God of War 3 Remastered review

All the way to the top, one god at a time.

God of War 3 Remastered starts where God of War 2 ended: the beginning of the final siege of Mount Olympus. After awakening the Titans, Kratos accompanies Gaia to reach the top and face his long-time enemy: Zeus. The father of men and gods is his archenemy, the principle of his misfortunes. And, with him, all the Olympians: Hermes, Hades, Poseidon, Elio and company. Deities have punished Kratos in the past for his actions and disrespect, leading him to kill his wife and daughter. Drained of all human feeling, driven only by anger and murderous instinct, Kratos, former god of war in place of Ares, is ready for revenge: will annihilate everything in its path until the completion of its revenge. And it won't stop until Zeus's head rolls to his feet. If in the meantime those of all the other gods also roll, it will only be good.

The first phases of the game, which also act as tutorials, will see us begin the climb of the mountain in the company of some titans, including Gaia, temporarily allied to the Spartan (the alliance will end when Kratos understands that the titans cannot make other claims as well as being his instrument of war). The gods watch from the top of the mountain to the coming destruction: after the death of Athena and Ares in the previous chapters there are not many Olympians still alive, but those present will not give up without a fight. Zeus sends Poseidon to attack: the prologue of the adventure ends with the battle against the god of the seas, and with Kratos falling into Tartarus. In the darkness of the realm of the dead, Hades awaits him.

It will be up to you to accompany Kratos in the ascent: will the warrior who was a valiant general as a man, and a great god of war after the killing of Ares, be able to face the whole of Olympus with his own strength? Can his power really match that of Zeus?

My swords, my wings, my bow.

God of War is bloodthirsty, he is violent, he is tough, he whips the imagination and the eyes of the player like the chains of Kratos lash the unfortunate who dare to oppose his path. Brute force dominates the scene, every single scene: you will find yourself eviscerating centaurs, decapitating minotaurs, violently raging on the unfortunate person on duty: no matter whether he is big, big and bad, nobody can oppose Kratos. Because Kratos has two swords, and he can cut anything. The action mechanic dominates the entire production, winking at Devil May Cry, with long chains of combos, series of buttons to press to perform complex but powerful attacks, sequences to remember to make the killing of every single enemy more and more satisfying. 

But brute strength alone is worth little: intelligence cannot be lacking for the strongest warrior on earth. Kratos' cunning will be necessary to solve numerous dungeons during his journey, in which it will be impossible to continue without activating this or that mechanism, through this or that lever. But beware: some doors close again after certain seconds have elapsed. Then perhaps a pile of stones, if moved to the right position, could prevent the lever from returning to the starting position, and make the mechanism active indefinitely. It takes a certain amount of reasoning to complete some riddles: but they are never complex, and indeed sometimes it happens to find them banal and badly realized; never such, however, as to ruin the overall experience.

Because, above all, God of War is a varied game, even if at first it might not seem like it. Let the blows against monsters pass, the slaughterings, the beheadings, the keys pressed like mad to continue hitting, hitting and hitting: with intelligence, action sequences alternate with other exploratory ones, then others dedicated to solving the puzzles, and finally , at the end of each main sequence, battles against the boss on duty, usually a god, which should be taken as the paradigm of every boss fight worthy of the name: a mix of reflexes, strategy, violence and skill is always required, in every single fight. Penalty for death. And the satisfaction of victory is, as it should be, enormous. Especially at the highest difficulty level.

The weapons of Kratos are numerous, many will be unlocked as the story progresses: it starts from the normal chained swords to move on to the personal swords of Hades, which can summon warrior souls to their aid. There is the Arch of Polybius, which can shoot arrows of fire and burn enemies or creepers that obstruct the path. There are the sandals of Hermes, messenger of the gods, with which you can climb the walls simply by running. And Kratos also has black wings with which to glide over platforms too far away for a simple jump. There is everything. But you have to know how to master each element well, to succeed in the enterprise.

Sing me, O Diva, of the cruel Kratos the fatal wrath

If you have read (and we advise you to do so) the Iliad, the Odyssey, but the Aeneid is fine too, you will immediately understand where the graphic and, above all, the sound sector wants to go. The music can provoke a high degree of exaltation: the epicity of the treated theme is mathematically rendered by the accuracy of each single note. The ephos accompanies the stages of Kratos' history, and being a story of revenge, war and destruction, it translates into a sound ephos that is in turn pressing: in the stages of battle, the music becomes excited, persistent, almost as if she were there. to guide the swords of the protagonist. The musical accompaniment is perfect, and it is the right one: there could not be another one. The same goes for the exploratory phases or those dedicated to environmental enigmas: since the impetuousness of excited music could end up in the opposite excess of exasperation if every now and then it is not interrupted, here appears more suffused, softer accompaniments, but always with a certain tone of disquiet. The same restlessness that is the background to the past and present of the anti-hero protagonist of the game.

Graphically, the glance is fully satisfied of the work done and here too the epic goes hand in hand with the methodology of the graphic rendering. Mount Olympus, imposing, in the background: stands out among flashes of light and chiaroscuro. The gods, luminous: but in that light, in the expressions of the face, something cracks their certainty and the presumption of their victory. The majesty of the game environments: beyond an altogether limited exploration, the attention to detail and the environmental representation itself denotes the accurate mythological reconstruction. The colors and lighting are well balanced, even if tending towards darkness: but it is a minimal detail that fails to bother. The graphics are excellent, almost like the style: especially if we think that the game was initially released on PlayStation 3, not on Playstation 4. But the revision work? This must also be seen.

Remastered in name, but in fact?

The issue of remasters is an uncomfortable chapter in current gaming history. A question arises spontaneously, and must arise: was it necessary to review the third chapter of the story of Kratos, alone, after just five years from its appearance? Maybe. This is debatable. But there isn't much to argue about the fact that a reissue must always see rework worthy of the name: everything needs to be updated. The sound, the graphics, the small errors that were there at the beginning. Re-proposing a product already seen, as it was, is incorrect. Where does God of War 3 Remastered fit into all of this? Halfway. Replaying God of War is always enjoyable, no matter what chapter it is. But bringing it to PlayStation 4 also means stimulating the player to expect something that wasn't there before. A graphic improvement that is evident. A remastering of the sound sector worthy of the name. There was something, but nothing particularly significant. God of War 3 thrives on the fame that rightfully earned the same title on PlayStation 3, with the addition of a new graphics in 1080 px.

The PlayStation 4 version does not welcome other obvious improvements. Nice to look at, but not as good as it was five years ago. Nice to hear, but with the flaws that existed five years ago. The voices of the characters are sometimes lost. Kratos, despite his brutality, always seems to whisper. There was something about the uploads, much faster, never invasive; and there is a panoramic mode for taking photos. But was there really a need to put the Spartan in a pose to post his photo on social networks? Wouldn't it have been better to work harder and clean up the rooms or make the upgrade menus more accessible? It is up to you to decide whether or not you need the product. If you've already played God of War 3 on PlayStation 3, maybe forty euros for a greeting you won't want to spend it.