Review: God of War 3

If you're an old fogie like me and grew up with D&D in the mid-80s, you'll remember the publication (or your discovery) of Deities and Demigods. Now, purportedly the purpose of listing all the deities is to provide the DM with background for the mythos behind his game, rather than providing the deities as monsters to kill. But if so, why provide stats?

Anyway, God of War 3 does something very similar to Deities and Demigods. Many of the deities from the Greek mythos are lovingly brought to life and animated on a computer, precisely so you can hack and slash at them and kill them. The protagonist, Kratos, is amazingly one note, alternately growling and grunting, though he does get more than a few lines. In any case, you wouldn't be playing God of War (any of the series) for the story. It's a bare skeleton on which to hang set-pieces.

The mode of play in God of War is the brawler. You have a choice of 4 primary weapons with which to beat up your opponents. I write these words casually, but having played Devil May Cry, I'm amazed at how much more accessible God of War is. The controls are just right, and the complexity of the game is such that even a neophyte can pick this up and play. The same could not be said of Devil May Cry, which I gave up on pretty quickly.

I've come to the conclusion that the Sony LA studios (which includes Santa Monica as well as Naughty Dog) are delivering video games as an experience, rather than the "we'll make tough games" which is what my impression of the older-style video games are. The difficult part of doing these types of game well is pacing, variety, and player experience management. If you get pacing wrong, the game doesn't flow and feel like a cinematic experience. If you concentrate too much on one type of game play, then the game feels repetitive, and again doesn't feel cinematic. If you make the game so hard that the player dies often, then you frequently break flow for the player, and the game no longer provides a roller-coaster ride experience. That Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog both manage to deliver these experiences consistently is the main reason I think Sony's stock is under-rated.

What sort of variety does God of War grant you, other than the basic brawling game play? To begin with, the game grants you several set pieces that give you scale. It opens with a fight sequence on the back of a Titan, and the camera pans, zooms in and out all throughout the experience, which is exciting, cinematic, and very satisfying to play through. Not all the boss fights are so dramatic, but by and large they are very well done. The game provides several mini games in the form of finishing moves that are guided by Quick-Time events. These are much hated by game journalists and reviewers, but God of War does them correctly, and actually enjoyed them, as opposed to the ones found in Tomb Raider. And yes, there's a sex QTE mini-game (the camera pans away, so even though it's a rated M game, it doesn't venture into interactive porn). The environmental puzzles provided by the game are also fun, and interesting enough, scaling from the trivial to the intensely difficult by the end of the game. Finally, there are also several flight sequences where you navigate an asteroid field as the Millennium Falcon. Oops. Wait, no, Kratos sprouts wings and has to fly through obstacles. These aren't as much fun, but they do break up the sequences nicely.

The cut scenes are rendered beautifully and look like they're rendered by the game engine. So much so that during the first flight sequence I thought I was in a cut-scene rather than in-game, and died because I didn't realize I could control the character!

 What are my criticisms of the game? Well, it's rated M, which means lots of blood and gore. Definitely not for the pre-teen. The finale fight was kinda anti-climatic, after everything you'd been through. The story, as previously mentioned, serves merely as a justification for killing everything in sight. The use of Greek mythos, however, is fairly true to the source, though unfortunately with the M rating, you couldn't really use this game to introduce your child to it.

All in all, I think it's a fun game, though not for the faint of heart. I enjoyed it. For me, it came just a notch below the Tomb Raider Reboot, and just above Drake's Fortune. Recommended.

Athens

We were so tired upon returning to Athens that we spent the rest of the day sleeping and dealing with the unpleasant base manager as well as all the sundries required in returning the boat. So it wasn't until the next morning when we moved back to Hotel Tony's that we could explore the city in earnest. We first visited the Acropolis museum, which was interesting. The heat was turned up pretty high so we were pretty glad to return to the hotel at 3pm to rest and then leave for the Funky Gourmet.

From Greece 2013

The Funky Gourmet was my first one-star Michelin restaurant experience. Set in an interesting neighborhood in a house with no bill-board, you would only find it after making reservations at the restaurants. Even taxi drivers won't necessarily know how to find it! Bowen was very good, spending an hour in his seat before demanding to walk around and explore the restaurant. The 13-course meal took almost 3 hours to serve, but it was excellent, providing some of the best pesto I'd ever had and some interesting desserts where flavor literally explodes in your mouth. The introduction to each meal also theatrically done, and I was impressed. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

From Greece 2013

For our last day, we visited the Acropolis proper, as well as the Agora. The lines were long, the place was exceedingly crowded, and it was too warm for me. In the evening, we explored Filopauppou Hill near Hotel Tony, and were rewarded with a beautiful glimpse of the sun setting over the area near Athens.

From Greece 2013

Nevertheless, I was quite relieved to leave Greece and Athens after the biggest fiasco of a trip that I'd had in years.

Thira/Santorini

We flew on Swiss International Airlines to Zurich, where we stayed for a night and then flew to Athens the next day. While it would have been possible to fly on the same day to Athens, we would have arrived near midnight, and when travelling with a child I decided it was better to spend a night along the way because of baby jet-lag. The hope was that we'd be able to find some afternoon sun.

From Greece 2013

At Kloten, we were able to find a children's playground and while the sun was not very strong, we were hopeful that our sleep wouldn't be so interrupted. Unfortunately, that hope proved false, and our son woke up at midnight and stayed awake until 4am.

The flight to Athens was delayed because of a technical problem with the airplane, and as a result we ended up at Hotel Tony at 4pm. The room had been recently renovated and I was quite impressed with it. We went out to dinner at a recommended place and had great views of the Acropolis in the backdrop. After dinner, we visited the Acropolis, but it was closed to visitors after 5pm.

From Greece 2013

The next day, we went back to the airport and flew to Thira/Santorini (Santorini is the collection of islands, and Thira is the name of the one of them with an airport and sizeable population). The rental car company met us at the airport and gave us the car keys, including the drop off instructions (which involved just leaving the car unlocked at the parking lot with the keys in the obvious place!). After a bit of driving, we found the Hippocampus Hotel where we had reservations. They had plenty of room so we were able to change our rooms with minimal costs. In addition, they gave us directions to the various attractions on Santorini, and arranged for us to have a visit to the Volcano, etc. We drove up to the Ancient City they'd described, and got in the last visit before the closing.

From Greece 2013

From Greece 2013

After that, we went swimming on the beach and had dinner at an excellent restaurant the hotel staff recommended. So far, it'd been a good trip, despite Bowen's persistent jet lag.

From Greece 2013

The Volcano visit as a bit of a bore. Having visited lots of volcanoes in the past, this one wasn't particularly interesting except for the vistas of the surrounding, populated islands. (The white you see below isn't snow, but houses!) The visit to the hot springs was also disappointing. The hot springs was embedded in a bay off an island, and the seepage of hot water into the relatively cool Mediterranean waters led to a luke-warm spring experience. I would rate the entire day a "pass," unless you've never seen a Volcano before.

From Greece 2013

From Greece 2013

Our last full day on Santorini was spent visiting the Red Beach, Fira, and Oia. The Red Beach was interesting and surprisingly good swimming despite relatively high winds.

From Greece 2013

While getting to Fira, we got lost for a bit, and ended up at the highest point on Thira. The views were OK, but the winds were too strong for anything more than a photo. Fira was surprisingly pretty, and very nice. We found great ice cream and a decent lunch.

From Greece 2013

We then drove to Oia, which was even prettier!

From Greece 2013

From Greece 2013

From Greece 2013

From Greece 2013

We thought about staying for the sunset but the overcast weather put us off. We left a bit early --- to our regrets because the sunset as seen from the road was spectacular!

Greece 2013

We went to Greece this year for a sailing trip, bookended by days in Athens and Thira (on Santorini). I'll break up the visit thus into those 3 sections. This is the index page. I'll post links to other people's pictures as they get them up.

Photos:

• Arturo's photos

Trip Report:

• Thira/Santorini
• Sailing in the Argolic and Northern Cyclades
• Athens
• Conclusions

Athens Slideshow

The last slideshow I have from Greece. This was the day I spent walking around Athens.



Note you can view the high quality version by double clicking on the video and going to the Youtube website directly. The pictures look a TON better there!

More Greek YouTube Videos

Well, I know no one likes looking at a gazillion pictures, so I decided to just YouTube the best of them. The first is a collection of food pictures I take...I absolutely adore eating so I try to make a picture roll of them wherever I can.



The second video is about the people I met.



Watch the high quality version if possible!

Enjoy!

Greece Vacation Slideshow Video

Went to Greece for two weeks of which 4 days was on vacation. This was the results of it. =)

I might do another one with the rest of the "interesting" pictures I have, but for now, this will have to do.

Now in High Quality!