The first patch came out. Patch 1.01. Apparently it fixed some online stuff. The game also now checks for DLC. Nothing's due out on that front until March 15th. Seems kinda odd though that a patch had to be added for that. I would think the game would do that out of the box.
What is with the random select mode in Marvel vs Capcom 3? I honestly can't call it very random. The game would literally seem to get stuck on certain characters. Last time I was playing versus with my wife I think we saw Morrigan every round. It was a good dozen fights in before Felicia was selected and then she started showing up almost every round. Deadpool was also a popular choice from the random button but Arthur? Nah, I don't think we even saw him and we played a good 20 rounds. I just wish that random felt a little more random.
I really feel that more of the character endings need to be like Spencer's. At the end of his playthrough Spencer actually has the nerve to ask She-Hulk on a date. AND SHE ACCEPTS! Well Spencer actually takes her to a war zone and the two of them beat up bad guys. It's funny, it's silly, and it doesn't take itself seriously. We need more of these in the game.
What we don't need is more of Chris capturing Wesker, Jean Grey losing control and Dark Phoenix taking over, or Akuma lamenting on how there are no more worthy opponents in all of existence. These are pretty cliche' for these characters. The story for this game should in no way, shape, or form, take itself that seriously. We get their normal games/comics/shows for those types of story lines. This game should completely up the camp/cheese factor. It really needs to let lose and have more fun. Sure Iron Man's Galactus Buster armor is pretty neat looking, but why not have Tony get in trouble for trying to date multiple women from the Capcom universe? That could have been far more interesting then what we got.
I think it's funny that I found Spencer's ending funny, because She-Hulk's fall flat. She's apparently a judge now and she breaks her desk with her gavel. Should have been funny, but the presentation just doesn't work.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - REVENGE!
So von Bardas is dead and the heroes are chilling out back at Stark Tower. We're still dealing with story setup at this point. The main story hasn't gotten underway yet. Now if you've played the last game, you know that it ended with Galactus threatening to come to Earth and take revenge. I was really hoping that story would be fleshed out. Sadly it's not. The Civil War story really isn't that new. The Mutant Registration Act from the X-Men series caused a similar split. The big difference this time is that all the Heroes get broken up into loyal government dogs or traitorous rebels. It's all a matter of perspective.
So we take the next mission. There's something about Ms. Marvel having gone missing while exploring (aka captured) so a whole team is sent in to investigate. Into the sewers we go. I had Green Goblin on my team, that guy is fun to use. I also took along Ms. Marvel. I felt that she should help rescue herself. Like most of the game the sewers are straight forward. There are a few hidden items off to the sides and your normal variety of destructible items.
Speaking of destructible, what is with the sounds effects in this game? Everything seems so muted. It really seems like the placeholder effects are still in the game and someone forgot to switch them out for the real sounds. It's really distracting. If I throw a missile at someone I want it to explode like I threw a missile. Make it BIG! But for some reason this game really holds back.
In the sewers we finally find Ms. Marvel, she's being held captive by Shocker. Oh goody a pathetic Spider-Man villain. And that's pretty much describes the fight. Shocker is nothing to be impressed with even if I wasn't already overpowered. But I find myself starting to wonder who my healer is... Do I even have one? I don't remember one from my last playthrough. Hmm...
With Ms. Marvel freed we head down an elevator to a...factory? Why is there a factory below the sewers? I've always thought of the sewers as the bottom floor, unless we ever get invaded by mole people or something. But sure enough there's a factory. There's some machinery to destroy, but for me the best part of the factory are the robots in the containers. Masses of robots will just come pouring out of various containers all nicely lined up and ready to be destroyed. Think of them as free XP.
Again, the factory is pretty straight forward. There's a fight against the Grim Reaper. He does this thing where he runs around with his blade spinning in front of him. He's invincible during that time. When he's not invincible you can just crush him. Move on past the downed Reaper, run through the factory and eventually you'll reach a big and fairly tough boss battle.
Lucia Von Bardas lives! Technically, she's now a cyborg and a pretty ugly one too. She reminds me of a lizard. She's recovered pretty quickly since it's only been one year to the day since she was blown up. But she's here in New York looking for revenge. There are four cannons setup around at the corners of the arena and each cannon has a super-villain controlling it. The cannons are all targeted at New York City. Now that just won't do.
This fight can quickly get out of hand if you're not careful. When you destroy a cannon Von Bardas will take the villain controlling it and then drop them into battle. This is what I like about this fight. You have to watch what you're doing. There are normal enemies running around and if you destroy the cannons to quickly you can have up to four super-villains joining in the fun. Super-villains are fine to fight normally, but if you start throwing in multiple villains along with normal enemies and environmental dangers then things can get tough. I find it best to take out a cannon, take down the villain who was driving it and then move onto the next cannon. Do this four times for the next stage of the fight.
I actually don't understand why they setup the next stage the way then did. Von Bardas will officially join the battle. I guess she's using the super-villains life force to create a shield for herself. It doesn't really make any sense, but this is comic book logic we're talking about here. Mix that with video game logic and things can get out of hand quickly. You have to take down each of the super-villains again, but they only have a sliver of health this time. Every time you do Von Bardas loses her shield for a little while. That is your obvious sign to attack.
Like I said, I really like the first part of this battle. It's got that fun frantic atmosphere that can keep you on your toes. There's lots going on, but it never feels horribly overwhelming. The fight against Lucia herself is a bit of a let down. Sure there's still environment stuff to dodge, but it's just not as fun at this point.
Once Von Bardas is down we get to see a cutscene. Super-heroes are helping to clean up the disaster, but it's been leaked to the press that the heroes are actually responsible for the problem since this is retaliation for the covert raid into Latveria last year. Turns out that wasn't a mission sanctioned by the government. Fury is wanted for questioning but he's gone into hiding. Already the heroes are starting to fear that the government will take some kind of action against them.
And that's pretty much where we're at.
So we take the next mission. There's something about Ms. Marvel having gone missing while exploring (aka captured) so a whole team is sent in to investigate. Into the sewers we go. I had Green Goblin on my team, that guy is fun to use. I also took along Ms. Marvel. I felt that she should help rescue herself. Like most of the game the sewers are straight forward. There are a few hidden items off to the sides and your normal variety of destructible items.
Speaking of destructible, what is with the sounds effects in this game? Everything seems so muted. It really seems like the placeholder effects are still in the game and someone forgot to switch them out for the real sounds. It's really distracting. If I throw a missile at someone I want it to explode like I threw a missile. Make it BIG! But for some reason this game really holds back.
In the sewers we finally find Ms. Marvel, she's being held captive by Shocker. Oh goody a pathetic Spider-Man villain. And that's pretty much describes the fight. Shocker is nothing to be impressed with even if I wasn't already overpowered. But I find myself starting to wonder who my healer is... Do I even have one? I don't remember one from my last playthrough. Hmm...
With Ms. Marvel freed we head down an elevator to a...factory? Why is there a factory below the sewers? I've always thought of the sewers as the bottom floor, unless we ever get invaded by mole people or something. But sure enough there's a factory. There's some machinery to destroy, but for me the best part of the factory are the robots in the containers. Masses of robots will just come pouring out of various containers all nicely lined up and ready to be destroyed. Think of them as free XP.
Again, the factory is pretty straight forward. There's a fight against the Grim Reaper. He does this thing where he runs around with his blade spinning in front of him. He's invincible during that time. When he's not invincible you can just crush him. Move on past the downed Reaper, run through the factory and eventually you'll reach a big and fairly tough boss battle.
 |
| Cyborg Von Bardas |
This fight can quickly get out of hand if you're not careful. When you destroy a cannon Von Bardas will take the villain controlling it and then drop them into battle. This is what I like about this fight. You have to watch what you're doing. There are normal enemies running around and if you destroy the cannons to quickly you can have up to four super-villains joining in the fun. Super-villains are fine to fight normally, but if you start throwing in multiple villains along with normal enemies and environmental dangers then things can get tough. I find it best to take out a cannon, take down the villain who was driving it and then move onto the next cannon. Do this four times for the next stage of the fight.
I actually don't understand why they setup the next stage the way then did. Von Bardas will officially join the battle. I guess she's using the super-villains life force to create a shield for herself. It doesn't really make any sense, but this is comic book logic we're talking about here. Mix that with video game logic and things can get out of hand quickly. You have to take down each of the super-villains again, but they only have a sliver of health this time. Every time you do Von Bardas loses her shield for a little while. That is your obvious sign to attack.
Like I said, I really like the first part of this battle. It's got that fun frantic atmosphere that can keep you on your toes. There's lots going on, but it never feels horribly overwhelming. The fight against Lucia herself is a bit of a let down. Sure there's still environment stuff to dodge, but it's just not as fun at this point.
Once Von Bardas is down we get to see a cutscene. Super-heroes are helping to clean up the disaster, but it's been leaked to the press that the heroes are actually responsible for the problem since this is retaliation for the covert raid into Latveria last year. Turns out that wasn't a mission sanctioned by the government. Fury is wanted for questioning but he's gone into hiding. Already the heroes are starting to fear that the government will take some kind of action against them.
And that's pretty much where we're at.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Nothing Too New
I did a quick playthrough of Marvel vs Capcom 3. I didn't have a lot of time so a quick pick me up session was worth it. I beat the game with Chris Redfield. I was trying to beat it with Iron Man, but Galactus flicked him off the screen. Chris showed up and shot Galactus once with his hand gun. Galactus went down. Chris' ending is the lamest to date. He has to go off and arrest Wesker. Wesker is then shown on trial for the Raccoon City incident. The prosecution is Matt Murdock a.k.a. Daredevil. I wish Chris' ending was more interesting. Maybe he could've been hunting Dormamu thinking he was a new BioWeapon or something. But no, they just had to stick with Wesker.
With a little more time I did a run through and beat the game with Deadpool. Deadpool is a great character. He's the type that enjoys breaking the fourth wall on a regular basis. His comments to the player are great, especially if he dies. "Wrooooong Buttooooon!" Ah Deadpool. Appropriately Deadpool throws a party and chaos breaks out. After the party the police are on the hunt for Deadpool and his accomplice who is only known by the name "Player".
I saw Galactus use a new attack this time round. He used some massive energy move and every thing in the background turned red. Interesting, but I don't really know what the point was.
With a little more time I did a run through and beat the game with Deadpool. Deadpool is a great character. He's the type that enjoys breaking the fourth wall on a regular basis. His comments to the player are great, especially if he dies. "Wrooooong Buttooooon!" Ah Deadpool. Appropriately Deadpool throws a party and chaos breaks out. After the party the police are on the hunt for Deadpool and his accomplice who is only known by the name "Player".
I saw Galactus use a new attack this time round. He used some massive energy move and every thing in the background turned red. Interesting, but I don't really know what the point was.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - Spandex on the Move
So I've gone back into my library of games and pulled out an older title. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Released for the PS3 September of '09. I have played and beaten the game before. This will be my second playthrough.
Ultimate Alliance 2 is based off of the Marvel Comics Mega-Crossover Event called Civil War. During this time the government introduces a "Hero Registration Act". Under this act all Heroes must enlist with the government and reveal their secret identities. I've never read the Civil War series, but I understand that the game deviates from the comics pretty significantly and it's pretty obvious where it does it.
Ultimate Alliance 2 is the most dumbed-down of the series (including the X-Men Legends games). There is no real stat building. You only have 4 powers to choose from, there are personal buffs for each character, but it's all pretty simple run of the mill stuff. I think my desire to play this game came from playing Marvel vs Capcom 3 (which is a fun game).
The game offers what is basically a "New Game+" option. I get to keep all of my characters levels from my last playthrough. The game begins in Latveria, a fictional nation that is normally controlled by Dr. Doom. The events of the last game left Dr. Doom "dead" (no one really dies in comic books) and the country is now controlled by Lucia von Bardas. S.H.E.I.L.D. director Nick Fury has discovered that von Bardas is working with the villain known as the Tinkerer. Fury declares that this is terrorism so he enlists various super heroes to invade the country.
The game starts with Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man & Captain America being playable characters. Nick Fury tags along as an NPC. Gameplay actually annoys me right off of the bat. I'm looking for X to jump, square basic attack, triangle strong attack, and circle for grab. Instead X is basic attack, square is grab, triangle is jump, circle is strong attack. This bizarre setup really throws me off and I end trying to use the wrong button repeatedly. To make matters worse, I can't change the setup. BOOOOOO! New to this game are the Fusion attacks, this is where 2 characters team up to do a large attack. Fusions are fun and good for crowd control, the only problem is that there's only like 5 of them in the whole game. Different characters will pull off the same Fusion attack as an entirely different team.
Game play occurs from a 3/4 view normally, but that can be slightly adjusted by using the right analog stick. After God of War, it's nice to have the control of the camera back.
So your characters have invaded Latveria. About 2/3 of the level is trying to locate Bravo Team and Black Widow. There are some boss fights against Electro and then a team up fight against Wizard and Scorcher. I know who Electro is, but I'm not familiar with the other two. Since my characters are so overpowered I was able to crush these guys pretty easily (I would like to point out that I have no idea what difficulty I'm playing on).
The level moves forward pretty normally until a cutscene occurs. And I swear the entire population of Latveria comes charging out of the bunker. Latveria is a really small country.
See! It's really small. I have to wonder how they got such a large army. I get the robots to boost the army, but these are real people. At this part Fury splits up the team. Fury, Iron Man and Captain America will hold off the Army while Spider-Man and Wolverine need to find Bravo team. What makes this funny is immediately at the end of this scene the player is taken to the character select screen. New characters have suddenly become available (for me everyone is available). Once you leave the character select screen Fury contacts you and refers to you has Bravo team. I guess I found Bravo team, that wasn't all that hard.
Wandering through the remaining part of the level is pretty simple. There are some fun things that happen off to the side where you can see Iron Man blowing up enemies and such. The level moves down into the Tinkerers laboratory and eventually to a boss confrontation with Tinkerer himself. Tinkerer is in this giant spider tank. You have to destroy his legs and once the legs are down the tank goes down. This is a fun fight and it's probably the best fight for truly teaching you the game mechanics. You can't just rush the tank or else it will massacre you. This fight requires planning and patience.
Battle over, mission over. Lucia von Bardas gets caught in the blast of Doom Castle and everyone goes home. Well at least everyone goes to Stark Tower. Stark Tower is your main hub at this point in the game. There are various things to do here. You can replay previous missions, accept the next mission, do a trivia game, do training missions, view unlockables and talk to various NPCs.
There are some character specific conversations that can occur while talking to NPCs. You have to be in control of the correct character or else you'll miss the conversation completely. These are pretty neat and can help get answers for the trivia.
I like comics, but I don't normally get the chance to read them. As such, I don't know if I was impressed or horrified by how many of the trivia answers I was able to get right.
Ultimate Alliance 2 is based off of the Marvel Comics Mega-Crossover Event called Civil War. During this time the government introduces a "Hero Registration Act". Under this act all Heroes must enlist with the government and reveal their secret identities. I've never read the Civil War series, but I understand that the game deviates from the comics pretty significantly and it's pretty obvious where it does it.
Ultimate Alliance 2 is the most dumbed-down of the series (including the X-Men Legends games). There is no real stat building. You only have 4 powers to choose from, there are personal buffs for each character, but it's all pretty simple run of the mill stuff. I think my desire to play this game came from playing Marvel vs Capcom 3 (which is a fun game).
The game offers what is basically a "New Game+" option. I get to keep all of my characters levels from my last playthrough. The game begins in Latveria, a fictional nation that is normally controlled by Dr. Doom. The events of the last game left Dr. Doom "dead" (no one really dies in comic books) and the country is now controlled by Lucia von Bardas. S.H.E.I.L.D. director Nick Fury has discovered that von Bardas is working with the villain known as the Tinkerer. Fury declares that this is terrorism so he enlists various super heroes to invade the country.
The game starts with Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man & Captain America being playable characters. Nick Fury tags along as an NPC. Gameplay actually annoys me right off of the bat. I'm looking for X to jump, square basic attack, triangle strong attack, and circle for grab. Instead X is basic attack, square is grab, triangle is jump, circle is strong attack. This bizarre setup really throws me off and I end trying to use the wrong button repeatedly. To make matters worse, I can't change the setup. BOOOOOO! New to this game are the Fusion attacks, this is where 2 characters team up to do a large attack. Fusions are fun and good for crowd control, the only problem is that there's only like 5 of them in the whole game. Different characters will pull off the same Fusion attack as an entirely different team.
Game play occurs from a 3/4 view normally, but that can be slightly adjusted by using the right analog stick. After God of War, it's nice to have the control of the camera back.
So your characters have invaded Latveria. About 2/3 of the level is trying to locate Bravo Team and Black Widow. There are some boss fights against Electro and then a team up fight against Wizard and Scorcher. I know who Electro is, but I'm not familiar with the other two. Since my characters are so overpowered I was able to crush these guys pretty easily (I would like to point out that I have no idea what difficulty I'm playing on).
The level moves forward pretty normally until a cutscene occurs. And I swear the entire population of Latveria comes charging out of the bunker. Latveria is a really small country. See! It's really small. I have to wonder how they got such a large army. I get the robots to boost the army, but these are real people. At this part Fury splits up the team. Fury, Iron Man and Captain America will hold off the Army while Spider-Man and Wolverine need to find Bravo team. What makes this funny is immediately at the end of this scene the player is taken to the character select screen. New characters have suddenly become available (for me everyone is available). Once you leave the character select screen Fury contacts you and refers to you has Bravo team. I guess I found Bravo team, that wasn't all that hard.
Wandering through the remaining part of the level is pretty simple. There are some fun things that happen off to the side where you can see Iron Man blowing up enemies and such. The level moves down into the Tinkerers laboratory and eventually to a boss confrontation with Tinkerer himself. Tinkerer is in this giant spider tank. You have to destroy his legs and once the legs are down the tank goes down. This is a fun fight and it's probably the best fight for truly teaching you the game mechanics. You can't just rush the tank or else it will massacre you. This fight requires planning and patience.
Battle over, mission over. Lucia von Bardas gets caught in the blast of Doom Castle and everyone goes home. Well at least everyone goes to Stark Tower. Stark Tower is your main hub at this point in the game. There are various things to do here. You can replay previous missions, accept the next mission, do a trivia game, do training missions, view unlockables and talk to various NPCs.
There are some character specific conversations that can occur while talking to NPCs. You have to be in control of the correct character or else you'll miss the conversation completely. These are pretty neat and can help get answers for the trivia.
I like comics, but I don't normally get the chance to read them. As such, I don't know if I was impressed or horrified by how many of the trivia answers I was able to get right.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
God of War III - Hope, Be More Useful
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*wipes tears from his eyes*
Holy crap.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
hehehehehe....
hehehe...he..he
The game is over *snort*. Credits are rolling as I type this (hehehehe). They'll probably finish first, but boy do my sides hurt. The ending, HAHAHAHA!!! If you want to call it that.....it's just so, so, HAHAHAHAHA!!
Yeah, I'll try to take this seriously. If that's possible. This is quite literally the ending where the writers just said, "Screw it. Just kill everything." Now if you actually expected more from God of War then you were playing the wrong game. The dev team does make a grab for the artistic side right at the very end, but it does feel pretty tacked on. Oh, and there's an extra scene after the credits now, great. So here we go.
Kratos was standing on top of the Labyrinth. He needs to climb that Chain again and it's a long climb back up to the top to reach the Flame of Olympus. Once at the Flame Kratos pushes a lever that slowly raises the Labyrinth up to the Flame. There's not actually enough room for the Labyrinth to fit so parts of it break off and it breaks off parts of the environment it gets dragged through. All the while Pandora cowers in fear. It really is a great metaphor for Kratos' life. Kratos has moments of sheer brillance, but in the end he destroys everything. With the Labyrinth up at the Flame the building he's in is pretty much decimated.
Pandora's Box is now accessible so Pandora makes a dash for the Box. Kratos has a last second change of heart and tries to stop Pandora. Kratos has pretty much made saving Pandora equal saving his own child. Pandora escapes Kratos, but Zeus has already shown up and now he stops Pandora. Zeus threatens to kill Pandora but Kratos convinces him to fight instead. So it's round 1 of Kratos vs Zeus.
This fight is actually pretty cool. It takes place on a 2D plane and it's a brutal knock-em-down drag-it-out free-for-all. Well, not really. Zeus does have a pattern and it needs to be cracked if you want to beat him. I found that L1+O is actually really effective against Zeus in this fight. It tends to break most of his attacks. Most of Zeus' attacks carry him forward so it's easy to get behind him and wack him around. This is a fun fight and once again I can easily see Kratos in the new Mortal Kombat.
Once Zeus goes down (down, but not out) more destruction happens and more of the building collapses. Pandora has to run on a giant chain while it's falling into the massive pit below, it's unintentionally comical. But eventually she's able to make a dash for the Box. Kratos actually grabs her and stops her but the power of the Box is trying to suck her in. Zeus encourages Kratos to save her but he then makes the mistake of telling Kratos not to fail like he's failed his entire life, like he failed his family. That was a stupid thing to say. Kratos snaps, lets go of Pandora and attacks Zeus.
So Pandora hits the box and the box unlocks much to Zeus' horror. Kratos opens the box and it proves to be empty. An incredibly happy Zeus tells Kratos how much he's failed and then he leaves. No choice but to follow. The box may be empty but Kratos isn't done yet. He still hasn't had his revenge.
Kratos finds Zeus outside at a gazebo-like overhang. Very few words are spoken and the battle gets underway. It's time for Kratos vs Zeus round 2. But this isn't an actual fight. I can only assume that you can die, but you can't beat Zeus yet. Eventually Gaia shows up. I was pretty certain that Gaia wasn't dead yet. Gaia yells at Kratos for the condition that the Earth is in and she tries to kill Kratos and Zeus by crushing the gazebo. Kratos and Zeus both escape by diving into a hole into Gaia's body that Poseidon opened up at the beginning of the game.
I'll say right here that I'm disappointed that I don't get an actual fight against Gaia. Once inside you move pretty quickly to Gaia's Heart. I was really hoping that Kratos would fight Gaia (similar to the Cronos battle) and eventually end up inside her at her heart. Instead it's fairly straight to the heart and on to the final(ish) battle.
It's Kratos vs Zeus round 3: The Battle for Gaia's Heart. No I'm not just trying to be funny. During the fight both characters can use Gaia's heart to recharge their health so whoever controls the heart can control the battle. But only slightly. Kratos really needs to stay on top of Zeus in this fight and he needs to unleash the Rage of the Spartans whenever possible. Zeus makes clones of himself during the fight and he can make a lot of them. This can greatly complicate the fight, but the Army of Sparta is a great nullifier and can quickly reset the playing field. If the player can stay on top of Zeus that will prevent him from creating too many clones. Once Zeus goes down a QTE begins, predictably this ends with Kratos stabbing the Blade of Olympus through Zeus and into Gaia's heart. There a big explosion and it's believed that the fight is over.
Here's where things get silly and I feel my laughter is justified. You're given control of Kratos again. Kratos finds Zeus' body and he pulls the Blade out of Zeus' body. At this point Zeus' spirit rises up, knocks Kratos over causing Kratos to lose all of his items except his regular blades, drains Kratos of all of his power (at least they didn't wait until the start of the next game this time) and kills Kratos again.
Kratos ends up in a "dream-like" darkeness state. That's the best way I can think of putting it. The whole thing has a slight fish-eye look going for it to try to give it a surreal effect. Kratos is mostly black now with glowing highlights and his tattoo glows bright red, this is also an attempt to create a surreal look (beating the game reveals this to be Fear Kratos). Kratos wanders what I assume is actually the corridors of his mind. But luckily plucky young Pandora makes a reappearance after her "noble sacrifice" and encourages our "hero" to continue forward. Kratos needs to learn that he can earn his forgiveness by forgiving himself or something along those lines. Kratos has to relive his biggest failures. Those would be when he killed his wife and daughter, and when he killed Athena. But Pandora tries to help him past of all this.
Eventually Kratos finds himself in bloody water where he's hearing voices. It's intrepid young companion Pandora to the rescue again. She leads Kratos to Pandora's Box, which is still empty. But Pandora tells Kratos to use the power of Hope! It's what we use when we have nothing else (get it? you know, since Kratos lost all of his items and powers earlier?)! Go Team! So that was the dev team's one attempt at being artistic in the whole series. It makes me laugh. Kratos using the power of hope, hehehehehe.
Now if you know anything about Pandora's Box, Hope is what laid at the bottom of the Box and, according to Greek Mythology, it's the one thing that didn't escape when Pandora opened it.
Apparently Pandora's words have an effect on Kratos as he comes back to life. He frees himself from Zeus spirit. Take note that Kratos' hands now have a blue flame glow. Kratos pulls out his normal blades and you get to fight the Spirit in First-Person Mode. It's an easy fight, eventually the spirit turns back into normal Zeus and Kratos begins to pummel him, still in First-Person. This part is dumb. Technically Kratos can take out his endless frustration on Zeus corpse by just smashing the O button. Eventually the screen will be covered with blood. You won't be able to see anything except for red and you can still smash the O button repeatedly. If you stop pressing the button the screen clears and Zeus explodes. Kratos now gets to stare out over a wasteland.
It's at this point that Athena appears. She demands that Kratos give her the power that he used to kill Zeus. Kratos tells her that the box was empty. Time for a very silly reveal. Through this cutscene it is revealed that during the first game, when Kratos opened Pandora's Box he actually released everything that was inside of it. The Darkness infected the Gods and that's why Zeus became so paranoid and desperate to kill Kratos. Kratos was actually infected with Hope. It was Hope that allowed him to kill Ares. This basically means that the events of the third game were pointless! Kratos always had the power, opening the box was dumb. The whole quest to open the box was dumb. Every part of it was dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
Anyways, Athena still demands the power and Kratos tells her to screw off and that his vengeance ends here. Kratos picks up the Blade of Olympus and stabs himself with it, this spreading the power of Hope into the air and giving to whatever creature remain alive. Athena is mad, calls Kratos a disappointment and then leaves. We're shown Kratos with a massive hole through him slowly bleeding out. Roll credits.
And then the credits end. There's a short scene after the credits. It shows a trail of blood where Kratos had been lying that leads towards the ocean and then vanishes over a cliff. This of course leaves the ending ambiguous. Kratos may now find some way to survive and return for God of War IV: The Search For More Money.
I don't even know what to say now that it's over. The third game ends with the Earth as a wasteland. Kratos may or may not be dead. Hope is spread among whatever poor survivors are still hanging around. It's just such a sad state. This is all made worse by the shoe-horned story that was thrown together for this game. Yes it really is that bad which is shame since the combat is still so much fun. But let's be honest, that's why you play these games. You're not looking for something that makes sense, or blows your mind away. You want over the top action and God of War III delivers in spades. The games attempt at redeeming Kratos is just unnecessary. Kratos is a monster, a force of nature the likes the world never needed to see. They really should have just left it at that.
Now what should I play next?
*wipes tears from his eyes*
Holy crap.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
hehehehehe....
hehehe...he..he
The game is over *snort*. Credits are rolling as I type this (hehehehe). They'll probably finish first, but boy do my sides hurt. The ending, HAHAHAHA!!! If you want to call it that.....it's just so, so, HAHAHAHAHA!!
Yeah, I'll try to take this seriously. If that's possible. This is quite literally the ending where the writers just said, "Screw it. Just kill everything." Now if you actually expected more from God of War then you were playing the wrong game. The dev team does make a grab for the artistic side right at the very end, but it does feel pretty tacked on. Oh, and there's an extra scene after the credits now, great. So here we go.
Kratos was standing on top of the Labyrinth. He needs to climb that Chain again and it's a long climb back up to the top to reach the Flame of Olympus. Once at the Flame Kratos pushes a lever that slowly raises the Labyrinth up to the Flame. There's not actually enough room for the Labyrinth to fit so parts of it break off and it breaks off parts of the environment it gets dragged through. All the while Pandora cowers in fear. It really is a great metaphor for Kratos' life. Kratos has moments of sheer brillance, but in the end he destroys everything. With the Labyrinth up at the Flame the building he's in is pretty much decimated.
Pandora's Box is now accessible so Pandora makes a dash for the Box. Kratos has a last second change of heart and tries to stop Pandora. Kratos has pretty much made saving Pandora equal saving his own child. Pandora escapes Kratos, but Zeus has already shown up and now he stops Pandora. Zeus threatens to kill Pandora but Kratos convinces him to fight instead. So it's round 1 of Kratos vs Zeus.
This fight is actually pretty cool. It takes place on a 2D plane and it's a brutal knock-em-down drag-it-out free-for-all. Well, not really. Zeus does have a pattern and it needs to be cracked if you want to beat him. I found that L1+O is actually really effective against Zeus in this fight. It tends to break most of his attacks. Most of Zeus' attacks carry him forward so it's easy to get behind him and wack him around. This is a fun fight and once again I can easily see Kratos in the new Mortal Kombat.
Once Zeus goes down (down, but not out) more destruction happens and more of the building collapses. Pandora has to run on a giant chain while it's falling into the massive pit below, it's unintentionally comical. But eventually she's able to make a dash for the Box. Kratos actually grabs her and stops her but the power of the Box is trying to suck her in. Zeus encourages Kratos to save her but he then makes the mistake of telling Kratos not to fail like he's failed his entire life, like he failed his family. That was a stupid thing to say. Kratos snaps, lets go of Pandora and attacks Zeus.
So Pandora hits the box and the box unlocks much to Zeus' horror. Kratos opens the box and it proves to be empty. An incredibly happy Zeus tells Kratos how much he's failed and then he leaves. No choice but to follow. The box may be empty but Kratos isn't done yet. He still hasn't had his revenge.
Kratos finds Zeus outside at a gazebo-like overhang. Very few words are spoken and the battle gets underway. It's time for Kratos vs Zeus round 2. But this isn't an actual fight. I can only assume that you can die, but you can't beat Zeus yet. Eventually Gaia shows up. I was pretty certain that Gaia wasn't dead yet. Gaia yells at Kratos for the condition that the Earth is in and she tries to kill Kratos and Zeus by crushing the gazebo. Kratos and Zeus both escape by diving into a hole into Gaia's body that Poseidon opened up at the beginning of the game.
I'll say right here that I'm disappointed that I don't get an actual fight against Gaia. Once inside you move pretty quickly to Gaia's Heart. I was really hoping that Kratos would fight Gaia (similar to the Cronos battle) and eventually end up inside her at her heart. Instead it's fairly straight to the heart and on to the final(ish) battle.
It's Kratos vs Zeus round 3: The Battle for Gaia's Heart. No I'm not just trying to be funny. During the fight both characters can use Gaia's heart to recharge their health so whoever controls the heart can control the battle. But only slightly. Kratos really needs to stay on top of Zeus in this fight and he needs to unleash the Rage of the Spartans whenever possible. Zeus makes clones of himself during the fight and he can make a lot of them. This can greatly complicate the fight, but the Army of Sparta is a great nullifier and can quickly reset the playing field. If the player can stay on top of Zeus that will prevent him from creating too many clones. Once Zeus goes down a QTE begins, predictably this ends with Kratos stabbing the Blade of Olympus through Zeus and into Gaia's heart. There a big explosion and it's believed that the fight is over.
Here's where things get silly and I feel my laughter is justified. You're given control of Kratos again. Kratos finds Zeus' body and he pulls the Blade out of Zeus' body. At this point Zeus' spirit rises up, knocks Kratos over causing Kratos to lose all of his items except his regular blades, drains Kratos of all of his power (at least they didn't wait until the start of the next game this time) and kills Kratos again.
Kratos ends up in a "dream-like" darkeness state. That's the best way I can think of putting it. The whole thing has a slight fish-eye look going for it to try to give it a surreal effect. Kratos is mostly black now with glowing highlights and his tattoo glows bright red, this is also an attempt to create a surreal look (beating the game reveals this to be Fear Kratos). Kratos wanders what I assume is actually the corridors of his mind. But luckily plucky young Pandora makes a reappearance after her "noble sacrifice" and encourages our "hero" to continue forward. Kratos needs to learn that he can earn his forgiveness by forgiving himself or something along those lines. Kratos has to relive his biggest failures. Those would be when he killed his wife and daughter, and when he killed Athena. But Pandora tries to help him past of all this.
Eventually Kratos finds himself in bloody water where he's hearing voices. It's intrepid young companion Pandora to the rescue again. She leads Kratos to Pandora's Box, which is still empty. But Pandora tells Kratos to use the power of Hope! It's what we use when we have nothing else (get it? you know, since Kratos lost all of his items and powers earlier?)! Go Team! So that was the dev team's one attempt at being artistic in the whole series. It makes me laugh. Kratos using the power of hope, hehehehehe.
Now if you know anything about Pandora's Box, Hope is what laid at the bottom of the Box and, according to Greek Mythology, it's the one thing that didn't escape when Pandora opened it.
Apparently Pandora's words have an effect on Kratos as he comes back to life. He frees himself from Zeus spirit. Take note that Kratos' hands now have a blue flame glow. Kratos pulls out his normal blades and you get to fight the Spirit in First-Person Mode. It's an easy fight, eventually the spirit turns back into normal Zeus and Kratos begins to pummel him, still in First-Person. This part is dumb. Technically Kratos can take out his endless frustration on Zeus corpse by just smashing the O button. Eventually the screen will be covered with blood. You won't be able to see anything except for red and you can still smash the O button repeatedly. If you stop pressing the button the screen clears and Zeus explodes. Kratos now gets to stare out over a wasteland.
It's at this point that Athena appears. She demands that Kratos give her the power that he used to kill Zeus. Kratos tells her that the box was empty. Time for a very silly reveal. Through this cutscene it is revealed that during the first game, when Kratos opened Pandora's Box he actually released everything that was inside of it. The Darkness infected the Gods and that's why Zeus became so paranoid and desperate to kill Kratos. Kratos was actually infected with Hope. It was Hope that allowed him to kill Ares. This basically means that the events of the third game were pointless! Kratos always had the power, opening the box was dumb. The whole quest to open the box was dumb. Every part of it was dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
Anyways, Athena still demands the power and Kratos tells her to screw off and that his vengeance ends here. Kratos picks up the Blade of Olympus and stabs himself with it, this spreading the power of Hope into the air and giving to whatever creature remain alive. Athena is mad, calls Kratos a disappointment and then leaves. We're shown Kratos with a massive hole through him slowly bleeding out. Roll credits.
And then the credits end. There's a short scene after the credits. It shows a trail of blood where Kratos had been lying that leads towards the ocean and then vanishes over a cliff. This of course leaves the ending ambiguous. Kratos may now find some way to survive and return for God of War IV: The Search For More Money.
I don't even know what to say now that it's over. The third game ends with the Earth as a wasteland. Kratos may or may not be dead. Hope is spread among whatever poor survivors are still hanging around. It's just such a sad state. This is all made worse by the shoe-horned story that was thrown together for this game. Yes it really is that bad which is shame since the combat is still so much fun. But let's be honest, that's why you play these games. You're not looking for something that makes sense, or blows your mind away. You want over the top action and God of War III delivers in spades. The games attempt at redeeming Kratos is just unnecessary. Kratos is a monster, a force of nature the likes the world never needed to see. They really should have just left it at that.
Now what should I play next?
Monday, February 21, 2011
God of War III - The Escort Mission
Escort missions are pretty much the bane of video game existance. You're running along just fine having a grand time by yourself when suddenly you get a (generally) helpless companion who you have to protect. Normally this companion has horribly controlled AI, cannot fend for themselves, constantly dies/ gets in your way and is all around useless. When this mission finally happens I normally cannot wait for it to be over and this holds true in God of War III. The only escort mission that seems to get a lot of praise is actually an entire game called Ico. I wasn't really a big fan of Ico, but I love Shadow of the Colossus.
The actual Labyrinth should really have its name changed. A labyrinth is a giant maze filled with challenges. This Labyrinth has a couple of small puzzles that involve rotating the room and an occasional fight. Since each room is pretty straight forward you won't find yourself having to backtrack because you took a wrong turn. Plus there's no giant minotaur waiting at the end of the Labyrinth which is too bad since I was really looking forward to it. As a whole it doesn't feel very Labyrinth-like, more like cheap death-y.
The worst room in the whole Labyrinth is this room with spikes. The spikes will pop out of the floor in a predictable pattern while demons, minotaurs and sirens will spawn and give Kratos a hard time. I actually died in this room quite a few times (enough that I was offered easy mode). The room is more frustrating then challenging, but I find this true for most large enemy fights. I would end up getting stuck on the spikes while trying to dodge an enemy and it's a one hit kill. Once this room is cleared Kratos reaches the Heart of the Labyrinth, here Kratos finds Pandora.
This is what I thought of when I saw Pandora
So Pandora is this kid who's had a rough life and she's lived in this Labyrinth for a little while. Apparently she's been here long enough to know the way out. Kratos now has Pandora in tow. It's not really an escort mission since I don't think Pandora can be killed by enemies, I count that as a blessing. She also won't SHUT THE HELL UP!!! Shortly after rescuing her Kratos gets into a fight with some common enemies. The entire fight Pandora is running around yelling at Kratos to "watch out" or "be careful" or to "help her". She literally seems to yell something every 2 seconds or so. I just want her to shut up already.
Pandora also gets herself stuck in traps on a regular basis. Leaving the Labyrinth requires that two people work together. Since Pandora is so small she has to slide into narrower areas to activate switches. Every time she does she inevitably triggers a trap. This normally gives Kratos a small window of time to disarm the trap and save Pandora. The entire time Pandora is trapped she'll yell, "Eek! Save me Kratos!" "Kratos hurry!" "I'm incapable of doing anything myself Kratos" Ok, I made that last one up but hopefully you get the point. But that's what it feels like. I honestly can't wait for her eventual death. And if by some horrid twist of fate she should survive the end of the game, I'll be pissed.
Once Kratos and Pandora have escaped the Labyrinth Pandora tells Kratos that he mush break that Chain of Balance, ya know, the really big chain that Kratos flew/climbed up at the beginning of the game. Kratos jumps off the top of the Labyrinth and follows the chain. Back. Down. To. Hades. This is Kratos' 5th trip to Hades over the numbered games (so not counting the PSP titles). At least these last two times have been his own personal choice and not by someone killing him.
The flight down the Chain is not fun and it is long. Sections of gameplay like this can be rough to pull off properly. The biggest issue is the dev team has is to give enough warning so the player can reach an opening. This section doesn't really have that. Plus it's hard to tell what size hole Kratos can actually fit through. There were many times when I hit something when I thought I could fit and many times where I fit when I thought I would crash. This section also suffers from the "hit one and you hit them all" syndrome. I would literally smash into one wooden plank and then proceed to hit 5 more before I was able to gain control again. This section could have easily benefited by giving Kratos some sort of "smash" move so he could nullify a plank or board. The move would have to be limited so it couldn't be spammed. A move to slow Kratos down would also be appreciated. It would really help me get my barrings. Of course, this would also have to be limited. Just to note: if you die on the way down, you have to do the whole thing all over again.
Once at the base of the Chain Kratos has to fight a flaming Cerberus that spits exploding puppies at you. The fight gets harder once Satyrs start showing up. I had to learn to kill the Satyrs first and then focus on the Cerberus all the while dodging exploding puppies. I still had to use my Rage mode (which I'm still not a big fan of) to finish the fight. Once the boss was dead it was time to break the Chain.
Breaking the Chain requires deactivating the three Judges that control it. This is very simple. It just requires using the Gauntlets on the crystal on the back of each Judge's head. There are a few fights that appear, but they're fairly minor and easy to overcome. With the Judges down Kratos can easily break that chain. Once the Chain is broken Pandora calls for help (surprise, surprise). So Kratos rushes to her. This involves another flying sequence. Thankfully it's a short one.
Pandora's not really in trouble. It seems that Athena appeared just to keep her company or something. Athena tells Kratos to remember his purpose and that's pretty much where I saved. It's pretty obvious I'm near the end. I do look forward to finally taking Zeus down.
I'm also impressed that Daedalus was able to write Kratos a note in his own blood, especially since Daedalus is suspended in the air by his arms. His outstretched arms.
The actual Labyrinth should really have its name changed. A labyrinth is a giant maze filled with challenges. This Labyrinth has a couple of small puzzles that involve rotating the room and an occasional fight. Since each room is pretty straight forward you won't find yourself having to backtrack because you took a wrong turn. Plus there's no giant minotaur waiting at the end of the Labyrinth which is too bad since I was really looking forward to it. As a whole it doesn't feel very Labyrinth-like, more like cheap death-y.
The worst room in the whole Labyrinth is this room with spikes. The spikes will pop out of the floor in a predictable pattern while demons, minotaurs and sirens will spawn and give Kratos a hard time. I actually died in this room quite a few times (enough that I was offered easy mode). The room is more frustrating then challenging, but I find this true for most large enemy fights. I would end up getting stuck on the spikes while trying to dodge an enemy and it's a one hit kill. Once this room is cleared Kratos reaches the Heart of the Labyrinth, here Kratos finds Pandora.
This is what I thought of when I saw Pandora
 |
| Alexandra Cabot. She has a skunk on her head. |
Pandora also gets herself stuck in traps on a regular basis. Leaving the Labyrinth requires that two people work together. Since Pandora is so small she has to slide into narrower areas to activate switches. Every time she does she inevitably triggers a trap. This normally gives Kratos a small window of time to disarm the trap and save Pandora. The entire time Pandora is trapped she'll yell, "Eek! Save me Kratos!" "Kratos hurry!" "I'm incapable of doing anything myself Kratos" Ok, I made that last one up but hopefully you get the point. But that's what it feels like. I honestly can't wait for her eventual death. And if by some horrid twist of fate she should survive the end of the game, I'll be pissed.
Once Kratos and Pandora have escaped the Labyrinth Pandora tells Kratos that he mush break that Chain of Balance, ya know, the really big chain that Kratos flew/climbed up at the beginning of the game. Kratos jumps off the top of the Labyrinth and follows the chain. Back. Down. To. Hades. This is Kratos' 5th trip to Hades over the numbered games (so not counting the PSP titles). At least these last two times have been his own personal choice and not by someone killing him.
The flight down the Chain is not fun and it is long. Sections of gameplay like this can be rough to pull off properly. The biggest issue is the dev team has is to give enough warning so the player can reach an opening. This section doesn't really have that. Plus it's hard to tell what size hole Kratos can actually fit through. There were many times when I hit something when I thought I could fit and many times where I fit when I thought I would crash. This section also suffers from the "hit one and you hit them all" syndrome. I would literally smash into one wooden plank and then proceed to hit 5 more before I was able to gain control again. This section could have easily benefited by giving Kratos some sort of "smash" move so he could nullify a plank or board. The move would have to be limited so it couldn't be spammed. A move to slow Kratos down would also be appreciated. It would really help me get my barrings. Of course, this would also have to be limited. Just to note: if you die on the way down, you have to do the whole thing all over again.
Once at the base of the Chain Kratos has to fight a flaming Cerberus that spits exploding puppies at you. The fight gets harder once Satyrs start showing up. I had to learn to kill the Satyrs first and then focus on the Cerberus all the while dodging exploding puppies. I still had to use my Rage mode (which I'm still not a big fan of) to finish the fight. Once the boss was dead it was time to break the Chain.
Breaking the Chain requires deactivating the three Judges that control it. This is very simple. It just requires using the Gauntlets on the crystal on the back of each Judge's head. There are a few fights that appear, but they're fairly minor and easy to overcome. With the Judges down Kratos can easily break that chain. Once the Chain is broken Pandora calls for help (surprise, surprise). So Kratos rushes to her. This involves another flying sequence. Thankfully it's a short one.
Pandora's not really in trouble. It seems that Athena appeared just to keep her company or something. Athena tells Kratos to remember his purpose and that's pretty much where I saved. It's pretty obvious I'm near the end. I do look forward to finally taking Zeus down.
I'm also impressed that Daedalus was able to write Kratos a note in his own blood, especially since Daedalus is suspended in the air by his arms. His outstretched arms.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
God of War III - Enter Escher
Apparently the dev team decided to channel a little bit of M.C. Escher. If you don't know who I mean, M.C. Escher was an artist known for his unique take on perspective. In his work he would create structures that could not actually exist in the physical world. It's absolutely brilliant stuff. Here's a sample and for more info on the man go visit his official website.
Now to pass the Gardens Kratos has to create an Escher style walkway, nothing as fancy as the picture up above though. What I really like about this section is how it forces you to think outside of the realm of normal logic. While running through the Gardens Kratos can use a stone that allows him to see things from a different perspective. It's challenging, it's creative, and I had a good time.
I do, of course, have some complaints that I wish to address. First is the mystical gem that allows Kratos to see all of this. Kratos gets the gem off of a cup that belongs to Hera. Throughout the game, whenever Kratos killed a God or Godlike being they would normally drop an item. If Kratos picked up that item it would unlock a cheat that Kratos could use on the next playthrough. The cup is similar in that nature, it's Hera's special item. The problem that I have is that the cup is necessary to complete the Gardens so it's not actually an extra/bonus item. Personally, I just want to see some consistency, I don't get that here.
Also for Kratos to beat this area, a lot of random things have to actually happen. For instance, if Hera didn't throw away her cup at the start of the Gardens Kratos would never have been able to complete the area. It's actually crucial that Hera be in the Gardens for anyone to complete it. There's a point when Kratos has to fill these giant chalices with water. But Kratos can't access one of them because it has a bunch of vines growing on it. I don't see why Kratos can't just chop down the vines with his blades, but this is a game and it has rules.
To get past the vines actually requires Kratos to find Hera again and when he does she's still drunk and pissing and moaning about how everything is falling apart and how much Kratos sucks. Kratos actually doesn't care, at least until she insults Pandora, then Kratos snaps her neck. Hera's death causes all of the plant life to immediately shrivel and die. This is still odd since Hera was the Goddess of women and marriage. You would think that divorce rates would go up instead or something. But with Hera dead Kratos can burn the vines and fill the chalice.
That's great, but there's actually another chalice that needs to be filled, but there's no way to get water to it. It's a good thing Hera's body didn't explode or dissolve when she died, because Kratos dumps it in the final chalice thus allowing the Escher staircase to be completed and the exit discovered.
You see if Hera hadn't been there Kratos would never have gotten the cup, he never would have killed the plants, and he would've had to look harder for a body to use. Kratos beating the Gardens is all Hera's fault. If she hadn't been there she would of had her wish. Kratos would have wandered the Gardens forever and he never would have found his way out. But lets be honest, he probably would have just torn the place down brick by brick to get through.
The next part is much more straight forward. Kratos is actually back in that giant box room from earlier when he climbed the giant chain while chasing Hermes. All this area really involves is finding a giant "Skorpion" (it has a K, it's fancy) and getting an ice crystal thing from it. I was hoping this ice crystal would give Kratos an ice attack, but sadly the crystal is only used at certain points. With the crystal Kratos makes his way to Daedalus, who, much to my surprise, is still alive. I was expecting to ransack his body and use it for keys or something (this might still happen). Kratos informs Daedalus that Icarus is dead. But Icarus would have only died a couple of weeks ago so it actually wasn't unjustified of Daedalus to expect to see his son again. Daedalus is sad and Kratos doesn't care. Kratos uses the ice crystal on another key location (fun swinging parts along the way), Daedalus gets trapped between some boxes and Kratos finally enters the actual Labyrinth. And here I thought Kratos was in the Labyrinth the entire time. Turns out the Labyrinth is actually a bunch of giant boxes shoved together into a giant cube. This sounds like a set up for a bad movie. And that's where I saved.
I like the fact that I'm finding hidden chests and red orbs like mad through this section. It's like the devs said "He's close to the end and there's not enough collectibles in the game yet. Quickly, flood the Labyrinth with them." Not a complaint, just an observation.
I do, of course, have some complaints that I wish to address. First is the mystical gem that allows Kratos to see all of this. Kratos gets the gem off of a cup that belongs to Hera. Throughout the game, whenever Kratos killed a God or Godlike being they would normally drop an item. If Kratos picked up that item it would unlock a cheat that Kratos could use on the next playthrough. The cup is similar in that nature, it's Hera's special item. The problem that I have is that the cup is necessary to complete the Gardens so it's not actually an extra/bonus item. Personally, I just want to see some consistency, I don't get that here.
Also for Kratos to beat this area, a lot of random things have to actually happen. For instance, if Hera didn't throw away her cup at the start of the Gardens Kratos would never have been able to complete the area. It's actually crucial that Hera be in the Gardens for anyone to complete it. There's a point when Kratos has to fill these giant chalices with water. But Kratos can't access one of them because it has a bunch of vines growing on it. I don't see why Kratos can't just chop down the vines with his blades, but this is a game and it has rules.
To get past the vines actually requires Kratos to find Hera again and when he does she's still drunk and pissing and moaning about how everything is falling apart and how much Kratos sucks. Kratos actually doesn't care, at least until she insults Pandora, then Kratos snaps her neck. Hera's death causes all of the plant life to immediately shrivel and die. This is still odd since Hera was the Goddess of women and marriage. You would think that divorce rates would go up instead or something. But with Hera dead Kratos can burn the vines and fill the chalice.
That's great, but there's actually another chalice that needs to be filled, but there's no way to get water to it. It's a good thing Hera's body didn't explode or dissolve when she died, because Kratos dumps it in the final chalice thus allowing the Escher staircase to be completed and the exit discovered.
You see if Hera hadn't been there Kratos would never have gotten the cup, he never would have killed the plants, and he would've had to look harder for a body to use. Kratos beating the Gardens is all Hera's fault. If she hadn't been there she would of had her wish. Kratos would have wandered the Gardens forever and he never would have found his way out. But lets be honest, he probably would have just torn the place down brick by brick to get through.
The next part is much more straight forward. Kratos is actually back in that giant box room from earlier when he climbed the giant chain while chasing Hermes. All this area really involves is finding a giant "Skorpion" (it has a K, it's fancy) and getting an ice crystal thing from it. I was hoping this ice crystal would give Kratos an ice attack, but sadly the crystal is only used at certain points. With the crystal Kratos makes his way to Daedalus, who, much to my surprise, is still alive. I was expecting to ransack his body and use it for keys or something (this might still happen). Kratos informs Daedalus that Icarus is dead. But Icarus would have only died a couple of weeks ago so it actually wasn't unjustified of Daedalus to expect to see his son again. Daedalus is sad and Kratos doesn't care. Kratos uses the ice crystal on another key location (fun swinging parts along the way), Daedalus gets trapped between some boxes and Kratos finally enters the actual Labyrinth. And here I thought Kratos was in the Labyrinth the entire time. Turns out the Labyrinth is actually a bunch of giant boxes shoved together into a giant cube. This sounds like a set up for a bad movie. And that's where I saved.
I like the fact that I'm finding hidden chests and red orbs like mad through this section. It's like the devs said "He's close to the end and there's not enough collectibles in the game yet. Quickly, flood the Labyrinth with them." Not a complaint, just an observation.
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