It’s been five years since the release of God of War III on PlayStation 3, which was considered one of the the best, if not the greatest, action title ever released. This review will focus on some of the updates made to the game for its PS4 release. For a more in-depth review of God of War III click here.
God of War III Remastered is the final chapter in Kratos’s revenge tale against the Greek Gods. Being the final chapter in Kratos’s tale, God of War III recaps briefly on past events from the previous games, and delivers a strong ending to an epic trilogy, which makes its appeal more likely to be with fans of the franchise rather than newcomers who may be considering purchasing a GoW game for the first time.
When talking about Remasters the first thing that comes to mind are the graphical updates. God of War III to this day is one of the best looking titles from the last generation, and with the update to Sony’s latest console the game now looks like a native PS4 title. The character models look sharper, the particle effects are brighter, and the vast environments look gorgeous in 1080p. With the action also running at a smooth 60 frames per second, the remaster is runs extremely well. The only aspect of the game that I didn’t see an update for were the cutscenes which don’t look like they were optimized in any way.
One of the additions that God of War III Remastered has received is the inclusion of the vastly popular Photo Mode. I found myself using the Photo Mode quite a bit in other titles but not as much in GoW III Remastered. The Photo Mode in this Remaster allows you to change your filters and contrast but doesn’t really let you do too much with the camera positioning. Because the camera in GoW III is more stationary, the best I could do is slide the camera around and zoom in and out.
The combat and great puzzle solving in the game remain in tact. Combining combos with the Blades of Exile is still as much fun as it was five years ago. One of the additions made to GoW III five years ago was being able to switch to weapons in the middle of a combo, making the combat even more dynamic. The secondary weapons, unlike in past GoW titles, are all different variations of the standard Blades of Exile except for the Nemean Cestus which is more of a melee weapon. The game continues to use Quick Time Events (QTEs) for most of the brutal kills in the game. Most newcomers may feel they are dated and frustrating, but these cinematic events are a staple of the GoW franchise since the start, and most are forgiving enough to not cause too much trouble.
As great as God of War III is it is hard to recommend purchasing the game again, especially with the $40 price point. It’s even harder to recommend to newcomers to the franchise seeing as how it’s the last entry in the story. Seeing as how Sony has already released the God of War Saga on the PlayStation 3, featuring five of the six titles in the franchise for half the price, makes this release hugely overpriced.
As far as Remasters go God of War III is a welcome but an unnecessary one. The single addition of the Photo Mode and updated graphics are something I feel just aren’t worth paying $40 for a five year old game.