I moved to Maine in December of 2005 and it’s crazy to think that the first GoW was less than a year old at the time. In the decade since, three more console titles came out, a pair of handheld ones and compilations gathered them all in remastered form have shipped.
The remastered version of GoW3 for the PS4 was a mere $20 and I decided to pick it up. Coincidentally, some old class-action type thing offered me the initial game for free on the PS3 just a day later. Here we go again.
I did this once before with Metal Gear Solid. Then later on with Super Mario Bros. and another time with Resident Evil. It seems I’m no stranger to revisiting entire series and I inadvertently stumbled upon a new GoW run. There are worse things in life!
So, I blazed through the PS3 remasters of PS2 games in a short period of time. The first still has the strongest story and while the gameplay tweaks have certainly made the sequels better, they can’t hold a candle to Kratos’ initial journey of anger. As the second game progressed, I marveled at the sheer beauty of the PS2’s swansong. It was remarkably-gorgeous and its scope truly redefined the cinematic nature of games. Both games were superb. And so after hitting up PS2 games on a PS3, I went to a PS3 game on a PS4 (this is silly) and OMFG it’s utterly stunning! I don’t know how they remaster games to look this good but it is outstanding. Kratos’ perpetual sneer has yet to get old, though the game’s tropes remain true to its nature, the formula is not immortal. How many more times can we do this….oh wait, then they made GoW: Ascension.
Turns out Ascension was a free PS+ title a few months back so halfway through GoW3 I deleted 70Gb from my PS3’s HDD (yes, SEVENTY) to download this guy and I think I’ll hit up the fourth title for completion sakes. I played the first three already, why not round up the thing with an unnecessary prequel? Oh, and I realize I’m skipping out on those handheld titles. I played them briefly, never completed them, but can’t say I have much desire to do so. See if I can muster a fourth game before the impending Norse GoW is announced. BTW, that’s going to fucking rule if they do that. Norse mythology is bad-ass and twisted.
Finally, note that God of War just missed out on my Top 8 Best Gaming Series Ever list. It might have made it to #10 had I managed to learn to count that high.
We all know that Cammy broke free of Vega’s grasp and he later commissioned a dozen similar fighters from around the world. These were only truly expanded upon in SFZ3 with Juri & Juni, both of Germany. In USFIV, Decapre appeared. However, in the new story mode of SFV, all nine other dolls were represented. While the story has been critiqued by many, I embraced the single-player experience and fully enjoyed the absurdity of the tale and the gravity of the Guile/Nash battle. The appearance of all the dolls, each with unique moves, made me smile. Therefore I tossed up a section highlighting them and comparing their appearances with the small cameo many of them had in SFZ3. It’s the usual unnecessary stuff I put up on my sites. Click the images for the full gallery!
