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Please Rate This Review: Defense of the God of War III Script
High: Every time Kratos stands still and screams, “Zeus!”
Low: Pandora’s voice actor. She’s even annoying in the interviews included with the game.
Wtf: Easy Mode: Death by Falling Only
Spoilers-- Beware
This isn’t a new topic at all, but I promise I don’t plan to beat a dead horse. I’ve read the complaints about the game, and for the most part, I think they are pretty reasonable, although magnified. Pandora is annoying, the Labyrinth is a dose of Lunesta, and the ten minutes spent running around in darkness is anti-climatic. But the complaint about the writing is where I draw the line. This isn’t a fair complaint in my eyes, largely because the premise of the game is serial killing. Even so, the writers tried to add more depth with the mini sub-plot of Hercules and his hell bent sentiments of “love me, father”.
I personally love the fact that the game has a circular plot; while some find it aggravating that they begin on Olympus, and then have to backtrack there, I find it enjoyable. It’s the third game as well as the final game: Kratos is completing his cycle. Others also had a problem with how downscaled the final scenes were in comparison to the opening scenes. Yet in the end of the game Kratos is in the end of the world. As it withers, so does he and all that he is involved in. Let’s not forget that while his death may not take place in some outrageous, epic way, the background of it is as epic as ever. Besides, I don’t think anyone would really want a video game directed by Michael Bay.
Some had trouble with Athena’s sudden change of allegiance. Athena’s malice could be simply explained by the fact that Kratos stabbed her; in any case, her betrayal was a nice twist that could have been nonexistent if not for the writers. I like that the characters aren’t static; their environment is changing drastically—they should change as well. I also want to add, since I’m on the subject of the end of the game, that the battle with Zeus is awesome even though it’s not Kratos fighting something ten thousand times bigger than him. It is more intimate for a reason: it’s a battle between father and son. And if it’s a question of difficulty, there are more modes that a player can partake in.
Now back to the script. I understand fully why people are having problems with Kratos’ sudden “sensitivity” to Pandora. Believe me, I am in no way a fan of her monologue (that probably came from a self help book). But it’s not like Kratos planned to throw away his revenge for her; he attempted to fight Zeus without sacrificing her. However, his seemingly heartfelt attachment wasn’t in the entire game; in the underworld he brushed off the statue at first. This whole game is dependent upon Kratos’ lust for revenge, but why would he want revenge if he didn’t regret what he did to his family? I don’t think it’s a giant leap of the imagination to say that Kratos felt for his family. In the end Pandora was a way for him to eliminate his guilt (his guilt is obvious when he discovers his dead family at the end of the game in what seems to be his subconscious). Kratos is a selfish pig, and I’m not saying he was selfless with Pandora; in fact, I think Pandora wasn’t actual sensitivity, but him trying to fill his needs.
There’s one last thing I’d like to address, and that’s the problem with the characterization of women in this game. I’m a woman, and I’m also an avid reader of Greek and Roman mythology. Now the game could be mimicking the attitudes of the myths, but probably not, since they Americanized Hades and made him the equivalent of Satan. It has to be mentioned that with the women in mythology, they didn’t have much to work with, though. They already made Pandora a bit better than she was according to the Greeks (disobedient, dull) and some of the better females have been used in the past games. In actuality, our society is already full of womanizers as it is, and sex sells. The audience is predominantly male. I don’t think the women in this game lower the game at all; it’s a game of brutality, something women are often not associated with. Plus, as a woman, I don’t really appreciate strong female leads just because people feel as though games need strong female leads.
Basically, I consider the writing in this game efficient, and I consider the game itself just plain awesome. To me, it’s a great finale.
9/10
Disclosures: This game was bought at Gamestop. It is for the play station 3 only. About 35 hours of game play went into single player mode, completed two times on two different levels (normal and hard).
This is not for kids, but is perfectly suitable for the hard of hearing.
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Linear Mode
