14 DAY TRIAL // It's easy to write about the grand opening of God of War 3 and then be at a loss about how to approach the rest of the game that the Santa Monica studios of Sony delivered. After destroying Poseidon, there is a bloody battle that establishes how violent the third installment of the game would be, Kratos gets dumped back into the realm of Hades, having made an enemy of Gaia and not having his special weapons and tricks. It's quite a long slog out of the Underworld and, of course, at one point, the Spartan needs to actually confront Hades, one of the Gods that he has not yet murdered in previous installments.
The fight is set up nicely. The first thing the player has to do is deliver enough damage to the God in order to trigger a Quick Time Event, which sees them climb on their enemy using their Blades of Exile and carving a piece of their flesh out. As the pound (looks bigger than that) is separated from its owner, it tries to go back to him and Kratos must destroy it as quickly as possible.
This happens once more and then the game shifts to a new state, where Hades chained one of Krato's hands as he tries to get his soul stealing weapons and use them on their former master. There's a real sense of urgency and panic as the player tries to keep Kratos away from the killer waters of the Styx river while also slashing Hades with his chains and his remaining Exile blade.
Then, there's another section where Hades appears without his armor and after a lengthy QTE, Kratos manages to kill him and steal his soul so that he can continue his quest for Pandora and the Flame he needs to kill Zeus.
It's a very engaging fight but one question keeps popping up in my head: why did Kratos need to cut out two hunks of flesh from Hades before getting his blades and soul? I keep going back to the Merchant of Venice and his pound of flesh but I can see no connection. It makes sense as part of the gameplay but there's no real narrative hook for it. If you have any idea about why Hades needs to have his size cut before the final defeat, please post your comments below.