God Of War 3

God of war 3 is the third title in the god of war series (No surprises there) Developed by Sony and released as a PS3 exclusive. The god of war series casts you in the role of Kratos, the former God of War after he defeats Ares (Who is in greek mythology the actual God Of War). The game is set in Ancient Greece with the main plot being that Kratos wishes to get vengeance on the betrayal of his farther, Zeus God of gods, as he reignites an ancient conflict between gods and the Titans. A very breathtaking plot line and one that gives this an advantage to my review as I am very interested in Ancient mythology.

The gameplay featured in this game is very 'Hack n Slash', meaning that you will mostly be spending the time in a fight smashing the square button over and over again while moving around in circles hoping you can get a combo on the undying wave of enemies. However the game keeps its variety and flair with a plethora of Weapons to fight of the hordes of enemies. These items span from the "Blades of Exile" which are two blades attached to chains wrapped around the characters forearms, to the Icarus wings which allows Kratos to jump to extra heights to gain access to more areas. I believe the multitude of different weapons makes up for the lack of strategy needed to fight.

 

The graphics for GoW 3 are sleek and easy on the eyes. The game has a lot of gaming section which involve HUGE hordes of enemies flocking towards you and so i kind of thing this a bad point as you will be fighting 25 enemies who look EXACTLY the same down to every flaw.

The audio for the game is as you expect with a Hack n Slash game; which is LOUD and aggressive. The clinging of swords and the banging of hammers will ring in your ears with the perfectly timed and powerful sounding battles. The music is also just fun to listen to it matches the themes of the game and sounds with good quality.

Fun Factor in this game actually i believe this to be a crutial part of a game such as this is the Storyline. This game has a very rich storyline to follow in Ancient Greek Mythology. Personally i am very interested in Mythologies such as these and so following a story in this path is a lot of fun for me! Another point is that Hack N Slash games are fun in themselves even though it shows mindless violence it does allow you to breeze through the fight scenes to get onto the more interesting parts of the game.

Finally is the Replayability of the game. The only replayability factors that this game shows is the collectables system. As you can tell from previous Reviews i'm not the biggest fan of the collectables in favor of having a solid multiplayer experience, but this doesn't rule out the games replayability in whole. The game will have you on the hunt for "Godly possessions, Minotaur Horns, Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers", all throughout the game. Now that's a LOT! All in all this game can really bring you back to have another go through this cool feature, but unfortunately it won't stop you from getting bored and moving onto the next game.

Quake 3

Quake 3 is a first person shooter and is quite an old game now, but never the less a very accomplished franchise of games. The first game of the series was released in 1996 by id Software and was developed off the back of their highly well received game Doom.

The gameplay elements of this game are very simplistic, which in a small sense adds to the charm of the actual game. The basic premise of the game is you spawn, look for a weapon, and kill everything in line of sight of you. It really is that simple of a game, with standard deathmatch modes. I believe that this game shines through the mould of most shooting games nowadays, because it is not too complex, the game just involves "find a gun, kill things" and this surprisingly can give you hours on end of fun if the things you are killing are some of your friends!

The graphics of the game are kind of hard to judge considering the game was released back in 1999. The HUD is very simple as in it uses some sort of Word Art style font for your health and armour, which isn't set apart from the rest of the screen. They are just... There. the character models are rather Average for its time, it is nothing ground breaking that caused a stir they just kinda kept the games head afloat during the following years until its sequel.

The Audio found within the game is very subtle, as in you don't notice too much during all of the fighting! The gun sounds are deliberately loud to draw your attention into the fighting and the keep you focused which i believe is a nice touch. Apart from that there are no real outstanding audio features to comment on.

The funfactor, is the whole reason you play this game. The fun factor of this game is of its mindless fun! There is no deep and interesting storyline in which you must travel untold planets to save the queen. No, you just kill. There is a small story that they have put in place to satisfy those with the need for it which is, that you are a group of the most elite fighters in the universe and you are fighting to the death to satisfy the needs of an alien race. For everyone else though, this is mindless shooting and killing which without question is an amazingly fun combo!

Finally the replayability of this game is in the fact that it is entirely mutliplayer. Multiplayer in my opinion is the corner stone of every game and it is what keeps it alive for the longest. The fact that Quake has no proper single player and instead has singleplayer games vs AI controlled enemies in an arena styled like its multiplayer is the reason this game performs so well. So as for the replayability of the game, I would say it is very high as long as you have a good group of friends (Soon to be enemies).