God of War 3: Review

At long last, the much anticipated God of War 3 from Sony's Santa Monica studio comes flaming at your PS3 with the rage of Olympus. As the third game in the series, God of War 3 completes the story of Kratos and his revenge mission against the inhabitants of Mount Olympus.

The story is most definitely a continuation of the previous games so if you haven't played at least the other two games, I suggest grabbing the God of War collection (good thing it's only 30 bucks for two sweet games on one Blu-Ray huh?). There really aren't too many twists to the tale though and if you decide to just jump right into the third you haven't missed much. Long story short, Kratos is mad. Go kill everything.

For those who have played the other games though, there is plenty of fan service to go around. Even if you haven't experienced the past games, if you know a thing or two about Greek mythology, you'll appreciate the accuracy and level of detail that went into crafting this living piece of visual literature. Small touches like Hephaestus being cramped in a cave or the fact that Apollo isn't the one in the chariot (that's apparently Helios) really show the team's effort at placing this new character in the guise of an old story.

Speaking of the level of detail, one would be hard pressed to find a better looking game. Running at a slick 1080P and never stuttering a single frame, even when things got ridiculous (and they do... a lot) the polish and sheer scope of what this game makes the PS3 do sort of makes me wonder if any game in the future could make things feel any bigger. Some of the characters in this game that actively move as you move and parts of which are clearly visible are larger than the entirety of some games. The redesigned enemies offer a refreshing take on the series mainstays as well with minotaurs looking more like bulls, gorgons looking more like snakes and so on.

The only issue I have with the visuals also has to do with the camera. The camera is totally computer controlled, freeing up the right stick for rolling around like you're on fire. The good part is that the camera pretty much stays where the action is, while showing off the amazing backgrounds and architecture. The bad part is that some of the environments don't actually contain any aforementioned action, but are still important (and pretty). At these areas there are scenic overlooks that let you stop and watch bodies fall into hades or look at the tornadoes in tartarus. Perhaps this was the best way to present these scenes, but it really feels like someone was just like, they should see this too.

The control is tighter than ever with new sound design making chains sound and thus feel more chainy and transitions between sweet spin-around-and-kill-everybody moves and smash-that-guy's-face-off moves looking less video gamey and more realistic (in a fantasy sort of way) without sacrificing gameplay. The magic leaves something to be desired and feels really underpowered as compared with previous games. I think the only times I used the magic (besides when it was required) was just to see what it was about. That's too bad since magic was my primary tool in the other games.

If you're looking for some good old fashioned, outrageously fun gameplay with a story that at least keeps your interest during the cutscenes, or if you just always kind of wanted to put your thumbs into Poseidon's eye sockets, God of War 3 is the game you need.

PS3 exclusive. Played on Hard.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is developer DICE's second try at bringing Battlefield to consoles after making the series a smashing success on PC. The first game in the Bad Company series introduced us to our heroes (the men of Bad Company if you can believe it) and introduced us to the amazing procedural damage engine known as the Frostbite Engine. The first game came off as little more then a tech demo as the already paper thin story was marred by the stereotypical cast of relatively unlikeables.

The second one however is looking to take the crown from Modern Warfare and it makes no bones about it. This sort of video game rivalry hasn't been seen since the days when "Sega does what Ninten-don't," was the mantra. BC2 picks up almost exactly where the first BC left off with our heroes stranded, wondering what to do next. Thankfully the writers over at DICE know what to do and the story that unfolds comes off as actually pretty good (for the type of game it is).

While the game itself does fine at standing on its own merits, the reliance on everyone having played Modern Warfare 2 for a lot of the fan factor sort of leaves me with a weird feeling. It's one thing for a dev to make little fan-service nods across a couple of games, it just seems weird to me when game characters are taking pot shots at the competing series ("They'll just send in some pussy ass Special Ops with heartbeat sensors on their guns!"). Having said that, I must comment that I think the story in BC2 was far better especially as a sequel than that of MW2, if for no other reason than it flowed properly with a beginning, middle, and end. Although the ending (spoiler-free) does suffer from a bad case of Halo 2 syndrome in that it seemingly comes in to interrupt the good part. As always, I consider that cheap and poor form.

The gameplay itself is pretty standard shooter fare with the addition of the aforementioned Frostbite Engine adding a whole new dynamic to the battlescape. It really adds to the mayhem of a big battle when you can't really just duck and hide to reload and expect your cover to stay there the whole time. Sure this leads to a lot of deaths, but I think it's worth the added realism. It kind of saddens me though that there are still some parts right in your path that are indestructible. Some amount of indestructibility is to be expected, but at times it just got ridiculous. At one point I was told to use explosives to make a path and after wasting a bunch of grenades and rockets, I discovered that the explosives they were talking about were a stack of barrels that I could just shoot. Still, the engine more than pulls its weight and makes for a really nice selling point.

I can't help but feel that the game could have gone through QA a little longer though. There were some really weird bugs that weren't game breaking, but really off-putting. There were times when the squad would stop and talk about really off-topic things and the quality of voice acting would suddenly shoot up. My guess is that whatever caused the guys to get stuck also triggered some cut dialog. That, or those parts are supposed to be that way. There was one genuine bug though in which the members of the BC squad simply weren't present in a video in which they were talking and interacting with other people. Again, things continued as if nothing had happened, but the damage was done.

I know that many of you readers will want to hear all about the multiplayer, but I fear I may not be one who could adequately review that part. The reason is that I've become convinced that there must be a bunch of it that I'm missing. For a game looking to take the top spot, there can't possibly be so little to the multiplayer. Sure the modes are fun, but are there really only four of them? Also out of the five or six times I've tried the multiplayer, I have only seen two maps. Where are all the maps? I'll keep dying my way through that for a while and if I strike gold, perhaps I'll review that part separately.

Does Battlefield: Bad Company 2 take the crown as top war shooter? For single player, I'd say so. Even some areas of multiplayer are better. And especially given the tenuous state of the competitor, I think we may have a new champion.

Is it a good game? Yeah, it's good stuff. Go get it. And stay frosty (yeah, they say that too).

Played on Xbox 360 on Hard.