Second Look - God of War III Remastered

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

Following the release of God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP in 2008 came the long-awaited God of War III in 2010, the first to be released on the PS3. This installment happens to be my personal favorite in the series and one I have a fond memory of playing, in part since I attended a midnight launch of the game in my senior year of high school and, due to the timing of its release, was able to play through the entirety of the game across two days since I was able to skip most of those two days (I was also admittedly a little obsessive of its development during the pre-release hype). While God of War III also got the remaster treatment like most of the other Greek games, in the form of God of War III Remastered, this is also notably the only one of those games to be released on PS4, likely as a way of hyping the then-upcoming 2018 game. Naturally, I also played the remaster when it came out, and found it only fitting to revisit this game through said remaster. While I liked the original version well enough as a teenager, I got a lot more out of the game’s story on this playthrough, allowing me to appreciate it even further.

Second Look - God of War: Chains of Olympus

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Between God of War II and III, two portable games were released to help fill in the gaps in both the release and the story. The second of these games was God of War: Chains of Olympus, released on the PSP and developed by Ready at Dawn, serving as a prequel to the original God of War. Following the release of God of War III, this game and the second PSP game, Ghost of Sparta, were later ported to PS3 as part of God of War: Origins Collection, featuring an HD presentation and gameplay tweaks to bring them more in line with their console brethren. Though I have had experience with the original PSP release and find it to be a good reason to own the handheld, I remembered having a much better time when it was ported to PS3, which was how I decided to re-experience the game while revisiting the original Greek series. Although the game is very definitely showing its age, especially by virtue of having been a handheld game first, I still found it worth playing as a proper installment in the franchise.

Stubs - The Last Command

The Last Command (1928) Starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell. Directed by Josef von Sternberg; Screenplay by John Goodrich. Presented by Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Black and White. USA Run time: 88 minutes. Silent, Melodrama.

Once considered by the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database to be extant, the rumors of its demise have been overly exaggerated. The Last Command is a noteworthy work mostly because of its prominence in Academy Awards history. The lead actor, Emil Jannings would be the first actor to win for his work. Back then, the award wasn’t for one film, but for a body of work for the year, so Jannings won for this film, as well as his performance in The Way of All Flesh.

Second Look - God of War: Betrayal

In the intervening period between God of War II and God of War III, two other games in the series were released that expanded further on the story, both developed for handheld devices. The first of these was God of War: Betrayal, the only one to be developed for mobile phones, taking place between the events of the first two games. I actually played this game quite a bit in high school, back when I had a compatible phone that could play it, though the game’s canonicity had been debated over the years and has since become unavailable to download legally. Once it was confirmed that the game was canon, via a tweet from Santa Monica Studio animation director Bruno Velasquez, I scrambled to dig out an old phone I held on to that still had the game on it, or else have to resort to emulation just to play an old mobile game. Miraculously, after having to buy a charger, I managed to uncover an old LG Rumor phone that still had the game on it, allowing me to finally play it once again in its original glory.

 

The tweet confirming its canon status.

While the game was certainly groundbreaking at the time for its ability to translate the series to the mobile space, to where it was considered one of the best mobile games to play in the era before smart phones, its quality is now more hotly contested as a result of its antiquity.

Second Look - God of War II

Following the release and success of the original God of War, Kratos’ story was allowed to continue in a sequel, aptly titled God of War II. Notably, although the PS3 was around the corner during its development, the game was developed exclusively for the PS2, due to the developers having a better understanding of the PS2’s architecture in addition to the system having the bigger player base at the time. This game and the original God of War would also be ported to the PS3 as part of God of War Legacy Collection, which was made to promote God of War III and ended up popularizing, if not pioneering, HD remasters of retro games. As with the first game, I decided to replay the second through this collection after having not played it for a little over 10 years, coming away with a much better understanding of its plot and themes than I did previously.

Second Look - God of War (2005)

 

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War (2005).

While my opinions of the God of War series have been mostly positive, as time has passed, I have not been completely satisfied with my original reviews of the entries centered on Greek mythology, which were originally written around the release of God of War: Ascension. Around the release of God of War: Ragnarök, the idea of revisiting Kratos’ roots resurfaced, and I felt more motivated to do so upon finishing that game, starting with the original God of War from 2005. While the game was originally released on the PS2, and I have played it multiple times on that platform, I decided to replay it through the God of War HD Collection on PS3 due to the graphical improvements made for that port, and in the process realizing I had not touched the game in a little over a decade. After diving back into it following such a lengthy absence, while it hasn’t exactly aged well visually, it has aged very well from a storytelling perspective and remains one of the best examples of a Mature-rated game.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

While Dragon Ball remains a popular franchise, due in part to the franchise’s second wind in the wake of the success of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, the newer films had more of a focus on the characters Goku and Vegeta at the expense of just about everyone else. This would change with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Super Hero), which released in 2022 to critical acclaim and became the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, as well as the first one independently distributed by Toei following the Disney/Fox merger. Apart from a switch to CG animation in place of traditional, the film would also focus on the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo and revisit the Red Ribbon Army as antagonists. Although we admittedly still haven’t seen the original Dragon Ball (DB), we still found ourselves enjoying the film and its welcome change in focus.