God of War III

God of War III is an Action Adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, first released for the PlayStation 3 on March 16, 2010. It was also included in the God of War Saga released for PlayStation 3 on August 28, 2012. In celebration of the God of War franchise's tenth anniversary, a God of War III Remastered was released for the PlayStation 4 on July 14, 2015. A sequel to 2007's God of War II, God of War III is the fifth installment in the God of War series, the seventh entry chronologically, and the last of the games to deal with the Greek era.

Kratos and the Titans start the second Titanomachy against the Olympian Gods, climbing up Mount Olympus itself to confront Zeus and his supporters. Poseidon and various other gods intervene and bring the fight to the Titans, with the sea god confronting Kratos directly as his first battle. Upon defeating and killing Poseidon, Kratos confronts the King of the Gods, who blasts him and Gaia off Mount Olympus without even a fight. Gaia dismiss Kratos as just a pawn and refuses to help him as he falls, leaving him to fall into the Underworld and lose a good chunk of his powers in the process.

While carving his way out of Hades, Kratos meets an unexpected familiar face: the now-dead Athena, who exists as a ghost-like entity. She surprises Kratos by offering him her assistance in killing Zeus - but in order to do so, Kratos must retrieve the box of Pandora from Mount Olympus, with the Olympian Gods interested in preserving Zeus's rule standing between him an his vengeance.

The game features a revamped magic system, a wider variety of enemies, and improved Fixed Camera angles; gameplay is similar to previous installments, with combo-focused combat and a selection of various weapons acquired through the game, and various Quick Time Events. Kratos can be equipped with up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability.

God of War III was critically acclaimed upon release - it is the second best-selling game in the series and the ninth best-selling PlayStation 3 game of all time, selling nearly 5.2 million copies worldwide by June 2012. The game received praise for its graphics, gameplay, and scope, although the plot received mixed reviews. God of War III received several awards, including "Most Anticipated Game of 2010" and "Best PS3 Game" at the 2009 and 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, respectively, and the "Artistic Achievement" award at the 2011 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Video Game Awards.

Initially believed to be the last game in the series, 2018 surprised fans with the release of a sequel titled God of War on April 20, serving as a re-imagining of the franchise that shifts the focus to Norse Mythology.

""You challenge ME, mortal? A GOD of OLYMPUS?!""
 * Ancient Greece:.
 * Anti-Hero: Kratos is a Type V here, motivated by nothing more than vengeance. Not even the natural disaster he unleashes by killing Poseidon gives him any cause for regret....
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Revealed to be the fate of.
 * The Atoner: Played straight..
 * Attack of the Monster Appendage: Poseidon, the first boss, is a Type 2.
 * Awesomeness Meter: Rage of Sparta.
 * Back from the Dead: Kratos in series tradition, which also doubles as the equally-traditional...
 * Bag of Spilling: A well-established tradition at the beginning of the game.
 * Berserk Button: Do not make jabs at Kratos's family.
 * In Hera's garden, Kratos actually tries to go around her and leave, even though she tried to have him killed several times, until she calls Pandora a whore... and you have an over-the-shoulder view facing Kratos as she says it.
 * Bloodier and Gorier: This game heavily ramps up the carnage, to the point where the studio couldn't release some screenshots on gaming news websites without being censored. They even had an independent engine in place to animate enemies being ripped to pieces and having their organs fall out. Some highlights:
 * Kratos disemboweling a centaur boss, complete with spilling organs.
 * Kratos ripping the eyes out of Cyclopes as before, with a much more graphic animation that includes blood flooding out of the socket and sinews hanging from the eye
 * Kratos ripping off Helios's head. And then he uses it as a flashlight.
 * The end result of the fight against.
 * Think the gutting of centaurs is bad? Just wait till he guts.
 * Book Ends: The first game began with Kratos jumping off the highest mountain in Greece saying "the Gods of Olympus have abandoned me"..
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Depends on who you ask. The sex minigame in God of War III is with Aphrodite - if you're of the "Aphrodite is Zeus' daughter" school of thought, then it counts. If you're of the "Aphrodite was born from the foam of Ouranos's severed testicle as it hit the seas" school, then it's averted: Aphrodite would technically be his half great-aunt, rather than his sister.
 * Bullying a Dragon:.
 * Cain and Abel:.
 * Captain Ersatz: The parallels between Kratos and Hercules are indirectly acknowledged when the latter finally shows up and claims that Kratos is stealing his thunder. Considering that Kratos had already killed the Hydra at that point, he may well be right.
 * In the novel, it's revealed that the Hydra fought by Kratos was the one killed by Hercules in the past and brought back to life.
 * Chain Lightning: The Nemesis Whip, a chain-whipe that produces lightning and doubles as a Visual Pun on this.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang:.
 * Clothing Damage: The God armor he wore in God of War II is absolutely in tatters by now.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Kratos takes a brief trip inside Gaia while trying to save her from one of the enlarged Poseidon's claws, passing by her heart as one of Poseidon's attacks opens up a passageway..
 * Colossus Climb: Done at the beginning of the game, as Kratos navigates the Titans during their assault on Olympus.
 * Combat Commentator: A drunken Hera provides a commentary to Kratos's fight with Hercules, starting with an almost-motherly "Now you boys play nice!"
 * Compilation Rerelease: The God of War Collection on PS3 included Updated Rereleases of the two PS2 games, along with a code for unlocking an exclusive God Of War III demo prior to its actual release.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: All over the place - the game starts with a Curb Stomp War, as the Gods manage to down a half-dozen of the Titans climbing Mount Olympus within the first ten minutes of gameplay, and the rest more or less are beaten off-screen. Odds are, without Kratos on the Titan's side, the war would have been wrapped up in a half hour with the Gods being victorious. This makes one wonder why the gods were so concerned about them in the first place.
 * Cutscene Boss:
 * Kratos is forced to kill Perses, the volcanic Titan that he aided against Helios previously, in this type of "fight" while traveling through an Icarus vent.
 * Helios is one as well. While aiding the minions of Olympus against Kratos and the Titans by throwing fireballs into the area, Kratos used a ballista to damage Helios' Sun Chariot, causing him to fly straight into the hand of Perses, who then crushed Helios and threw into the city. Kratos later finds him here, using a Cyclops to smash through a battalion of Olympus Sentinels that converged on the wounded god, and demands the location of The Flame of Olympus before violently stomping his head, ignoring Helios's pleas to stop. After finally getting the information he wanted out of Helios, Kratos then soldiers through a final attempt to stop him and grabs Helios's head, breaks his neck, and finally tears it off - keeping it to use as a light source after.
 * Hephaestus serves as one after . His godly possession inadvertently lampshades this, as it unlocks a cheat that automatically completes quick-time events for you (which was present in previous games).
 * The defining example is Hera. After her champion Heracles tried and failed to kill him, Kratos finds a drunken and plague-weakened Hera in her garden; as he reaches the end of the garden, Hera blocks his way, with Kratos trying to get around her, not in the mood for a fight... right up until she calls Pandora 'that little whore',.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Hades averts the usual stereotypes (minus perhaps greed, if the manuals are reliable) and has genuine reasons to hate Kratos, . Some of the Titans arguably qualify as well, since Zeus was the one with the brilliant idea of punishing them forever for "the sins of just one", justified though it may be.
 * Dark Messiah:.
 * Death by Irony: In ancient Greece, worshipers of Hades would so the god of the underworld would hear them.
 * Death by Sex: Inverted. . To be fair, Kratos consistently maintained that if the Gods would stay out of his way on the path to kill Zeus, he would leave them alone. Most of the gods did not oblige.
 * Death of the Old Gods:.
 * Decapitation Presentation: Kratos with the head of Helios.
 * Depth Perplexion: An entire puzzle is made out of this in Hera's Garden. When you activate a switch, a green filter appears on the screen, causing the camera to zoom away as stairways that are only adjacent by perspective become connected for real. This allows you to reach the top of the garden without having to perform a single jump.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: During the beginning of God of War II, when, the save screen says "Zeus has given you the opportunity to save your progress"; later in the game, that named is changed to . In this game, , there is no message.
 * Disappointed in You: says this to Kratos when he.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The hilariously suggestive sex minigame - given where the half-circle-up is, it does rather suggest Kratos takes an unholy amount of time getting out of the practically nothing he's usually almost wearing.
 * Driven to Suicide:.
 * Dual-Wielding: Kratos's standard Blades of Chaos and the Claws of Hades.
 * Dying Alone:.
 * Dying Moment of Awesome: When Helios' plea for his life ends in vain, he out of nowhere . Doesn't stop him from losing his head.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Arguably the case here.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Poseidon's aquatic form.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Light'Em Up: What Kratos uses the head of Helios for.
 * Make Me Wanna Shout: The Nemean Cestus has a magical "roar".
 * Making a Splash: Divine Reckoning, the magic ability for the Blades of Athena at the beginning of the game.
 * Shock and Awe: The Nemesis Whip.
 * The End of the World as We Know It:.
 * Escort Mission:
 * At one point, Kratos must drag "Poseidon's Princess" along with him in order to use her to jam a gear mechanism so that he can make it through a door, leaving her to be very painfully crushed.
 * Surprisingly subverted with . While you help her get to, she only needs dire protection from enemies maybe twice. She is quite competent at avoiding enemy attacks, which is great due to the major enemy rushes that happen.
 * Essence Drop: As with previous entries: red orbs for experience, blue for magic and green for health.
 * Evil Gloating: This ends up being Hercules's undoing..
 * Exploding Barrels: There are exploding oil pots that can be ignited by the Bow of Apollo.
 * Extreme Melee Revenge:.
 * Eye Scream: Kratos's standard Finishing Move against Cyclops enemies returns. He also ends up doing it to in a Shaky POV Cam Quick Time Event - which fittingly uses the thumb sticks.
 * At a few points during the battle with, Kratos is required to blind him by giving him a burst of sunlight from Helios' head.
 * Fake Skill: The "New Game+" glitch in the 3rd game.
 * Fanservice Extra:
 * "Poseidon's Princess" is a woman in a topless outfit that doesn't even have a proper name - she is implied to be an enslaved lover of Poseidon, and only appears for a short Escort Mission... which ends with her very painful death.
 * Aphrodite's nameless handmaidens, whose only appearance is in the Hot Coffee Minigame where they watch Kratos and Aphrodite go at it off-camera.
 * Fantastic Light Source: Kratos uses Helios's head as a lantern.
 * Fighting Down Memory Lane:.
 * Fingore:.
 * Five-Bad Band: The gods definitely qualify.
 * Big Bad: Zeus, oh so very much.
 * The Dragon: Poseidon kills a Titan in one shot, holds back the rest, and would have killed Gaia if Kratos hadn't stopped him. Helios acts as a Co-Dragon of sorts, and would have killed Perses had Kratos not intervened - he also seems quite determined to not let Kratos kill Zeus, despite his apparent cowardice.
 * The Brute: Hades relies more on hitting Kratos with his chain blade things than anything else, and his second form relies on nasty physical attacks.
 * Evil Genius: Hermes, who delivers a nasty Hannibal Lecture to Kratos, and is smart enough not to directly confront him... at first, anyway.
 * Dark Chick: Hera, who never actually fights.
 * Sixth Ranger: Hercules, who's not actually a god but fights Kratos at Hera's insistence, both out of a desire for godhood himself and because he's terribly jealous of Kratos' success.
 * Fixed Camera
 * Flunky Boss:
 * Hercules is fought alongside skeletal soldiers in the first stage of his battle.
 * Scorpion, the guardian of the labyrinth, is fought alongside smaller ice scorpions.
 * Foe-Tossing Charge: Kratos can do this when he grabs an enemy, using their body as a battering ram as he dashes through enemies. After running for a while, he'll simply toss the body, or slam their head into a wall if he hits one.
 * Follow the Plotted Line: Justified. Kratos is in search of Pandora's Box and knows it is somewhere on Olympus - given how important the temple where it was stored was to Zeus and the other gods (it's where they were watching the Titans attack the mountain from), it was really only a matter of time.
 * Fragile Speedster: Hermes.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: Several topless women and female monsters, such as the usual Gorgons and Harpies.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Icarus' Wings alternate between Cutscene Incompetence and Cutscene Power to the Max. At the beginning of the game, Kratos doesn't think about using them before (though he likely would've been shot down regardless). In several cutscenes afterwards, he uses them to actually fly, while you can only glide in gameplay. You do get a couple of actual flying segments though - once using a powerful updraft, and again by skydiving down the same tunnel.
 * Get Back Here Boss: The majority of your encounter with Hermes is simply chasing him down; since he's the speedy messenger of the gods, he delights in dashing about making fun of you. Once you manage to knock the wind out of him, he barely puts up a fight to speak of&mdash;chasing him down was the real contest.
 * Gorn: A series standard, taken Up to Eleven in this game.
 * Gotterdammerung: The developers have said that God of War III will explain why Greek myths aren't around anymore..
 * Ground Pound: One of the moves available with the Blades of Chaos, and Hercules is also capable of this.
 * Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The Olympus Sentries are men who use swords and clubs, while the Olympus Archers are women who wield bows.
 * Hannibal Lecture: In the path of the Caverns, Hermes completely deconstructs Kratos, who can only listen..
 * Harder Than Hard: Chaos difficulty.
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power:.
 * Heel Face Turn:.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: . Also a Tear Jerker given how hard Kratos tries to stop it. The fact that only worsens the blow..
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:.
 * Homage: The Labyrinth in the third game reminds one of Cube.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight:.
 * Hot Coffee Minigame/Optional Sexual Encounter: With Aphrodite this time.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Often done in Finishing Moves.
 * Incoming Ham: Hermes. God, that laugh. Just watch the boss fight in all its glory.
 * And Poseidon:
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Often done in Finishing Moves.
 * Incoming Ham: Hermes. God, that laugh. Just watch the boss fight in all its glory.
 * And Poseidon:


 * Helios sounds like a Sunny Delight commercial:

"Feel the power of the Sun!!!"

that it doesn't cover her breasts - and another covering her hips. It also seems to be her maidens' standard outfit. "Wow, this really is for mature audiences only! Parents shouldn't let their kids watch this!"
 * Insurmountable Waist High Fence
 * Ironic Echo:
 * It's All About Me: Kratos as always..
 * Jerkass Gods: The Greek gods are total asshats as usual, with the exception of perhaps Hephaestus..
 * Hades is also an example, though a lesser one where Kratos is concerned. Sure, his hatred for Kratos is justified - the man killed several of Hades's family, after all! - but he still kidnaps his niece and forces her to become his wife and when her mother demands her return, Hades tricks her into eating fruit from the underworld ensuring that she has to stay in the underworld at least 1/3 of the year. Persephone even hated him and the rest of the gods so much, she.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind:.
 * Just Eat Him: This is how Kronos attempted to prevent his own offspring from rising up against him: devouring them as infants - they survived because they're gods..
 * Karmic Death: Hermes, who boasts constantly about being faster than Kratos, gets rewarded for his taunts by.
 * Kick the Dog: Zeus does this when.
 * Kill'Em All: . Even with that, the ending is still surprisingly hopeful}}.
 * Lady Drunk: Hera, which is hard to blame her for given the state of the world.
 * Lead the Target: Since Hermes is so fast, this is a good way to hit him.
 * Light Is Not Good: Helios, Zeus and Hermes. Also.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Zeus, no pun intended, is insanely fast and strong. . Not to mention Kratos himself.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: Kratos as always, and he even lampshades this.
 * Limit Break: Kratos's Rage of Sparta.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Zeus,.
 * Medusa
 * Melee a Trois:.
 * Mighty Glacier: Hercules.
 * Morality Pet:.
 * Motive Rant: Hades gives a pretty impressive one before fighting Kratos. He hates the Spartan for . After all that, it's perfectly clear that he'll enjoy tormenting Kratos' soul a lot if he wins.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Aphrodite, of course, it's literally her divine domain.
 * Mundane Utility: In a hilariously audacious example, Kratos uses Helios' severed and still screaming head as a flashlight.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Done with quietly exquisite beauty in
 * A Mythology Is True: The Greek mythos gets one last hurrah.
 * Necromancer: The Claws of Hades allows the wielder to summon the spirits of dead humans and monsters to strike their opponents.
 * Never Found the Body:.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:.
 * Nothing Is Scarier: In a rare moment of spooky suspense, you have to turn a very slow crank while four four Stone Talos statues surround you - you've likely been fighting them with quite some difficulty one-on-one until now, and you just know they're gonna ambush you..
 * Offing the Offspring:.
 * Off with His Head: But of course, Kratos does this to several enemies and a god.
 * Ominous Greek Chanting
 * Once an Episode/Rule of Three: This being the third game, various tropes and motifs end up qualifying.
 * One-Woman Wail: Pandora's song.
 * Overly Long Gag:.
 * Parental Favoritism: Hercules accuses Kratos of . This is debatable.
 * Papa Wolf:Hephaestus, in regard to Pandora. He's the only one of the gods who . Kratos later lampshades it to Pandora when he tells her that Hephaestus did as a loving father would do.
 * Perpetual Frowner: Everyone, especially Kratos.
 * Please Don't Leave Me: "Poseidon's Princess", whom Kratos drags around for a short section before using her body to jam a gear mechanism so that he can make it through a set of doors - she begs for her life to no avail, and you hear incredibly painful screams as you leave.
 * Power Fist: The Nemean Cestus.
 * Powerup Mount: The harpies Kratos uses as his "rides" before killing them.
 * Soul Power: The Claws of Hades lets Kratos summon the souls of various enemy monsters.
 * Production Throwback: The stylistic Precap and flashback scenes of God of War III were designed by Imaginary Forces. The team confirms that they are an allusion to the ending credits of The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which were also designed by them.
 * Punched Across the Room: Hercules does this to Kratos every time he lands a blow.
 * Rage Against the Heavens
 * Rated "M" for Manly
 * Real Time Weapon Change
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Every god has one to some degree, along with some Evil Gloating. The kicker? Their accusations of Kratos being a monster who seeks only destruction and vengeance are far from unfounded. Special mention to Zeus, who mocks Kratos for failing everyone he's ever cared about.
 * Redemption Equals Death:.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni:.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Kratos is trapped in the Underworld, with a very pissed off Hades taunting him the whole way. He blocks his path with a statue of himself, and tries to guilt trip Kratos into giving up by showing him the casket of his dead wife that Kratos murdered. So, what does he do?.
 * Revenge Before Reason: Kratos is willing to wreck the world for revenge on Zeus..
 * Rewarding Vandalism
 * Ridiculously Human Robot: Pandora is an artificial being created by Hephaestus and stated to be "neither living or dead", but she looks and behaves like a real human being. She does not need to eat, however, as inferred by her isolation in the Labyrinth, and does possess some superhuman reflexes..
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Culminates in this game.
 * Sadistic Choice: Towards the end.
 * Sadly Mythtaken:
 * Pandora's Box partially averts this, though seemingly not at first..
 * Hera is the Goddess of Marriage..
 * The death of causes a plague - but  had nothing to do with disease, and the god of disease was Apollo. Then again,  is often misused as a health care symbol... Perhaps that finally came full circle?
 * Say My Name / Skyward Scream: All over the place.
 * Scenery Porn: Literally brought to life.
 * Scenery Gorn: "In the end, there will be only chaos" indeed..
 * Second-Person Attack: One part of the Poseidon battle has you seeing Kratos' brutality through Poseidon's eyes.
 * Senseless Sacrifice:.
 * Serrated Blade of Pain: Kratos' swords.
 * Sexy Discretion Shot: Subverted. While Kratos has sex with Aphrodite, the camera pans away... to two of Aphrodite's slave girls feeling each other up while watching the whole thing. The two handmaidens murmur about how it's for mature audiences and parents shouldn't let their children watch it while fondling each others' naked breasts... and if you succeed, there is another discretion shot as the two maidens "go to the next step", and the camera pans back to Aphrodite.
 * Shaky POV Cam: Brutally subverted with.
 * Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: Level 2.
 * Stripperiffic: Good goddesses, Aphrodite. Her outfit consists of a strip of cloth across her chest - which is so thin
 * Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: Level 2.
 * Stripperiffic: Good goddesses, Aphrodite. Her outfit consists of a strip of cloth across her chest - which is so thin
 * Strong as They Need to Be: The Titans go largely from providing Kratos powers in God of War II to simply being big and imposing in this game.
 * Taken for Granite: Kratos's Finishing Move against the more powerful Gorgons lets him tear off their heads and use them to freeze surrounding enemies.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: Hercules considers defeating Kratos a thirteenth Labour..
 * The Three Faces of Eve: Pandora is the child, young and naive ; Athena is the wise and calmer of the three ; and Aphrodite is the independent and sexually experienced woman who dismisses her husband as useless.
 * This Is Sparta:
 * Too Dumb to Live: Kratos, Kratos, Kratos...
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth:.
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hades and Persephone, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, and Kronos and Rhea.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change: The short Rhythm Game-style section near the middle of the game.
 * The Unfettered: Kratos, as ever. One way or another, humanity and the gods be damned, Zeus must die.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Second verse, same as the first. To Kratos's credit, by the end he has finally had enough and sees through.
 * Uriah Gambit:.
 * Vapor Wear: A glitch can reveal Hercules's bare behind, shown here in this video.
 * Variable-Length Chain: Dueling Variable Length Chains when Kratos fights Hades, who uses his eponymous Claws.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: As usual, the game revels in this.
 * Villain Ball:
 * Villain-Beating Artifact: Pandora's box, which contains the only thing that can kill a god, and Kratos's main objective in order to defeat Zeus..
 * Visual Pun:.
 * Warmup Boss: Poseidon.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gaia.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Hercules' motivation to defeat Kratos.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: Lampshaded by Aphrodite's concubines during the Hot Coffee Minigame.


 * What Happened to the Mouse?:
 * We never really see what becomes of most of the other Titans assaulting Mount Olympus, and can only assume that they apparently failed in their assault on the gods. Two of them are knocked off the mountain mid-climb, but their survival or demise is left ambiguous.
 * At the end of the game.
 * What Have I Become?: Kratos says it verbatim in the Temple of Pandora.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Other than her creator Hephaestus, the other gods shunned Pandora, as she is really a statue that had been given life. They tend to address her as "It" instead of "She". Ironic, considering.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Averted with prejudice.
 * Womb Level: Gaia,.
 * You Bastard: Kratos can find letters in Hades written about him. One is from his mother lamenting how everything around her son dies and that she failed as a mother, and another is from the boat captain of the previous games damning Kratos to Hades.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: You really can't.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kratos usually kills those who had helped him once they're no longer useful or if their death becomes useful. Karma kicks him in the ass when . It fails, of course.
 * Subverted when.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: Hades tries this on Kratos, even uttering the Trope Name in the pre-battle cutscene..