God of War III – Ending Analysis

December 11th, 2010

Remember those NES games whose endgame boss totally abandoned everything you’d spent learning for the past several weeks, maybe even months, only to replace it with some cheap, unexpected gimmick boss battle with mechanics you’d never used before? Those games were great weren’t they? I totally remember looking upon those games fondly.

Sarcasm aside, it’s sad to think that such a design philosophy which counteracts the inherent properties of games could still exist today, but alas it does and God of War III is a spectacular example. Spectacular because it doesn’t just include one gimmicky battle with foreign mechanics, but several.

Let’s review:

God of War 2.5D

Battle begins at 5:50

The first is an off-kilter battle against Zeus which retains the regular mechanics, but changes the viewpoint to resemble a 2D fighter, limiting the battle arena to a 2D plane. The limitation focuses the fighting onto the player’s defensive manoeuvres as they have one less dimension to contend with. This makes sense as Zeus attacks Kratos at a greater frequency and with more power than the other enemies in the game. So moving to a 2D plane makes it visibly less troublesome to pick up on attack animations and hit boxes while also being an easier space to navigate. Without the hassles of 3D space, the combat can roll faster. Furthermore, interplay between the two characters can flow more freely in this space. So, this chunk of gameplay is more reactive than most of the game.

If the animations and effects were tidied up and there was more environmental factors then this capsule of gameplay be absolutely cracking model for a PSP alternative (as opposed to a current wannabe, status of the PSP games; more on those another time though).

Back to God of War III

This starts at 2:00

Some cutscenes later and it’s back to 3D. What’s instantly apparent in this unfinished battle is just how much the 3D loosens up the tight form of the previous battle. As you can see in the video, there’s too much lost space where the two men are trying to connect up for a confrontation. Zeus also has an unfair amount of invincible frames. Gaia cuts the battle short which is probably a good thing. It’s worth adding that this sequence was originally intended to be longer, but time constraints sadly limited the production. You can read more about these cuts, along with video here.

Gaia’s Stomach

^3:50 in the Youtube video above

There’s a minor interluding retread as Kratos makes his way up to Gaia’s heart and then proceeds to pummel it. This sequence is a nice reprieve before none other than Zeus floats his way onto the scene. This battle is a lot tighter than the last because of the smaller fighting area, the charge interaction with Gaia’s heart (both players can zap her heart for health in the down time) and Zeus’ expanded moveset, namely his minions, the sprint charge and lightning bolt. Each of these attacks alleviates the issues that come from the 3D space. The minions fill the dead space, while the sprint charge and lightning attacks are linear and auto target to Kratos’ current position reducing the 3D space to a linear war path. The golden fleece allows for some nice interplay as well. There’s a pattern of linear attacks in this sequence with Zeus’ sprint charge, the lightning attacks and the face-on QTE at the end.

Finding Hope

Starts at 3:05

More cutscenes; now they’re back on top of Mount Olympus, Zeus has Kratos on the brink of death, the camera enters Kratos’ mind through his eyes. Probably not what many players were expecting. This weird dream-like area has Kratos walking and swimming his way forward, helplessly watching the tragedies of his life unfold before him. The use of colouring here is awesome, but the sequence only uses the walk and swim mechanics, making it largely passive and difficult to be too affected by. If you didn’t gather, blue represents the hope with Kratos.

First Person Brawling

Starts at 0:50

Ok, this part is pretty embarrassing. The viewpoint now shifts to first person and Kratos is free to beat Zeus in the face for as long as they see fit. Like the person in the video, I kept bashing him until I realised that I had to stop for the game to continue. As silly as this sequence is, I’ll admit, that the last trigger (the game proceeds once the player stops bashing Zeus after his death) was quite a revelation. I mean, I stopped the violence because there didn’t seem a point to it, while Kratos, similarly, was likely having a similar epiphany.

As the Extra Credits video just below points out, after this sequence Kratos goes back to his old ways and there is no redeeming value to be had. It can be said that the same is true of the confused, wishy-washy ending that I’ve analysed.

Additional Reading

No Redeeming Value – Extra Credits (Story Analysis)

Set Pieces: Lights. Camera. Inaction?

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God of War III – Secondary and Peripheral Mechanics Analysis

December 8th, 2010

And to round out my mechanical overview, I present an analysis of God of War III‘s secondary and peripheral mechanics.

Secondary Mechanics

Golden Fleece

The Golden Fleece is retained from God of War II and is still great little mechanic. If the player shields (L1) just as an attack hits Kratos, Kratos will glow and the player has a short window of time to re-divert the attack back at the enemy. The technique adds another form of interaction to on-coming attacks (dodge, QTE, attack first, get hit). The counter-attack fires out like a projectile, so the counter isn’t limited to the offender.

I’m not sure if there is any stage in God of War III where use of the fleece is compulsory. Since the fleece requires some skill to use, the pay-off for using it is worthwhile and it’s, going by memory, never made mandatory, the fleece is also a difficulty altering device. Good players can scale the combat by using all enemy attacks against them. Other players can avoid attacks through staying out of range, which makes the combat draw out for longer and offers a reason for advanced player to tune the difficulty. As further persuasion towards mastering the advanced move, the power from the fleece is often strong enough to stun enemies, acting as an opening move into combos.

Icarus Wings

Icarus’ Wings are also retained from God of War II, adding a float to the players fall. In God of War III, Kratos can now use the wings to do an aerial dodge which I don’t think was available in God of War II. Since Kratos is never suspended in air for too long (let alone, vulnerable in the air, as in not attacking to keep himself afloat), there is little chance that an enemy would attack Kratos in this period of time, rendering the aerial dodge mechanic largely irrelevant. The animation sprouts and withdraws Kratos’ wings in a matter of seconds, only filling the screen with a rapid assault of visual clutter. Further, the fall back to the ground creates a surprisingly wide gap for Kratos to be attacked.

There are another 2 new moves, the Icarus Strike and Icarus Ascension, however, I can’t remember using these moves and since I don’t have the game on-hand for reference (it’s in Australia, I’m in China), I’m afraid that I can’t comment on it.

Items

The following mechanics are referred to as “items” and they are mapped to L2 in conjunction with 3 of the face buttons. Items have their own yellow energy meter that refills over time, limiting the use of the 3 mechanics.

Apollo’s Bow

Apollo’s Bow is similar to Typhoon’s Bane in God of War II, but is now an item and not a spell. This time the bow fires faster which further aids in rather varied forms of interaction, such as:

The trade-off, however, is that the rapid bow shots are fairly weak and must be charged to be powerful. When charged, the arrows are fired up, adding an elemental effect, so now Kratos can burn enemies in combat as well as shoot at vases of oil to create explosions and reform the terrain. This rebalancing broadens the functionality of the bow in a naturalistic manner (rapid fire and charged shots) without adding complexity. The charge builds risk and reward, while filling in dead space within the gameplay.

Head of Helios

Start from 1:45

Remember at the end of the God of War III live demo at Sony’s E3 press conference in 2009 where Kratos rips the head off one of the soldiers? It’s a pretty dreadful scene, but nonetheless the head becomes an item itself.

The Helios’ head can be charged to unleash a solar flare, blinding all nearby enemies. I find this mechanic to be a little self-defeating as it is most effective in times when the Kratos is swarmed by foes, but the charge required leaves him open to attack. Walking away from the volatile enemies only weakens the effect of the attack once released. So really, what this all amounts to is an imbalance of risk and reward, where it’s almost better to not use the mechanic. Furthermore, it can be difficult to determine the effectiveness of the flare based on enemy types and proximity. Some larger enemies appear immune to the solar flare.

Out of battle the head can be used to light poorly-lit areas, but even here it seems like a needless diversion. Where Helios works best is in revealing hidden sparkling areas in the environment. The mechanic acts as a reward for more observant players.

Hermes Boots

As with the other items, Hermes Boots has use both inside and out of battle. In battle the boots are used for a linear sprint dash in combat situations, sending enemies up in the air as Kratos rushes them for open slather attacks. Like Helios’ head and the wing dodge, Hermes Boots are poorly tuned making them pretty unremarkable. The issue is again to do with the few potential opportunities to take full advantage of the mechanic and the imbalance of risk and reward due to the vulnerable position it leaves Kratos in. The boots are best used when the enemies are standing in a straight line which is problematic as 1) Even rough straight line formations rarely crops up 2) When it, such as in narrow hallways, its just as easy to get caught on a wall. Even when the mechanic can be used to success, it likely won’t hit every enemy which is bad news as, again, Kratos is very open to attack for entirely too long at the end of the animation. If attacked, then the player can’t reign openly on the enemies flung up into the air by the attack. The sprint itself is also pretty short as well and will fail to send the more powerful enemies skywards, again, leaving them in a decent position to attack Kratos. Like Helios’ head, you can never really tell whether Hermes Boots will be all that effective, making it a rather unstable mechanic that won’t get used often.

The boots allow Kratos to run along certain marked walls out of combat too. The key word being “certain”, limiting the use to one dimensional “it only works here and you only press the button and then do the action” scenarios.

Peripheral Mechanics

Beast Riding

Starts from 0:30

Beast riding has been expanded sligthtly to give the player more control over the beasts. That is, the 3-headed dogs can breathe fire in the initial part of the game.

Rage of Sparta

Rage of Sparta, God of War’s “rage mode”, has been significantly altered for God of War III. The explanation from the God of War wiki is quite a comprehensive overview:

“When the rage is active you can use only the Blade Of Olympus. In rage mode, Kratos’ attacks and overall running speed become faster, his defence rate increases, and his attacks deal much more damage and even infinite health. The camera zooms in slightly, and all colors desaturate, except for Kratos’ tattoo and his enemies, which both glow red. The Rage Meter can be filled by collecting Gold Orbs. Activating the meter causes a significant startup drain that prevents the player from abusing it too much, around 1/8th the meter is drained automatically once activated.”

The Blade of Olympus (a giant sword), which can only be used exclusively in this mode, puts a new spin on what was originally just a temporary stat boost. In fact, considering how different the sword animations are from the derivative primary set of weapons which are all modelled on the Chains of Exile, it’s baffling that the sword wasn’t given its own spot next to the chains.

Another change is the odd limitation applied to the use of the Rage of Sparta. I found these sentiments from an IGN forum member to ring quite true:

“Is it just me or does the Rage of Sparta mode in God of War III seems a little bit underdeveloped?

I mean in God of War I and II, the Rage modes were so over the top and overpowered. It was literally a big help in higher difficulties in tough and long fights. The moves were just awesome and during those 10 seconds, Kratos truly unleashed hell. It was chaos. It doesn’t really feel that good and special in God of War III, at least in my opinion.

Also, it’s the only mode where you can use my favourite weapon in the series: the Blade of Olympus. That weapon is supposed to be the reason why the Great War ended and it’s the most powerful weapon. Besides Pandora’s Box, it’s the only weapon capable of killing a God. It killed Athena in one strike. But while in Rage of Sparta mode, the Blade of Olympus doesn’t feel that powerful.

When I started God of War III, I played it in Titan mode (Hard) immediately and I must say the Rage of Sparta helped me at times, but I was using it more because of the stats increase and the near invincibility instead of the Blade of Olympus power, controls and style.

The colors were awesome though. Felt like you were truly in a bloodlust.”

The tight time window that the player has to play with the blade trivialises the blade’s very inclusion. There’s hardly enough time to become familiar with the blade that the emphasis is put on the statistical increase and not on effectively using the new weapon. Therefore, these sequences aren’t about developing mastery, but rather letting the player mash buttons.

Hade’s Soul

Kratos also acquires another “passive” upgrade similar to Poseidon’s Trident, Hades’ Soul, which allows Kratos to swim in the River Styx without being attacked by lost souls. This upgrade is a poor excuse for a key card.

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God of War III – Primary Mechanics Analysis

December 5th, 2010

I made it a goal of mine to complete God of War III before I left for China some 8 months ago. I beat the game in time and have since left my stack of notes untouched. Finally, after dwelling on the game for so long I’ve gone back to my notes and now have something substantial to post, 5 articles in fact. I’ll be starting with the primary mechanics, please enjoy.

Renovating Redux

In my review of God of War II I made a point to criticise the weak changes and additions to the combat system which failed to make the sequel any more engaging than chewing through God of War for a second, consecutive time.

“For continuing players this amounts to a heap redux which God of War II’s largely peripheral additions to the combat system fail to quell. (Newer players will similarly find the combat stretches beyond its means, but perhaps not as immediately as returning players). A smattering of aggressive new moves mapped to the L1 button when used in conjunction with the face buttons, a spiffied up Rage of the Titans (rage mode) and some new spells do fend off the familiar, but fail to sustain player interest through what is a significantly extended play experience.”

Combat is the God of War franchise’s core component. It is, ultimately, the crux that the rest of the game leans  upon. So if the combat cannot pull its weight then the game as a whole is weakened on a fundamental level.

In God of War, the excellent “game feel” of Kratos’ brutal ballet, a solid degree of interplay and enemy types which brought the depth of the mechanics to the player’s attention are some of the highlights. For me personally, I made it all the way through God of War completely satisfied that I’d gotten everything out of the combat by the endgame.

In God of War II, the “game feel” is still great, but is arguably weakened as it no longer retains that “new combat system” feel. With little added interplay (back-and-forth depth) squeezed into the mechanics and rehashed enemies, God of War II is effectively the original game with some minor, non-impactful changes. (A lowdown on the differences can be found here). Furthermore since God of War II is a longer game than its predecessor, I personally found the combat more trying the more I played.

With these points in mind, it is imperative that God of War III rejigg the combat system. Fortunately it does so, let’s start with the analysis off with the primary mechanics. A follow-up article will cover the secondary and peripheral mechanics along with all round tweaks.

Starting Base

The core ability set from God of War II carries over to the 3rd instalment. (That is, everything from God of War plus the L1 power attacks and bow). Exceptions include the Barbarian Hammer and the Spear of Destiny. Peripheral and secondary elements like Poseidon’s Trident (breathing underwater endlessly), the Golden Fleece (re-diverting attacks), and Icarus Wings (floating fall) all return. The core mechanics are quickly taught by an on-screen display of button combinations and their respective attack names while Kratos is on Gaia’s back in the initial opening. Later the peripheral elements are taught once they become relevant, which just so happens to be in the preceding chapter when Kratos returns to the underworld.

New Core Mechanics

The Battering Ram (and the pile-on)

The battering ram mechanic is a follow-through mechanic to grab. Once Kratos grabs a smaller enemy, aside from pummelling them some more, tearing them apart or throwing them at other enemies (inclusions from the very first game), Kratos can also use the enemy as a shield and rush forward into other enemies. If Kratos dashes towards a solid surface, he will bash the enemy’s skull into that surface. The video below is a good display of the mechanic:

As you can see, the battering ram is a great mechanic for crowd control because:

The mechanic is limited by a short timer and the accessibility of a peon to grab.

Now that 50 (peon) enemies can be rendered on-screen at the one time, there are more peon characters to overwhelm Kratos in the one instance, but equally more fodder to use a battering ram. God of War III facilitates both sides of this added dimension to the peon enemies with mechanics that remain in check with Kratos’ aggressive demeanour. The battering ram is an aid to Kratos, and at the same time, if caught off guard, the peons can climb on top of him. A QTE trigger is displayed if the pile overwhelms Kratos and when activated, Kratos shakes the peons off him with devastating force. With either outcome, Kratos ends up playing his role as a no-frills bad ass and gameplay is deepened.

The battering ram and the pile on QTE are good mechanical responses to the gameplay opportunities opened up by new hardware. The swarms, which are quite frequent, succeed in making Kratos appear powerful (by giving the player more advantageous tools), while adding some depth and dynamics between the minor and major enemies (battering ram can be used against the larger enemies, battering ram can be used to avoid larger enemies, enemies have drawback to battering ram and the shake-off QTE). Design and technology work harmoniously here.

The swarms of enemies may encourage the player to use the battering ram move, but even in less populated areas the move is effective at cutting the spatial distance between enemies and pushing the pace forward. Overall, these two mechanics are great additions.

Grapple Ram

There seems to be no proper name for this mechanic, so I shall call it the Grapple Ram. With this mechanic Kratos uses his blades to latch on to an enemy and launch himself at them. If Kratos latches on from a distance he’ll quickly pull himself towards the enemy. If Kratos latches on up close the enemy will be drawn back from the force.

The grapple ram clears any minor dead space when Kratos is out the fray by literally pulling him back into it. This mechanic can therefore make the combat much more immediate.

Flying enemies (in combat) offer great interplay as they can be used to draw Kratos into the air which transforms the play state from a ground into an aerial one. After the grapple ram animation is over, Kratos can launch into an aerial attack, fall back to the ground or use the grapple ram on another enemy to repeat the cycle or move back to the ground. Flying enemies also act as an eject seat for Kratos to break out of a heavy fray.

Because of the enemy drawback frames from the ram (and the closer proximity that it brings the player to the enemy), the grapple ram opens up ideal pockets of time for the player to then lead into a stronger combo of charged attacks. The animations work so that the player can be part of the way through a charged attack by the time most enemies return to their neutral state. Again, these new mechanics fall in line with the game’s ethos of unrestrained power, giving the player more advantage over their foes.

Strangely, the Claws of Hades (weapon) don’t draw Kratos and the enemy together but send off a sort of projectile attack, which is subversive as it makes the mechanic seem unstable as its not universally implemented into all weapons. Video of this mechanic being used to exploit a high combo count can be found above.

The grapple ram can also be used to ride birds outside of combat, helping Kratos reach higher platforms that are further away. Right at the start of the video is a great example. The extension of the mechanic outside of combat is well implemented addition. One of the only changes to the platforming portion of the game.

Just like the battering ram, the grapple ram is a cool new mechanic.

New Arrangement of Weapons

The two new mechanics are all well and good (and by themselves a far greater improvement than the combination of piddly additions in God of War II), however it’s the pre-existing combat system that matters most. The foundation combat mechanics changed nought form GoW to GoW II and pretty the same pretty much holds true of GoW III—bar the above—but this time it’s a little different.

Rather than completely revise the combat system or add more nuance to what was already available, God of War III internalises the concept of additional weapons first introduced in God of War II, giving them much greater priority. That is, instead of fundamentally improving the Blades of Chaos/Athena/Exile (the core combat system), new weapons are introduced which are given equal weighting against the blades.

While God of War II did introduce alternative weapons (the Barbarian Hammer and the Spear of Destiny) the weapons could only be cycled through by pressing R2. Having to cycle through weapons one-by-one was a real inconvenience and went a long way to marginalise the use of these weapons. Furthermore, there were few, if any, enemies or out-of-combat doflickies which required the player to utilise these new weapons, and the blades just felt better and were more familiar anyways.

In God of War III, the weapons are now assigned to the d-pad allowing players to switch to the weapon they want without sifting through other weapons first. This configuration edit makes it easy to switch weapons on the fly in a changing battle. The new weapons are further tightly integrated by pressing L1 + X to cycle weapons mid-combo. Pressing L1 + X will attack with the next weapon in the chain, so combos can be maintained even when cycling one-by-one. Supposedly, this second way of cycling was added so that the player wouldn’t have to take their finger off the control stick, leaving themselves vulnerable, when changing weapons. As a side effect, it also makes for some more interesting combo animations and effects.

In God of War II, spells were assigned to the d-pad, but the system has been streamlined now so that each weapon has its own fixed spell. So, in God of War III, to switch weapons is to switch spells.

While the new weapons are woven more tightly into the fabric of the combat mechanics and share a stature equal to the mighty Blades of Exile, is there really any point is using them beside the slight animation differences and changes in game feel? God of War II ultimately failed to give the player a reason to use the Barbarian Hammer and the Spear of Destiny, despite their awesomeness as individual weapons. As for God of War III, well, here’s an overview of each weapon and its properties; I’ll let you judge for yourself.

(Don’t forget that each weapon is modelled after the Chains of Exile. So the same buttons do the same thing for each move just with different animations).

Blades of Athena/Exile






Claws of Hades






Nemean Cestus






Nemesis Whip





The Claws of Hades and Nemesis Whip are variations of the Chains of Exile with near identical attack animations and no real exclusive mechanics or properties. The Nemean Cestus, on the other hand, can only damage onyx (useful in and out of combat) and has relatively unique battle animations. The Nemean Cestus and Nemesis Whip do have functionality beyond combat, but the interactions are one dimensional “go here and use the weapon” affairs. Overall, the distinguishing factors between the weapons are largely superficial.

Suggestions for Repair



What God of War III needs, ironically, is a weapon like the Barbarian Hammer. As you can see by the gameplay video above, the hammer trades Kratos’ vulnerability (the shielding of the blades) for strength, creating much more concrete strengths and weaknesses. Now if the hammer’s mechanics were fully fleshed out (adding a charged move to heighten the trade-off, extending functionality to puzzles and allowing players to destroy weaker parts of the terrain and décor for environmental effects), then it’d make a worthwhile alternative to the blades.

Conclusion (New Arrangement of Weapons)

To conclude this vital point, God of War III rearranges the weapon structure to make it easier for players to make use of the new weapons. However, the 2 of the 3 new weapons are minor variations of the default Blades of Exile and the unique aspects of the 3rd (Nemean Cestus) aren’t all that much to boast about either. Even though its much easier to access these new weapons in God of War III, there’s not a great deal of reason for doing so and as such the restructuring falls far short of its potential.


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