How do you follow the conclusion of God of War III? You make a prequel, in the form of God of War: Ascension. But there hasn’t been a new God of War on the PlayStation 4 yet. Instead we have the just-launched God of War III Remastered, a shined-up and gorgeous remake of the third game in the Sony-exclusive series.
It’s pretty. I could use a better word here but it fits – God of War III Remastered does look better than the original game’s PlayStation 3 release. But is that enough justification to pick it up for PlayStation 4?
Series Recap
Kratos isn’t alone in his fight. The events of God of War II saw Kratos recruit the Titans into his fight (or the other way around), which brings us up to the beginning of God of War III Remastered, with Kratos ascending Olympus on the back of the Titan Gaia, about to put foot-to-throat in his quest for revenge against Zeus.
If you’ve played the previous titles this information is pointless but if you somehow missed it… Anyway, moving on.
Fit For The Gods
Kratos’ tale of revenge now runs at 60 frames per second, which is noticeable but not massively so. Onscreen action moves a tad more smoothly than it did before. Where you will see a difference is with Kratos’ character model in particular and with enemy models as well as the various locations. The vistas and close-up sections have a better sheen to them than the previous game and there’s more detail than before, no matter wher you look. Particle and lighting effects have undergone an update as well.
The original God of War III was quite the good-looking game when it launched. The result is that even these visual updates don’t look that impressive in comparison to the PlayStation 3 title. To be fair that was a tough act to follow, even on a new generation console.
Sony have also included their Photo Mode, which lets you snap pics of gameplay. A nice touch, but ultimately not enough.
A Slight Heresy
Remastered remains just as good as the original was, Kratos’ finale (chronologically speaking) has aged extremely well. Everything is intact, with only the visual upgrades distinguishing between this release and the original. Even that isn’t complete though, Sony looks to have opted to leave the cut-scenes alone. In-engine gameplay looks better than video interludes and players will easily be able to tell whether a section was created with the engine or pre-rendered – there’s that much of a difference now.
Verdict