While the God of War games have always revelled in gore, this installment crosses the line because the violence portrayed is nothing short of sadistic. Kratos has, over the course of the trilogy, gone from being simply a troubled soldier to an enraged, deranged fiend who is driven by a need for vengeance. Many of the deaths presented in God of War III are discomfiting, in part because of the realism of the graphics, but also because Kratos appears to take such pleasure in the excessive violence he inflicts on his victims. Gamers get to experience Poseidon’s final moments firsthand, from his point of view, which is, in a word, unsettling. Kratos ruthlessly kills Poseidon by driving his thumbs through the eyes and into the brain of the god of the sea. The first boss battle takes place within the first 30 minutes.

There are a lot of them-there are a lot of gods-in this action-adventure game that was released on March 16. Each fight with a god is a boss battle in God of War III (Sony PS3 rated mature). But first he has to work his way through the rest of the Greek pantheon. Kratos, who has been the god of war since killing Ares in the first game, aims to kill Zeus, his father. God of War III begins with a bang exactly where the second game in the trilogy ends: with Kratos, the protagonist, on the shoulder of Gaia as the Titans assault Mount Olympus.

God of war iii