place on Gaia while she battles her way up the mountain. As you weave your way through the foliage sprouting from the Titan's skin, you might find yourself gazing out across the landscape, watching other Titans getting besieged by Poseidon. At moments like these, the game won me over completely. Everything was so massive in scale, and so seemingly epic. I couldn't help but be thrilled by thoughts of the marvelous adventures that might await me further down the line.

While a sense of excitement gripped me initially, it quickly faded as I progressed through the game. Too little had changed about the way that combat worked from the previous two titles, and I steadily grew irritated as Kratos clumsily fought his way to victory. That clumsiness is really the biggest blemish on an otherwise excellent title. It's not even as if Kratos controls all that poorly. Rather, his animations and move-set just felt like they were ripped directly from the second game with absolutely no improvements. Sure, they added the combat grapple letting you grab ahold of far off enemies, but everything just felt a little stiff. After playing Bayonetta -- which allowed for absolute precision control of the main character at all times -- wrestling to get Kratos to dodge incoming blows just felt somewhat archaic.

Don't take all this to mean that there wasn't plenty to enjoy about this game. The core mechanics of God of War always worked pretty well, so (despite expecting more advancements) merging them with an almost Zelda-like form of item accumulation does make for an enjoyable experience. While some of the items are just too awesome conceptually for me to describe here (wait until you get the "lantern"), others just fell completely flat. I don't simply want another way to climb walls and traverse gaps if it doesn't actually offer a discernible difference from just using vines. The weapon progression system is roughly the same as in past titles, but the varied weapons are actually slightly more useful than before. I found myself not even using my Blades of Exile in the latter half of the game, which was honestly a little shocking to me after having played the first two games. Each weapon also has its own dodge and magic abilities offering more diversity in the weapon selection even if the way you play with each of them is almost exactly the same.

The game does have its insanely epic moments, and when they do come, they overpower a lot of the duller stretches. Battling ancient forces several thousand times your size is always thrilling, and possibly never more so than in this game. Although there aren't nearly as many of these sorts of fights as I would have wanted, there are still engaging encounters with deities and demigods aplenty. As Kratos bathes in the blood of Olympus, we are exposed to the Gods at their starkest moments, and these are translated impeccably into most of the fights themselves. I say 'most' because there are two fights that I just felt didn't really live up. However, all of the other great moments of deicide make me forgive the few altercations where the devs faltered. I tell you, mercilessly butchering an ageless divinity in a glorious 2nd-person QTE put anything in Heavy Rain to shame.

While I'm on the subject of QTEs, let's rap about their implementation in God of War 3. I was at first very much opposed to the change to move the button symbols to the edge of the screen. I felt like it was achieving the opposite of what the developers intended. Initially, I did find myself scanning the borders during QTEs rather than watching the on-screen action. However, I quickly grew accustomed to the change and ending up actually liking the decision, so rock on. What I didn't like was the same boring implementation of QTEs as we've been seeing out of these titles forever. I get it: hit random buttons when prompted to finish off enemies. It's hardly interesting, unique, or even fun. I honestly prefer the way Darksiders handled it, where all you had to do was hit the action button to make the finishing blow and that was it. Unless you're doing something interesting like the aforementioned 2nd-person fight, I just don't see the point of these sequences.

Puzzle-solving only comes sporadically in the game, but the moments when it does are actually really fun. I'm not a big fan of block-pushing puzzles, and expected them to permeate this game like some unholy funk settling over a nerd convention, but I was pleasantly surprised by their relative exclusion from the title. Instead of being crammed full of dull, tired puzzles, the sparse placement of these challenges allows each one to feel relatively unique. Whether it's a clever use of perspective, an integrated platforming challenge, or an oddly placed music game, God of War 3 offers plenty of enjoyable brainteasers. Unfortunately, the aforementioned music game was pretty much the low point of the game for me. It shattered any immersion that the game had fostered up until that point by featuring glowing Xs, triangles, squares, and circles all too prominently in the environment. Still, it was just one brief fumbling of a puzzle in a game filled with an intense variety of experiences.

On the visual side of things, God of War 3 comes out with all cylinders firing. Through the extravagant cut scenes and marvelous set pieces, Kratos and his adversaries are brought to life with all fiery majesty and power that one would expect from the pantheon of Greek Gods. It's too bad that all of this falls apart to some extent whenever you are in direct control of Kratos. His animations are so jerky and lumbering that I was constantly distracted from the rest of the visual orgy that was taking place before my eyes. At times, the game really does seem to become the infamous living painting that Jaffe had promised. Unfortunately, these moments only shine through when you make sure that Kratos holds perfectly still, so as not to be distracted by his gawky lurching.

Honestly, I'd prefer that the whole game took place without Kratos anywhere near it. Despite some noble attempts to redeem the character at the end of the game, Sony Santa Monica has crafted over the course of these three titles one of the most horrendously despicable main characters in the history of narrative. Every time he opens his mouth, I just want him to die. There are other characters who pop into the series for only brief moments that have more depth than Kratos, in spite of my having spent 3 whole games by his side. I can move beyond this and enjoy the games for what they are, but rather than getting excited by the umpteeth disemboweling, I find myself groaning at Kratos for being such an unabashed dick.

Kratos's dickishness notwithstanding, God of War 3 offers plenty to love. From the majestic views of blight-ravaged lands to face-offs with Titans whose fingers dwarf your stature, God of War 3 took me on an impressive journey through the worlds of Greek mythology. The devs even took the time to correct the horrid misuse of Pandora's Box in the first game, which I appreciated. There were certainly some frustrating moments throughout, but overall, there was just far too much 'epic' in this game for even my cynicism to resist. Kratos may be the biggest jerk ever to grace a videogame, but at least he knows how to show gamers a good time.