Introduction
Half a decade passes. Just five years after the release of the first God of War the trilogy would see its conclusion. In that time, the franchise would go on to sell millions of copies worldwide and Kratos would be cemented as one of the new mascots for the Playstation brand.
While the first game ended on a pretty conclusive note, the second took a different approach, with a cliffhanger ending that rendered nearly every player craving for this conclusive entry. The pressure was on to deliver an unforgettable experience that could satisfy half a decade of storytelling.
With a leap to a new console generation, the development team got to work on one of the most ambitious projects in the PS3’s lifecycle. The question is with all of this anticipation, all of this ambition, and all of this time leading up to a single game’s release, does God of War 3 deliver?
Development History
Development on God of War 3 began shortly after the second game’s release. With the public clamoring for a resolution to the story, the pressure was on. Cory Barlog came back to direct, with a strong desire to create another fantastic entry, but left the team about 8 months into development, with Stig Asmussen taking over.
Prior to this, Asmussen was the art director for the series, so with his team in tow, they began work on the project. It was largely his vision, but Barlog and even David Jaffe helped out with advice and suggestions every now and again. This can be seen in how different the game is to Jaffe’s original vision.
The game went through a ton of different ideas before beginning production, including using other religions and adding multiplayer, features that would be seen in later entries. However, the team instead decided that they wanted to keep the project focused on a single player experience that concluded the story already being told. And with that, work began..
With the jump to a new console came a litany of challenges, resulting in a massive jump in polygon counts and texture details, rebuilding the game engine from the ground up to run on the new hardware, and an entirely new set of code to animate the characters’ hair… Uh, maybe not so much Kratos...
After three long years, the game was finally released on March 16th, 2010 to critical acclaim. Receiving perfect and near perfect scores across the board, the game went on to sell over 5 million copies, more than either of its predecessors. It also won a bunch of awards including many for graphics and art design and even some for game of the year.
With this entry, God of War secured its position as one of the greatest trilogies in gaming history and whether someone was excited after the end of the second title or felt burned by it, the consensus seemed to be that the game fulfilled or exceeded all expectations. Of course, there’s only one way to see just how well the game holds up, so let’s take a look at the beginning, of the end.
Opening Sequence
Unlike the first two games in the series, the story here begins before the title screen, with a credit roll playing during a flashy animation depicting the story thus far. I love the style here and the cinematic feel of the opening, but I’m not sure who it’s for. Those who played the previous games already know what happened and those who haven’t won’t understand what the scenes are trying to depict, but it’s a cool opening that can be skipped so it’s fine.
However, the lack of any kind of information for newcomers to the series is pretty disappointing. With the leap to a new console, you would think that many players have no experience with the previous titles, so an option to learn about the story thus far would have been a smart addition.
Either way, we make our way to the title screen and see an absolutely incredible model of Kratos staring angrily. The level of detail in this model is insane and instantly gets players excited with a small taste of the graphical quality to come.
The game begins immediately after the second’s ending, with the gods preparing for the incoming titans and Kratos riding Gaia as they climb mount Olympus in an attempt to kill the gods and get revenge for their betrayal. With this, the gods begin to strike back, charging down the mountain while Zeus sits nice and pretty up top.
We start out in a small enclosed area with a few small minions to kill, allowing for a quick tutorial for those who haven’t played before. While this would normally be a boring walk in the park for series veterans, itr3f4s ability to showcase just how much the scale of the game has improved is sure to impress anyone.
Not only is the game completely seamless with transitions between cutscenes and gameplay being impressively hidden, but as this small battle is happening, the player might also notice that the events in the background are occurring at an unbelievable scale.
To illustrate this, let’s say that this is Kratos’s size. Right? Next notice that he’s fighting on top of Gaia who’s about this big by comparison, which is pretty neat, having a fight on a giant’s body. BUT THEN, you realize that as you’re fighting she’s climbing Mount Olympus, which is just crazy tall. Aaaand to wrap it up, let’s throw Poseidon into the mix.
The sea god jumps from the mountain, tackling a titan into the water and emerges in the form of- and please excuse the pun- a seahorse. He uses this new form to charge up the mountain and attempt to bring Gaia down. While she struggles to hang on, Kratos is tasked with defeating the beast.
Whether or not the player can process just how much is going on here, they’re definitely able to feel it, causing them to feel incredibly small in this massive environment, making it all the more impressive and empowering when they come out on top.
This is made abundantly clear when Poseidon bursts through Gaia’s body and the player is immediately thrown into the first boss fight, as is tradition with the series. The encounter has its ups and downs, but does a great job as a combat tutorial as well as an amazing sight to behold.
Players will start by fighting on the ground, but as Gaia moves her arm, they’ll also have the chance to attack while hanging from the ceiling and climbing a wall. While Poseidon’s attacks are pretty infuriating to avoid, the abundance of health makes this section a breeze.
Eventually we’ll be introduced to the game’s first quick time event. I really like the new style of having the prompts on the sides of the screen correlating with the positioning of the buttons. It makes it so that those who haven’t played on the PS3 before can still easily understand which button to push.
Kratos is then thrown thrown to the mountain, where the player will do a bit more platforming, open some chests, see some really cool clips of gods and titans battling, try out gliding, and learn a bit about the lore if they’re inclined to take a look at the artifacts lying around.
Kratos enters the tomb of Ares and kills a centaur, which has some cool spear attacks but is otherwise unremarkable. We learn about lever pulling with a quick platforming segment and move onwards to be immediately attacked by Poseidon yet again. And here we get the real fight.
Phase one starts with a segment similar to before in which Kratos takes the god head on, but now with a really powerful and unblockable slam attack. After enough damage is done, his claw is ripped off and used to plunge right into his chest, scaring him off for now.
Kratos then climbs into Gaia’s body, moves around some pillars in her heart, climbs up to fight some minions like the good little white blood cell he is, and then goes on to escape to her head. Here, Gaia catches Poseidon’s horse, forcing him to reveal his true form. He latches on to the titan’s head and the final phase begins.
This part of the fight I really love. You start off by detaching the claws from Gaia’s head, then grapple to her hand as she slams him into the mountain. Here, you attack his chest a few times while dodging heavy attacks and then climb a nearby structure to deal massive damage to his weak point.
After one final fight on Gaia’s head, we get an awesome sequence of Kratos grappling through the sky followed by slamming Poseidon straight out of his beast and into the mountain. He threatens Kratos, then we’re given one of the coolest moments in the entire series.
The camera switches between the normal third person shots and Poseidon’s viewpoint as Kratos beats the shit out of him before snapping his neck and killing the god of the sea. I love this sequence as it forces players to confront just how brutal of a character Kratos is and actually made me feel sympathy for Poseidon. It reminds the player that no matter his cause, Kratos is not a hero by any means.
He throws the dead body into the sea, causing all of Greece to flood instantaneously. Climbing back onto Gaia’s hand, they ascend to the peak of Olympus and Kratos confronts his father. Zeus gets pissed and makes a big lightning bolt to attack them, and rather than reflect it with the golden fleece, Kratos and Gaia just kinda take it and fall back down.
Kratos begins to slip from Gaia’s back, but in her weakened state, she tells him that she can’t help him out. She lets Kratos know that he was just a pawn in the titans’ scheme to get revenge against the gods and rather than grab onto a tree or something, Kratos falls to his death… Again...
This opening is my favorite in the series by a long shot. The massive scale, the speed with which it introduces the controls, and the breathtaking imagination present in the cinematography and design all make for a breathtaking experience.
There are only two problems I can think of after that entire first hour. The first is a huge nitpick, but the lack of any kind of clever puzzle is kind of disappointing after the cool pendulum trick in the second game.
Aside from that, the lack of introduction to the story so far could be alienating to those new to the series. While that normally wouldn’t be too much of an issue, with the leap to a new console, it’s certainly something worth taking into consideration.
However, in general this is an incredible way to introduce new players to the series and old players to the new look and feel. I do have come other concerns, but they’re with the story as a whole, so let’s take a look at that.
Story
After his third death sequence in the series, Kratos falls into the river styx, where we get yet another sequence of watching him get powered down until he washes up on shore. He stumbles around for a bit until finding the spirit of Athena.
She tells Kratos that her death has brought her to a higher plane of existence and she sees new truths, leading her to aid Kratos in his journey. She gives him a new version of his classic weapon dubbed the blades of exile, and tells him to find a way to escape from the underworld and find the flame of Olympus so that he can kill Zeus.
Okay, hold up. What in the hell is up with this character transition? Athena dies to protect Zeus and an hour or so later she suddenly wants him dead? I don’t buy it. Especially with the game’s flimsy excuse of her having reached a “higher plane of existence” being some of the laziest writing I’ve ever heard and it’s never explained further. And the plot holes don’t stop there.
Why does Kratos need to find a new way to Kill Zeus? He has access to the sword of Olympus, he beat Zeus already at the end of the second game, and he’s already killed Ares, Athena, and Poseidon without the power from the flame.
In what world does he look at this situation and think he needs some new power to win instead of maybe just climbing back up and using the golden fleece to reflect Zeus’s lightning this time? I mean yeah, he died, but at this point Hades has a freaking welcome basket waiting for him every time that happens.
These aren’t just minor issues either. These kinds of oversights bring into question our character’s motivation. When the player knows Kratos can win without completing the game’s primary objective, it makes the main goal of the plot weaker as a result, which is pretty disappointing for a series centered around such a determined protagonist.
Anyway, after searching through the underworld for a bit, he finds the trapped Peirithous, imprisoned for attempting to steal the wife of Hades, Persephone. He offers Kratos the bow of Apollo if he’s freed and Kratos does exactly what one would expect and burns him alive in order to claim the bow for himself.
Eventually he conquers the tests of the three Judges of the underworld and meets a small girl whom he mistakes for Calliope, his deceased daughter. She begs Kratos for help, but upon learning that she’s not who he thought she was, he refuses, but wishes her well and moves on.
He then encounters Hephaestus, greek god of metalworking, trapped in the underworld by Zeus for unknown reasons. Kratos tells him of his goals and asks Hephaestus if he knows where the flame of Olympus can be found. The god tells him the it is a fool’s errand as the flame will kill both god and man with a single touch, but Kratos ignores these warnings and continues on.
After a long journey through the underworld with Hades mocking him along the way, angry about the deaths of Athena, Ares, and Persephone, Kratos reaches the god of the underworld and a battle ensues. He eventually takes Hades’ claw weapons and uses them to drain the god of his soul, resulting in his death.
Okay, time to pause again. So many things about this moment are confusing. While it’s cool for Hades to acknowledge how many times Kratos has died, it’s pretty strange when he calls him out for killing Ares since Hades actually lended a hand by granting one of the magic powers that Kratos used in the first game.
Plus, bringing up Persephone is a really odd choice. Not only does her death by Kratos’s hands only make sense to people who played Chains of Olympus on PSP, but it once again calls into question why Hades was so calm when giving him the power to defeat Ares. Normally the spin offs could be ignored, but hey, this game brought them up first.
On his way out of the underworld, he runs into Hephaestus yet again. The god is impressed with Kratos’s feat and asks for his help in saving his daughter, Pandora, who was taken away when Zeus banished him to the underworld. Kratos refuses, despite being visibly shaken when Hephaestus attempts to relate through their shared responsibilities of fatherhood.
Kratos escapes from hell using Hades’ soul as a key to the gate and moves on to Olympia. He encounters a wounded Gaia, who begs for help. Instead, Kratos goes full lumberjack and cuts off her hand, sending her to the bottom of the mountain.
We soon find Helios fighting the titan Perses, shoot him with a ballista, and steal his head to use as a flashlight. On the way up the mountain Kratos sends Perses back to the ground before encountering Hermes and chasing him up the chain of balance, which leads Kratos to the flame of Olympus.
Upon examination, Kratos discovers that the flame protects Pandora’s box. Athena shows up once again to tell him that he never received the power from within and he must use Pandora to dispel the flames and reach the power inside.
After this little aside we find Hermes again and chase him down to an alley, where Kratos does what he does best and cuts the god’s legs off to use his boots for climbing walls. This causes a plague of insects to infest Olympus… for some reason.
Seriously, I’ve tried to find any connection between Hermes and insects or plagues or diseases for hours now and nothing’s come up, so for now I have to assume that the writers just thought it would look cool, but if you have an explanation leave it in the comments to let me know because I’m really curious.
Using his new kicks, Kratos reaches Mallory Archer I mean Hera. She’s just kinda sick of everything and calls upon Hercules to kill him. The demigod is jealous of his brother’s favor with Zeus and tries to defeat him, but is instead killed as the two fall into a pit and Kratos is left with his brother’s Nemean gauntlets.
He finds Poseidon’s princess and uses her to hold up a gear and then we meet Aphrodite, prompting a conversation I’ve been holding off for far too long. See, in every game in the series, there’s been a QTE minigame in which the player has sex with some women, resulting in a bunch of experience orbs as a reward.
It’s silly and it’s funny, but many have criticised both the mechanic and the games in general for being juvenile and demeaning towards women. And while I understand where the complaints come from, I’d like to give my take on the matter.
Personally, I see this as a part of the game meant to relieve tension and allow the player to take a step back and have a laugh. It’s clearly not meant to be erotic, since the camera pans away and in this game we even get some of the cheesiest and most hilarious dialogue from the two onlookers.
Besides, not only are these sequences completely optional, but contrary to many of the stories involving sex from Greek mythology, Kratos actually has consent here. I mean, sure, the women are only begging for him to fulfill a player’s fantasy, but at least it’s not portraying rape as a fact of life or positive encounter as seen in many of the ancient stories.
When it comes to the series’ portrayal of women in general, I see it as a mixed bag. From an accuracy perspective in terms of objectification, breasts are everywhere in Greek mythology and artwork. Statues, paintings, and drawings all have exposed breasts everywhere, so the same being true here just makes sense and isn’t necessarily misogynistic.
Plus, this is ancient Greece, a patriarchal society where women were basically around to be used for sex. If you don’t believe me, read up on why Medusa was turned into a gorgon. Greek mythology has some fucked up stories involving sex and rape, so it makes sense to have female characters and monsters with breasts exposed and be treated like second-class citizens.
However, I do have one gripe with this that I can’t let go. If the team was so obsessed with accuracy, then the games should have way more dick. Why is it that the women are exposed while the guys all get loincloths to walk around in?
I mean I know the obvious answer is because boobs sell games while penises would turn many gamers off, but I believe that if you’re going to defend the game’s use of exposed women by pointing out its accuracy to the source material, then the men should be treated the same way for the sake of equality.
In short, I personally have no issue with the minigame or the way women are portrayed within the world we’re presented, but I do find it a bit hypocritical and can sympathize with those who are bothered by it.
And as a man on the internet talking about female representation in video games that’s all I’ll say on the matter though I do encourage respectful conversation in the comments.
So Kratos bangs Aphrodite and uses her portal to the underworld to meet up with Hephaestus yet again. He’s resistant at first, not wanting his daughter to be burnt to death, but then tells Kratos to retrieve the Omphalos stone so that he can create a weapon capable of killing Zeus. Kratos agrees and travels into Tartarus.
Here he finds Chronos, kinda irritated about Gaia’s death and after a lengthy battle and getting eaten, he emerges with the stone, killing the titan on his way out. He returns to Hephaestus angry about not getting a warning for what lied ahead, but the crippled god tells him that it will be worth it in the end.
Instead, he betrays Kratos and attempts to kill him with electricity, but our protagonist turns the tables, killing the blacksmith and obtaining the nemesis whip. He begs Kratos not to kill his daughter, but the spartan remains firm in his resolve to use her as the key to the box.
Kratos continues and comes across Hera in a garden, the goddess of agriculture is drunk and miserable at the deaths of her children and the plants. After solving some puzzles, she’s encountered again, but pushes her luck by calling Pandora a whore, causing Kratos to snap her neck in a blind rage. This kills all of the plant life around and allows Kratos a means to escape the garden.
He finally reaches Pandora’s labyrinth and gets some hints from its creator, Daedalus, father of Icarus who in his deteriorated state mistakes our hero for his dead son. Kratos solves the riddles, creates the giant cube, kills the scorpion queen protecting it, and finds Pandora.
They work together to make their way out of the cube and engage in some of the cheesiest dialogue I have ever heard in my entire life.
Eventually this leads Kratos to fall back into Hades and destroy the chain of balance, allowing the cube to rise to the flame of Olympus, but before Pandora can jump into the flame and fulfill her destiny, Kratos stops her and when she escapes from him, Zeus stops her.
He tosses the girl aside and the two do battle. Kratos is seemingly victorious, reaching to stop Pandora yet again, but when Zeus begins to taunt him, Kratos lets her go to attack, sending her into the flame and uncovering the box within.
Upon opening the box however, Kratos finds that it’s empty and after another bout of mocking from Zeus the two begin another fight outside, only to be interrupted by the still living Gaia. They fall into her heart and Kratos kills her by stabbing through both of his enemies with the blade of Olympus.
After landing, Kratos attempts to leave, but is stopped by the spirit of Zeus, who tries to kill Kratos by diving into his mind and replacing his will and anger with fear and sorrow. Fortunately, the spirit of Pandora guides his inner being on the path to self forgiveness and.. Ugh… Hope.
Kratos breaks free of Zeus’s control and beats the god to death with his bare hands in yet another fantastic sequence. Greece is plunged into raging storms and Athena congratulates the spartan on his victory, asking for the power of hope he gained from the chest.
When Kratos tells her the box was empty, she refuses to believe him, saying that when the box was filled with the evils of the world, she imbued it with her own power of hope to counteract them. She again demands that Kratos returns her power, explaining that he must have had the it buried beneath his anger and fear, only resurfacing when fighting a god.
Kratos rejects this, stabbing himself in the chest and releasing the power of hope to all of mankind. This infuriates Athena, who says they won’t know what to do with this power and she leave Kratos to die. In a post-credits scene we see a blood trail leading off the edge of the mountain and the trilogy concludes.
And wow there was a lot to talk about in there, but I’m going to be honest- not really feeling this one as much as the others. But far be it from me to throw out an opinion without backing it up, so allow me to explain the issues I have with the finale.
First, there are a lot of plot inconsistencies this time around. I get that in a world where the writers are playing around with Greek mythology to fit in Kratos’s story it can be tricky to keep plot holes away, but by the gods there are a lot here!
For example, why is it that killing nearly every god in this game causes some sort of natural disaster, but not Athena, Ares, or even Hephaestus? I get the desire for a cool visual representation of what Kratos’s drive for revenge is doing to the world, but I would have preferred that the writers at least try to explain the lack of repercussions for the other godly deaths.
Then there are the other issues I mentioned before involving Athena’s sudden and unexplained character shift, Hades berating Kratos for killing Ares, and Kratos somehow not realizing that he already has the power to kill gods…
It’s this lack of attention to detail that makes me feel like the writers cared more about creating cool setpieces than adhering to the carefully constructed world they’d already set up, which I consider a real shame.
Then there’s the fact that this game marks the third time Kratos has died in the series and the shit’s getting really old at this point. These repeated escapes from hell make the idea of death a joke in this game, and even Kratos admits it!
Yes, this line is really bad ass, but it also illustrates the fact that there are no consequences to death in this series, making every moment of tension just the slightest bit less impactful.
It’s not a huge problem, but once again, I think the developers only wanted an excuse to create a new version of hell and have a boss fight against Hades. I just wish they’d done so with more nuance.
Of course, to me, no other aspect of the story is worse than the way they handled the ending. Hope? Hope is the power that allows Kratos to fight back against the gods and win? This isn’t just cheesy as hell, but also really unfitting for the kind of story being told.
Obviously God of War has always been fantastical with its story of a mortal killing gods left and right, but it’s always been somewhat grounded as well. And I wouldn’t have so much of an issue with this if it weren’t so separated from the central themes of the series.
God of war has never been a story about hope. There are plenty of motifs to choose from, but that ain’t one of them. Had Pandora’s purpose been solely about giving Kratos the means to forgive himself and let his vengeance rest it would have been fine, as that’s been the driving force behind the entire series thus far.
Even David Jaffe’s suggested ending of Kratos going on a mission to stop the citizens of Greece from believing in their gods would’ve made more sense, as it puts Kratos in the role of an active protagonist defeating the gods himself, rather than a mortal only capable of such a feat due to a mysterious power that’s really just a normal human emotion.
So that’s my take on things, but I know it’s just my opinion. So if you disagree I’d love to hear why in the comments to maybe shed some light on why this direction was taken or what I might have missed during my playthrough.
That said, I don’t outright hate the story. Much to the contrary, I enjoyed it a fair bit. I just felt the need to criticize the aspects I think fell short. In particular, I love the expansion on the world, the struggle of literally climbing from beneath the earth to its highest peak is a great metaphor for Kratos’s journey thus far, and the bond between Kratos and Pandora is great to see slowly develop.
Plus, the structure of the story basically taking Kratos from one godly fight to the next may be incredibly shallow, but it’s thoroughly entertaining. And while I almost want to call this the video game equivalent of a popcorn action flick, there’s one thing stopping me- the central motif of fatherhood.
Characterization
Hephaestus pleading with Kratos not to kill his daughter, Kratos’s drive for vengeance against his father, and his bond with Pandora that grows over time all share the same purpose of showing a man still feeling the weight of his past misdeeds heavily pushing down on his shoulders.
He’s clearly tired of his struggle, with only his anger at Zeus pushing him forward. His will, determination, and resolve are constantly being tested and up until the end he stays true to his goal until the parental bond he forms with Pandora breaks through.
See, while the talk of hope comes pretty much out of left field, Kratos’s duty as a father is a recurring characteristic throughout both the series thus far and this entire game. When Hephaestus attempts to bring Kratos to his side by appealing to his fatherly instincts, he rejects them, but only after careful consideration.
When Hera confronts Kratos in the garden, she forces him to face the destruction that his quest has caused and later taunts him over his concern for Pandora. The turning point where Kratos snaps her neck not only acts as a sign that he now cares more about helping Pandora than his vengeance, but also foreshadows his later turn towards Zeus when he releases her into the flames, symbolizing his acceptance that she isn’t Calliope and nothing can bring his daughter back.
This all shows that Kratos is incredibly close to forgiving himself, but feels he has to achieve his vengeance in order to truly be free of his guilt, but when he finally lets go of Pandora, he accepts that he can’t change the past, concluding with the gift of hope to mankind. In short, as a plot device, the use of hope is contrived, but it works somewhat well in relating Kratos’s past to his current journey and character arc.
When it comes to the side characters, it’s completely up in the air. You have characters like Gaia, Chronos, Helios, Poseidon and more who exist solely to act as obstacles to Kratos’s journey that need to be killed. Sure they may have some character traits, but that doesn’t make them full-fledged characters.
The only ones that feel somewhat fleshed out would be Hephaestus and Pandora. Hephaestus is another man torn between vengeance and protecting his daughter, and ends up losing his life trying to stop the inevitable.
Pandora is an optimistic child, but also isn’t afraid of the ghost of sparta. She may be almost entirely defined by her spunky nature, but through the banter between her and Kratos we learn that she’s not ignorant of the path ahead and has accepted her fate, making for a tragic character defined by hope despite her entire existence being solely to be used as a key and killed.
That said, even the shallow characters are at least entertaining. Helios trying to trick Kratos in multiple ways makes for an interesting moment of Kratos using his head. Hercules being a brute that’s jealous of his brother’s achievements is a pretty accurate take on his source material. And Hermes being an annoying little prick may be a bit silly at times, but it does make him all the more satisfying to hack up.
Add to that the drunken antics of Hera, the brave Poseidon transitioning to begging for his life, and Hades’ ruthless nature, it shows that the writers didn’t plan to sugar coat things and created a solid mix of the source material and modernized variations of these famous Greek figures.
Zeus however, gets a bit less screen time than I would’ve liked. With a solid chunk of the second game focused on his past, it would have been interesting to see him ruling over Olympus and commanding the battle or at least showing up every now and again to give some additional insight to his motivations, but instead we have another generic bad guy that kills Kratos and then gets defeated in the end.
So an alright cast of characters with one or two standouts, making for an entertaining playthrough, if not one as compelling or well developed as say the Uncharted games. Though with the series being as action-focused as it is, I would say it’s passable.
Presentation
Alright, so I know that in my first two videos I mostly ignored the graphical fidelity of the games simply because of the effects time can have on our perception of how a game looks, but fuck that, this game is beautiful.
Honestly, it looks like it could very easily be a PS4 title despite coming out 8 whole years ago! Just one look at Kratos on the title screen shows a crazy amount of detail, especially for the time. He really looks like he’s staring back through the screen and it’s just fantastic.
The character models, textures, and environments all look fantastic. The blood all over Kratos’s body as fights take place is unreal. And I’ve never wanted to eat off of the floor in a video game before, but look at this! It’s cleaner than my dinner plates!
Of course, none of this would matter if the design wasn’t on point and that’s part of where this game really shines. With the increase in rendering power comes the increase in detail and here’s where the benefit of having the art director take over the game is undeniable.
Every single monster, god, and special effect just explodes with creativity and really sells the world. All of the little details are clear as day, such as Minotaurs breathing out a puff of hot air when grabbed.
What really sells this is the camera’s framing. We get close-up zooms when grappling with a monster to get a view of the intricacy of its design, but also have these incredible zoomed out sequences to really emphasize the scale of everything taking place and it’s absolutely astounding that all of it was pulled of on last generation’s hardware.
Add to that the wonderfully brutal uses of the first-person cameras for the executions of Zeus and Poseidon. While yes, they’re incredibly cool, it also shows that the developers were willing to think outside the box when approaching this game’s cinematography, taking huge steps towards the same kind of thinking that a film director has when approaching a new scene.
Plus all of it runs at a nearly flawless 60 frames per second and nearly every cutscene is played out with in-game assets. This all makes the experience completely seamless, enhancing the cinematic feel of the game exponentially putting it on the level of games like Uncharted.
However, this is the third game in the series and there are certain recurring issues that should have been ironed out by now. For one, the lack of variety in the character models. Outside of a few exceptions, every single creature looks exactly the same. It’s a real shame that they couldn’t at least make minor changes aside from a bit of armor to indicate an increase in strength.
The finishing animations don’t fair any better. It’s cool to see these executions the first couple times, but after that they become stale. It would’ve been nice to have one or two alternative that change depending on the means of defeating an enemy to keep things interesting.
These issues are relatively minor, but if fixed, they would’ve helped with establishing the world even more by making everything feel more real. And after three entries, I guess I just expected a bit more.
On the flip side, the sound design was given a huge overhaul for this title and it’s simply amazing. The sound effects suit the setting, the world, and the action taking place perfectly, but they also have a bit of variety, bringing everything to life in a brand new way.
Monsters snarling, blood splattering everywhere, and an assortment of impressive and sickening sound effects help to sell the reality and brutality of the world. Plus you’ve gotta love the charming sound Helios makes every time you use his head.
The music is less flashy this time around, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s more subtle and subdued, giving things an underlying sense of anticipation before building up to a crescendo during the fights.
Whether it’s the dark and intimidating title screen music…
Or the exciting track that plays while flying up to save Pandora...
The new approach to background music is a clever way to switch things up while still improving upon the pre-existing quality and the improved instrumentation really hammers down that mix of Greek and middle eastern styles.
Lastly we have the voice acting and it’s better than ever, but first I have an apology to make. In the previous 2 videos, I said Kratos was voiced by Terrence C. Howard… The actor’s real name is Terrence C. Carson. I don’t know where I got the name Howard from, but to Mr. Carson and all of my viewers I sincerely apologize.
In this game, Carson plays Kratos wonderfully once again. With a lot more dialogue this time around, he really gets to let his skills shine and does an excellent job playing both the monstrous brute and the exhausted warrior that we’ve come to know and love.
And with the increase in side characters comes a larger cast and they really deliver here. Zeus, Athena, and Hades all give performances both befitting of their characters and appropriate to the scenes.
Hearing Hephaestus’s pain when discussing his daughter, Poseidon’s fear as Kratos approaches, and Hermes playing the part of the world’s most annoying dickhead perfectly, it’s fantastic.
Eeeeexcept for Pandora. Her line reads are somehow both overacted and stiff at the same time, resulting in scenes that should come off as emotional feeling more like a high school play. Then again, dialogue this cheesy is nearly impossible to pull off, so I give her props for trying. And nothing is worse than the line reads from the three judges.
However, I can’t mention the voice acting without giving a huge shoutout to Adrienne Barbeau for playing Hera perfectly. Going with the attitude of a neglected wife who’s sick of her husband’s shit was genius and her performance was spot on.
When it comes down to it, having the art director take over a game’s production did exactly what you would expect and resulted in one of the best looking games of last generation. The visuals, music, and performances are incredible and hands down the most impressive element of the game. So what does that mean for the other aspects of its design?
Combat
Well when it comes to the combat, it doesn’t mean much. Seriously, while everything may look shinier and animate more fluidly, the actual fighting itself is largely unchanged from the second game. You still hit stuff, smash things, and wrap up fights with a gory quick time event. However, there are some tweaks here and there.
The most notable might be the new way magic powers and items are utilized. This time around, magic powers are unique to the weapon currently equipped. Not only that, but weapons can now be swapped by using the D-pad, taking away the frustration of pausing the game from the previous entry.
On top of that, the bow, Helios head, and Hermes boots all work on a time-based system, meaning that there will always be alternative options for combat abilities even if magic power runs out. To balance this out they’re made pretty weak and as a result the bow is really the only one that I found useful during my playthrough, but it’s the thought that counts.
Then we have the new weapons. There’s the blades of exile acting as the classic weapons we’ve all come to know and love, the Hades claws, which are the same thing, but spooky, the nemesis whip, which is the same thing but with electricity, and the nemean cestus which are fucking badass.
As you can tell by my description, I’m not really a huge fan of the nemesis whip of hades claws due to their play styles being so similar to that of the OG blades. Plus, with the blades dealing more than enough damage and their magic power being incredibly useful, I mostly stuck with them throughout the game.
And I say mostly because holy shit I love the gauntlets. These lion-shaped gloves put in work, dealing a ton of damage and taking out more powerful enemies with ease. With a wide range of attacks and huge amount of versatility, it’s easy to see why they were the most prominent weapons featured in the game’s ad campaign.
When it comes to their powers, things stay pretty consistent. The blades have the army of sparta, capable of keeping enemies at bay while also dealing a healthy amount of damage. The claws can summon the spirit of a monster selected in the menu, but as neat of a concept as this is, it’s pretty useless in battle.
The whip basically performs a new version of Poseidon’s rage, fulfilling the same function as the army of sparta without being as levelled up by the time the weapon in unlocked. And the cestus perform a powerful smash into the ground dealing a solid amount of damage while also clearing away all enemies ahead.
What this boils down to is three weapons that feel similar, though the blades will likely be somewhat levelled up before attaining anything else, so they’re likely to be the most appealing, and the Nemean cestus offering a fantastic change of pace and fun tool to change up combat.
However, some of you may be wondering about the Blade of Olympus. And that’s been reserved exclusively for use in the spartan rage mode. Outside of the weapon shift, this is exactly the same as last time, even if Kratos does speed around the room uncontrollably at times...
Then we have the smaller changes. Aerial combat is gone, but that wasn’t a huge part of the series and it’s not sorely missed. Grabbed enemies can now be used as a battering ram to stagger opponents. And my favorite small tweak, the ability to grapple yourself towards enemies makes for much better flow during combat while also being incredibly satisfying to use.
The camera is still nearly perfect, which is especially impressive considering just how dynamic it is switching between wide angle shots, battlefield views, and close up zooms, but when it really comes down to it, the entire thing just feels safe.
The quality of life improvements are welcome, but the basic as hell weapons and lack of any kind of major change make everything feel samey, especially when compared to the unbelievable leap made by the graphics. It’s not really a downgrade, I guess I just expected a bit more from the conclusion to such a long-running story.
Enemies
Speaking of which, we turn to the enemies present within the game and the situation is pretty disappointing. The second game expanded upon the roster of opponents immensely both in terms of variety and capability. With new designs, new monsters, and new abilities to fight against, it was a consistently engaging experience from start to finish.
Here, not only has the enemy variety reduced, but so has the diversity in their move pools. You’ll get a lot of beasts that’ll smash, or slice, or swing, but not too much else. No cyclops riders, very few variations of enemies using different weapons and moves, and there are a whole bunch of legionnaires and undead soldiers, reminiscent of the first game.
While I love the new redesigns for nearly every enemy in the game, it appears that the effort put toward these new looks took away from the time to design additional models or enemy types.
There are some new enemies though, many of which are really cool. There are scorpions, which are pretty much just distractions that can be squished with a button press and only exist to foreshadow the scorpion queen. The living statues are really cool, both as the hammer brutes and the overheating types that need to be significantly damaged in order to make them stagger.
The new fat gorgons able to freeze Kratos in an instant are pretty intimidating. Plus they brought back the spinning mace cyclops, one of my favorites from the first game that was surprisingly absent from the second.
On top of that we have the new ability to ride on some defeated enemies. The cerberus can spit fire at enemies and the cyclops can be dragged around to deal a ton of damage. It’s super cool and really empowering, it’s just a shame that these opportunities are so incredibly rare that I’d almost forgotten they were in the game.
Another couple of new enemies are the spear centaurs and chimeras. Both of these are really interesting when first fought as they have unique attacks that are both tactically challenging and flashy to watch. They had me thinking about what kinds of unique combat scenarios could be possible when they become regular enemies. Unfortunately that never happened.
For some reason, the game treats these guys like minibosses each of the 3 or so times they show up. Like, yeah, the first time you can make a big deal about a new enemy type, but after that it’s just kinda sad to see them show up so rarely and always be treated like major events instead of average enemies.
This is also a problem permeating the entire game. Enemy combinations in combat encounters usually boils down to the same thing they were in the first game. Lots of undead soldiers, legionnaires, harpies, and minotaurs, with maybe one or two other enemy types here and there.
It’s not until the end of the game that we’re regularly given diverse enemy pools and by then it’s too late. Kratos is powered up to the point where those once terrifying monsters are a joke and in general it’s just unfortunate. It’s disappointing to say, but the normal enemies are just kinda boring to fight. Not as repetitive as the first game, but certainly in the ballpark.
Bosses
The big guys on the other hand, these are typically really imaginative and worthy of the Greek gods and titans. I’ll skip Poseidon as he was in the intro and before hopping into the more notable fights allow me to quickly mention the smaller endeavors.
Helios isn’t really a boss so much as a QTE where you rip off his head. Although there is this really weird part where you use Kratos’s hand to block his light beam and it’s just an odd addition that becomes silly after the first three seconds and should have been reserved for a button prompt.
The fight against Chronos is pretty neat, but really just boils down to a bunch of fights against minions with a few QTEs and platforming sections thrown in. Though I do love the empowerment that comes from taking down a titan, particularly when the camera zooms out to show just how small Kratos is relative to the size of his adversary.
Hephaestus is pretty similar in that he’s mostly QTE, but with a quick tutorial on using the nemesis whip to give power to certain objects. Hera could maybe be considered a boss, but she’s really just kinda there while Kratos makes his way through her garden, so I’ll cover that more later.
With them out of the way, let’s start taking a look at the more impactful fights starting with the king of the underworld himself, Hades. The first part of the fight pits Kratos against spikey McGee and his claws, dodging whip strikes in this little arena. While it may seem spacious, Hades’ massive size makes the entire space feel claustrophobic, keeping things tense throughout.
Deal enough damage and you get to rip off a chunk of his flesh. The next two phases are pretty similar, but with minor additions such as skull projectiles that can be reflected back, spikes flying up from the ground, spirit demons summoned to attack, and powerful ground pounds.
Eventually he’ll cut a hole in the battlefield and begin a sort of tug of war minigame. There’s no real way to lose, but it’s a neat transition to the next phase of the fight. Just bash him against the ceiling a few times, steal his claws, and drop that bad boy into the river styx. There’s a quick tutorial to learn how to use the new weaponry when surprise!
Hades climbs out of the ground larger than before and showing even more of that beautiful face. Here, Kratos must dodge his attacks while dealing enough damage to get him into a weakened state, then just swing around back and stab him in the head, dragging his soul into his own weapons and concluding the fight.
And I’ll tell you right now- this is my favorite fight in the entire series. Sure, it’s a straightforward boss fight without any kinds of gimmicks or special attributes, but that’s kind of what I love about it. The raw struggle of a man overcoming a god with a huge variety of attacks and phases all make for a fight that feels completely thought out and an absolute delight to play.
Up next we have Hermes. This… Isn’t like a typical boss fight. The majority of it comes down to a platforming race to catch the guy, which is really fun and has multiple unique elements. It’s when the actual combat begins that the problems arise.
See, Hermes has one strategy in this fight: run around and get a hit in every now and again. The issue is that there were a ton of times I clearly hit this guy, but because the game hadn’t accounted for interruptions in his animation, nothing registered.
He does so little damage that there’s not even a real challenge here. Just spin around and get a few hits in until the QTEs begin, then chop off his legs and end the fight. I actually got confused here and didn’t realize the game wanted me to release a button, resulting in a bit of an awkward moment. A pretty fun ride leading to a disappointingly boring fight.
Later on we come across one of the most famous figures in Greek mythology, slayer of the Nemean lion, fetcher of apples, Hercules! And the first phase of the fight is pretty pathetic. He jumps up to the balcony and you spend a bit of time killing measly undead soldiers as he watches. Eventually he comes down, ready to continue the battle with his huge gauntlets and things get more interesting.
Hercules doesn’t stagger much, but he’s also pretty slow. So the name of the game is to use quick strikes and keep your distance. Eventually he’ll fight alongside his minions and Kratos will steal his gauntlets, allowing for another fight against an unarmed Hercules.
Cue another beat down followed by the demigod raising a huge portion of the battlefield, nearly knocking Kratos off, but after climbing back up, he uses the cestus to smash his half brother’s face in and send them both tumbling to the sewers below.
This fight is okay, if slightly unoriginal. There’s not much here aside from avoiding his predictable attacks and not getting caught. It’s really just a forgettable encounter that leaves Kratos wielding a cool weapon.
Moving on, before entering Pan’s labyrinth Kratos comes into contact with the scorpion queen. This gigantic beast is coated in onyx, only able to be taken out by the Nemean cestus. It’ll attack fiercely from the from using both its claws and speedy tail, but with determination and effort, Kratos should be able to overcome this immense challenge.
Orrrr you could just jump to its side and block the tail sing every now and again, then just wail away at its legs until the fight concludes. To each their own.
Yeah, it’s true. This thing is fearsome at first, but in actuality it’s just a simple side-step away from becoming an easy target. It’s unfortunate, as the fight would probably be pretty fun otherwise, but even when the babies are brought in to add to the chaos things stay consistently easy.
However, this begets the final battle against the main antagonist, Zeus. A massive five phase fight that acts as the conclusion to a story five years in the making. And for the most part, it’s fantastic.
We start off on a 2D plane, dodging Zeus’s lightning bolts, combos, and speedy punches. The developers clearly learned from the second game’s fight with the last spartan since the diverse movepool and ability to reach Kratos in the air make him a formidable foe.
Once this phase is over we enter a short fight in the courtyard outside in a 3D plane, similar to the one from the second game. It’s nothing much, but that’s intentional as the fight is interrupted by Gaia, who proceeds to force the two adversaries into her body
Here, the two meet up near her heart to do battle, with damage to the heart granting health. This part of the fight starts off alright, but there are some major problems. Zeus’s speed, power, versatility, and ability to make clones that overwhelm the player are all frustrating as hell, but fair enough to make for a challenging, but rewarding fight.
The issue comes from Gaia’s heart. You’re supposed to be able to go up to it and land a few hits in order to regain some life, but it doesn’t always work. It only works when Zeus decides to skate on over and get some health for himself.
It’s really frustrating when the boss can heal himself pretty much whenever he wants while you’re stuck waiting for him to dash at the heart in order to do the same. But eventually he’s overcome and you get to stab both him and Gaia, resulting in what seems like an ending as Zeus’s body falls to the Earth.
That is until his spirit rises from within and grabs Kratos, attempting to replace his anger and willpower with despair as we enter phase four. This isn’t so much a challenge as it is an interactive cutscene in which Pandora guides the spartan on a path of self forgiveness.
It’s slow at times, but it does an effective job of recapping all of the events that led our main character to where he is today. All of the trials and tribulations, the suffering, the loss, all of it overcome not by his need for vengeance, but because underneath his rough exterior there’s a glimmer of hope.
While this is, without a doubt, 100%, corny as hell, it’s actually a pretty cool way to summarize everything we’ve gone through on our journey alongside Kratos and the visuals are uniquely stylized and make for a sequence that, while not as emotional as the writers probably hoped it would be, makes for an excellent final look at the man we’ve been connected with for the past five years.
With this sequence complete, we go straight back into rage mode for the fifth and final phase of this fight. Only a QTE this time, we get a solid first-person view of Kratos’s absolute brutality against his father. All culminating in the screen turning red with blood until the player decides enough is enough and the game ends.
This fight is an excellent way to finish off the series. While it has some issues and at times can feel longer than the ending to Return of the King, there’s nothing wrong with taking your time to conclude a trilogy people have loved for years on end.
The bosses as a whole are largely the same. A mixed bag, but with much more good than bad. There are the standouts, the more basic fights tend not to overstay their welcome, and only one or two ever feel dull. While I can’t say for sure that they live up to the expectations that come with fighting the gods of Olympus, they certainly make for a fun finale.
Platforming
And from there we get a chance to stretch our legs and do some platforming! Honestly, this time around the platforming is pretty much the same as always, though it is a bit more prevalent. While the other two games had small sections to test a player’s dexterity, here we see many more and they’re typically fantastic.
One major advantage God of War 3 has over its predecessors is the foundation it’s built upon already being in place. The double jump, wall climbing, gliding, and swimming mechanics are already here from the start, allowing the level designers more free reign with their obstacle courses.
Starting with the new additions, we don’t really have all that much. There are smaller changes like the harpy grapple, allowing Kratos to get some extra distance by hanging onto some ugly birds. And the Hermes boots, which allow for running up and across specified walls.
Unfortunately, both of these new mechanics are hardly utilized. I can think of maybe four times I grappled onto a harpy and it’s about the same for wall running, all of which are incredibly short and many separated from the rest of the game. It’s a real shame considering how many possibilities these two abilities could potentially add to Kratos’s mobility.
The more significant addition is the flight challenges. Using his wings, Kratos can now ascend or descend a blazing speeds through compact tunnels around the mountain. These sections are fun, fast-paced,and challenging, but the best part is they don’t overstay their welcome.
By which I mean there are very few of these sections in the game, but they’re all a decent length and tension-heavy so they don’t feel underutilized. While I do wish they had toned down the debris that falls into the camera, making it difficult to dodge the next obstacle after hitting one, these are still a fun and welcome addition to the game.
As far as standard challenges go, they’re just that- standard. They’re all fun and engaging, but pretty typical for the series. The only standout would probably be the Hermes chase do to its integration with the boss battle. Similar to how the Clotho fight from the second game utilized puzzle elements.
Aside from that, the race to save Pandora was pretty neat. The wall of moving blocks and harpies was fun, if a bit simple. Everything is animated more smoothly and controls slightly better this time around, making everything more fluid. And that’s about all I can really say.
... Except for one last thing. NO. PLANK. WALKING!.
Puzzles
The puzzles are actually a pretty similar story. Some tweaks, some neat tricks, and some improvements to efficiency make things better as a whole, though somewhat typical. However, I do think the removed and underutilized mechanics do take things down a notch.
For one, the ability to freeze time was a dream come true for puzzle design in the second game. It made for some neat tricks and I think expanding on it would have been great here, but instead it’s just never around, which is a real shame.
On top of that, certain items like the hermes boots and nemesis whip are never really used to solve anything. Using those two items alone I could think of a ton of potential puzzles such as powering up a moving wall with the whip and then running across with good timing using the boots. Instead these awesome concepts have their potential squandered.
Then there are the simplistic puzzle designs. There’s one in Hades’ chamber involving moving his statue’s hands out of the way in order to allow Persephone’s casket to pierce through.
But once you pull all of the levers in the room you know what’s needed to solve everything, so the game throws in enemy encounters to make everything take longer in an attempt to make the puzzle seem challenging, when in reality it’s just a case of going through the motions.
There’s also this guitar which is probably the dumbest moment in the game. It’s a giant instrument Kratos has to play in order to move forward, but it’s just so simple and immersion breaking that the whole thing feels pointless.
What if instead of the face buttons on the notes there were mysterious symbols and a tapestry on the wall with vague clues as to what they represent? This would make the act of getting through the room legitimately engaging with the fact that it plays the main theme being a bonus rather than the entire point of the exercise.
However, that’s not to say the game is without excellent puzzles. In fact, two of my favorites in the series are here. Hera’s garden and the ballista portals. And combining these with the faster block pushing and fluid movement makes everything a joy to complete.
The ballista puzzle is pretty much a slower version of the game portal, with different powers and piece of the environment needed to move everything around so that this ballista can shoot specific areas in the room to allow Kratos access to the next level.
And not only is the base puzzle clever, but there’s also an option to go even further to unlock the extra chests. I love this because it means if someone really enjoys the puzzle or wants to 100% everything they can go the extra mile, but those who aren’t into it have the option to press ahead. I love how the game taunts the player by holding the chests in the air just begging to be dropped down and wish more of the game had these kinds of choices.
Hera’s garden is even better. It’s almost like a boss fight since it does involve killing a god to proceed, even if she doesn’t put up much of a fight. Seriously, using the water flow combined with the MC Escher-esque world transformations is absolutely genius and this entire area feels like it tests the player’s understanding of nearly every aspect of the game’s mechanics.
All in all, while there are some phenomenal standouts, the puzzles as a whole don’t really feel like they’ve evolved since the previous game. They’ve improved a bit, but not as much as one might expect for a game three years in the making.
Level Design
Finally, we end up on the level design of this game. The layouts, concepts, and general direction of everything that the player will experience in their 9 to 10 hour playthrough. With Stig Asmussen taking on the role of director, how did he transform the structure? Well…
Okay, so I don’t want to say I dislike the direction the game took entirely. Much like the rest of the game, many aspects have remained consistent and some have been improved. Titan urns are now replaced by items of the gods, though they effectively serve the same function of unlocking additional costumes for new game plus.
In addition to gorgon eyes and phoenix feathers there are now minotaur horns to collect, adding to your rechargeable item meter. Though with the total number of each item type decreasing, the number of chests remains about the same.
And as far as general layout goes I feel that this is the best paced in the series thus far. The action is broken up at appropriate times and the variety found in the puzzles, platforming, combat encounters and more all combine to create an experience that’s more than the sum of its parts.
On the flip side however is the continuity of each event. While the types of activities are spread out better this time around, they don’t feel like they have a natural flow to them. It feels like a bunch of separate puzzles and encounter types were thought up and created, but then duct taped together by small bits of story.
It’s not an awful experience by any means, but it does make the game feel less like a continuous adventure and more like a set of levels that are only loosely held together by any excuse the writers could think of.
Then there’s the missed opportunities mentioned earlier along with one of my biggest annoyances during my playthrough- the Helios head. This thing has a bunch of different functions. It acts as a flashlight to brighten up dark caves, a weapon to blind and damage enemies, and a key to reveal hidden chests and passageways that are initially invisible.
And I like this idea in concept. Finding a spot with some smokey sparkles indicates that a chest can be found underneath, ensuring players will need to keep an eye out in order to complete the game entirely. The downside is that they couldn’t do the same thing with the walls.
For some reason, the rock faces that indicate a hidden Helios passage are incredibly hard to spot with maybe a glimmer of some sort if you look at it closely, but otherwise players who want to complete the game will need to walk around shining a light on every wall they find, leading to a lot of boring exploration without a walkthrough.
Then there are the dark areas. These require that the player uses the head to light up their surroundings in order to see their enemies or the path ahead. This is a neat idea in concept, but all it boils down to is a bunch of stopping in your tracks to power up the head or a lot of slow walking while hold the head in front of Kratos.
I think a much better solution would have been to remove the offensive abilities from the item entirely. Instead, have the player trek through the area when it’s dark without enemies, then have the player return from where they came while being attacked with the head offering a limited view, requiring faster reaction times while also adding variety to combat.
All in all, the game isn’t a failure or even mediocre by any means. I would just say it’s par for the course. A God of War experience for God of War fans. And can I really say that a few shortcomings keep it from excellence?
Final Thoughts
Not at all. I think for a first time director, Stig Asmussen did a fantastic job keeping the ship afloat and the team delivered a solid conclusion to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. A feat that shouldn’t be understated.
However, I also feel that his time as art director did shift his priorities towards that field and he left the others to pretty much do their own thing. It’s just speculation of course, but it would explain why so many little changes were made while larger, more ambitious ones were set aside.
I also feel that despite the 3 year development time, the game was rushed to meet an arbitrary deadline. With the team spending a ton of time just porting the old engine over to work on the PS3, it makes sense to assume much of the work on the new game couldn’t have been done beforehand, making for a shorter and more hectic development time in total.
Whatever the reason is, God of War 3 plays things pretty safe, but excels at delivering an entertaining, brutal, satisfying conclusion to Kratos’s story in Greece. And with that out of the way, let’s do one final recap.
Given everything discussed over the past three weeks and taking into consideration the passage of time, here are the scores I believe I would give to each game in the series today. A solid set that shows how much this series has withstood the test of time, which is why all three games are also being added to the Mightynifty must-play games list.
I came into this retrospective as someone who had played the entire series through and enjoyed the games, but was never really a superfan. Now that I’ve gone through them all in detail I can really appreciate how much work was put into a series that many consider simple or juvenile because of its genre and subject matter.
With that said, I just wanted to thank all of you who’ve watched this far and say I really appreciate your support. I think I’m gonna spend the next couple weeks making some shorter videos to let my mind reset, but after that I’ll be back to review the latest entry in the series.
Though I hope to return to this format at some point in the future, so If there’s a series you’d like me to cover, leave it in the comments below because I’m super excited to see what you’d recommend. And be sure to subscribe to see all of the future videos when they get uploaded. And as always, have a mighty nifty day today.