Back in 2010, Stig Asmussen and his team at Sony Santa Monica shocked the gaming world with the breathtaking God of War 3Â for PlayStation 3, a worthy sequel that took Kratos’ combat skills to the next level in his quest for vengeance against Zeus. Today, that adventure returns with a new Remastered edition for PlayStation 4, so you can relive its epicness all over again.
In case you need some brushing up – or are experiencing Kratos’ epic adventure for the first time – here are some tips to help get you started.
General Combat
When it comes to fending off groups of enemies, there are a variety of moves that Kratos can use to finish them off. Players can chain together various combos using weak and strong attacks with ease, and the range of the Blades of Chaos enable him to hit more than one opponent at a time.
Against tougher enemies – such as the larger bull enemies or the hammer-carrying statues – defensive techniques will need to be used, as they’ll attempt to strike you even while Kratos is hitting them. Use the right analog stick to perform a dodge technique, then get right back into striking range so you can continue doing damage. Be careful – sometimes, these enemies can attack in groups, making it more difficult to dodge their attacks and continue keeping momentum with your strikes. Stick and move, stick and move.
Don’t forget your grab techniques, either. Against smaller enemies, Kratos can either rip someone in half completely, stab them multiple times before flinging them at adversaries or, my personal favorite, grab someone and become an impromptu battering ram. This move is very effective against groups of foes, as you can knock them down, throw away your temporary shield, and then immediately perform a combo to finish off the others while they’re down for the count. Give this move a try, you won’t be sorry.
Mastering the Quick-Time Event
The quick-time event once again makes its return with God of War III, and it’s relatively easy to master its timing. When button prompts appear on the screen, you’ll notice they appear on a certain part of the screen – triangle appears up top, square appears to the left, X appears on bottom and circle appears on the right. These should help give you an idea of which button you want to press on the D-pad to coordinate with the on-screen prompts, so you get the timing just right.
If you make a mistake, it’s no big deal – the enemy will knock you down, and you’ll have to repeat the process again once a big glowing circle icon appears over their heads. Practice makes perfect, so don’t get frustrated. Understand where the prompts are coming from, and you’ll have the system down pat.
There will also be occasional button mashing, particularly when it comes to getting a Blade of Chaos closer to an enemy, or opening a door. These are pretty simple – just mash the buttons quickly and you’ll be done in about a second’s time or so, either finishing off your foe or moving forward into the level.
Smash Everything, Open Chests and Don’t Forget To Level Up
Finally, it helps to collect everything you can in God of War III, mainly because it’ll get you that much closer to leveling up and unlocking Kratos’ full potential.
You’ll do this using red orbs that are picked up over the course of a level, whether it’s from defeated enemies or opening up glowing chests with red orbs on them. By getting more of these, you can access a level up screen and fill it up with orbs that you collect. Doing so will unlock new moves for Kratos, as well as unlocking other ones for new weapons he picks up over the course of the game. (We’ll cover this later this week with our God of War III Remastered weapons guide.) Even if you’re in the thick of battle, you can always pause and trade in your red orbs, and see how many you need to get to the next level.
In addition, you can also find red orbs by smashing items in the level. Those pots sitting over on the side of the stage? You can break those to collect a few extra. You can also kill additional people in a stage, such as wandering souls or (dare we say it) innocents to collect a few extra orbs. Hey, it’s all for the sake of defeating Zeus anyway, so don’t feel so bad about it.
Finally, be sure to keep an eye open for additional chests. These will help you regain lost health and magic energy, as well as finding items, like the Gorgon Eye, that can help increase your overall strength and vitality. Don’t be afraid to venture around levels and see what additional chests you can find – it never hurts to do some collecting.
God of War 3 Remastered is available now for PlayStation 4. Get your fill of Kratos with these classic God of War screenshots and get some insight behind the making of the game.
