History YMMV / GodOfWarIII

* {{Narm}}: The scene where Kratos [[spoiler:lets go of Pandora, allowing her to be consumed by the Flame of Olympus so that he can attack Zeus]] is mean to be a tense and emotionally climactic scene, but because of [[SpecialEffectFailure the awkward and derpy way Kratos' face is animated]] and the weird grumbling growl he makes (which sounds less like Zeus triggering his BerserkButton and more like Kratos is annoyed a waiter got his order wrong) turn the scene into a source of gut-busting laughter.

** The Cronos Boss fight. Tearing off his blistered fingernail, cutting open a scab, getting swallowed and then graphically cutting your way out of his stomach with the Blade of Olympus? Disgusting. A skinless cyclops busting out of a bulge on his shoulder, and legionnaires crawling out of cavities in his hide? Also disgusting.
** The Hades boss fight has pieces of his flesh break off and you have to chase them around. [[{{Squick}} yuck]].

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Aphrodite. Many in the fanbase appreciate her for being a sultry MsFanservice who has more of a personality than other such ''God of War'' characters, but an equal amount of players loathe and detest her for being ''the'' most blatant RatedMForMoney moment in the entire series, to the point where [[SexStartsStoryStops the story entirely stops so the player can ogle her and her handmaidens' nearly nude bodies and optionally have sex with her]], in a scene [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment so out-of-place]] it attracted real-world controversy.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** For the Olympians, seeing the "Three Judges" in the underworld. Up until the second game, the actions of the gods have seemed cruel but justifiable; they're trying to stop a mass murderer from destroying civilization over a petty grudge. But then you see the 'judgement' of mortals, which reveals exactly where all those Undead Legionnaires Kratos has been fighting throughout the entire series came from: recently-killed civilians, neither heroically good nor irredeemably evil, are dragged into the ground by the hands, where they are transformed into zombified husks that shamble towards a shining wall of light, only to be transformed by it into the monsters that attack mortals on a regular basis. [[note]]And no, they're not manifestations of Kratos' madness; Hercules orders them around as disposable cannon fodder.[[/note]] It's at this point that you realize for all the horrible collateral damage Kratos has caused in his quest for vengeance, the Olympians are the reason why Greece is such a CrapsackWorld to begin with.
** If for whatever reason one doesn't feel that Kratos himself crossed it before, the fact that he doesn't care what damage is caused to the world when the Olympians are killed is this. [[KickTheMoralityPet He doesn't even show any care that Sparta was no doubt destroyed after Poseidon's death, after he had averted it at the end of the second game.]]
** One could argue that Kratos also crosses this when he uses Poseidon's Princess as a ''living doorstopper'' to hold a gate open at the expense of said princess screaming in horrible agony whilst being ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath grinded into chunks of meat]]''. While the environmental cataclysm Kratos inflicts is collateral damage done by slaughtering the gods, Poseidon's Princess is just a hapless innocent girl in the very worst time and place possible and Kratos ''deliberately'' uses her to hold open a gate without her consent. While Kratos does remain sympathetic, especially thanks to [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 latter]] [[VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok installments]], it's easy to see this as one of the worst things he's ever done in the Greek era.

** "'''[[WhoDares YOU CHALLENGE ME, MORTAL? A GOD OF OLYMPUS!?]]'''"[[labelnote:Explanation]]Poseidon's introductory line is often used as a sound bite (particularly the first half) to indicate that someone or something is severely BullyingADragon and it will not end well for them.

* {{Narm}}: The scene where Kratos [[spoiler:lets go of Pandora, allowing her to be consumed by the Flame of Olympus so that he can attack Zeus]] is mean to be a tense and emotionally climactic scene, but because of [[SpecialEffectFailure the awkward and derpy way Kratos' face is mocapped]] and the weird grumbling growl he makes (which sounds less like Zeus triggering his BerserkButton and more like Kratos is annoyed a waiter got his order wrong) turn the scene into a source of gut-busting laughter.

* {{Narm}}: The scene where Kratos lets go of Pandora, allowing her to be consumed by the Flame of Olympus so that he can attack Zeus is mean to be a tense and emotionally climactic scene, but because of [[SpecialEffectFailure the awkward and derpy way Kratos' face is mocapped]] and the weird grumbling growl he makes (which less like Zeus triggering his BerserkButton and more like Kratos is annoyed a waiter got his order wrong) turn the scene into a source of gut-busting laughter.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Generally speaking, this game is considered the best of the original run of God of War games for its refined and polished gameplay and its spectacular boss fights. The story on the other hand is much more controversial. Kratos is so single minded in his quest for vengeance and so over the top violet that it's very easy to root for the gods over him (except for [[HateSink Hermes]]) as all of them have very valid reasons for fighting Kratos and are justified in hating him. Until Kratos starts interacting with Pandora, the plot only serves to ping pong him from one atrocity to the next as he makes the world increasingly unlivable for everyone who may have survived his onslaught.

** [[spoiler:The Titans' betrayal.]]
** How Kratos "defeats" Aphrodite. Not to mention the fact that Aphrodite would be the...ahem..."opponent" for the sex minigame.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For a game about defeating the mythological Olympus, there's A LOT of gods who are missing. There's Artemis who was in the first game but it's absent here for no explained reason, and there are another gods that, even if they were referenced, just never appeared, like Apollo (even though we can use his bow), Demeter (who was even mentioned in Chains of Olympus), Dionysus and Hestia. In fact, some of the catastrophes that occur after killing a god are actually linked to those missing gods. For example, killing Hera will wither all plants, something that you would expect from killing Demeter, the missing godess of agriculture and nature. Non to mention all the minor gods who lived in the Olympus in the myth.

* TheWoobie: It's genuinely hard not to feel ''awful'' for [[MsFanservice Poseidon's Princess]]. A beautiful young woman who clearly has nothing to do with Poseidon's machinations and is absolutely terrified when Kratos finds her, but gets dragged along and ends up [[CruelAndUnusualDeath dying horrifically]] by being crushed head-first inside the mechanisms of an enormous gate.

* UnintentionalUncannyValley: Compared to the other characters in the game with their considerably detailed and realistic-looking faces and bodies, especially Kratos, Pandora...never quite looks right. Something about her eyes being a bit too far apart, her skin being ''too'' smooth and plastic-looking, and her overall character model having lots of strange animations prevents her from "fitting in" when standing alongside Kratos, Zeus, and Athena. This may be [[InvokedTrope intentional]] due to her status as an ArtificialHuman, and in concept art she resembles a LivingStatue.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For a game about defeating the mythological Olympus, there's A LOT of gods who are missing. There's Artemis who was in the first game but it's absent here for no explained reason, and there are another gods that, even if they were referenced, just never appeared, like Apollo (even though we can use his bow), Demeter, Dionysus and Hestia. In fact, some of the catastrophes that occur after killing a god are actually linked to those missing gods. For example, killing Hera will wither all plants, something that you would expect from killing Demeter, the missing godess of agriculture and nature. Non to mention all the minor gods who lived in the Olympus in the myth.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For a game about defeating the mythological Olympus, there's A LOT of gods who are missing. There's Artemis who was in the first game but it's absent here for no explained reason, and there's another gods that, even if they were referenced, just never appeared, like Apollo (even though we can use his bow), Demeter, Dionysus and Hestia. In fact, some of the catastrophes that occur after killing a god are actually linked to those missing gods. For example, killing Hera will wither all plants, something that you would expect from killing Demeter, the missing godess of agriculture and nature. Non to mention all the minor gods who lived in the Olympus in the myth.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For a game about defeating the mythological Olympus, there's A LOT of gods who are missing, like Artemis who was in the first game, or just never appeared, like Apollo (even though we can use his bow), Demeter, Dionysus and Hestia. In fact, some of the catastrophes that occur after killing a god are actually linked to those missing gods. For example, killing Hera will wither all plants, something that you would expect from killing Demeter, the missing godess of agriculture and nature.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: For a game about defeating the mythological Olympus, there's A LOT of gods who are missing, like Artemis who was in the first game, or just never appeared, like Apollo (even though we can use his bow), Demeter, Dionysus and Hestia. In fact, some of the catastrophes that occur after killing a god are actually linked to those missing gods. For example, killing Hera will wither all plants, something that you would expect from killing Demeter, the missing godess of agriculture and nature.

* HilariousInHindsight: In the final showdown with Zeus, the first phase wouldn't look out of place in a 2D FightingGame. One year later, Kratos is a GuestFighter ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' whose setting wouldn't make him look out of place while making his quick time event kills perfect fatality practice.

** Kratos plays the lottery and loses. (''"Rage of Sparta" begins to play in the background'') [[labelnote:Explanation]] Rage of Sparta is the music track that generally plays whenever Kratos kills one of the gods. People have started to apply it to whenever Kratos gets pissed enough to kill something.[[/labelnote]]

** For the Olympians, seeing the "Three Judges" in the underworld. Up until the second game, the actions of the gods have seemed cruel but justifiable; they're trying to stop a mass murderer from destroying civilization over a petty grudge. But then you see the 'judgement' of mortals, which reveals exactly where all those Undead Legionnaires Kratos has been fighting throughout the entire series came from: recently-killed civilians, neither heroically good nor irredeemably evil, are dragged into the ground by the hands, where they are transformed into zombified husks that shamble towards a shining wall of light, only to be transformed by it into the monsters that attack mortals on a regular basis. [[note]]And no, they're not manifestations of Kratos' madness; Hercules orders them around as disposable cannon fodder.[[/note]] It's at this point that you realize for all the horrible collateral damage Kratos has caused in his quest for vengeance, the Olympians ''need'' to be stopped.
** If for whatever reason one doesn't feel that Kratos crossed it before, the fact that he doesn't care what damage is caused to the world when the Olympians are killed is this. [[KickTheMoralityPet He doesn't even show any care that Sparta was no doubt destroyed after Poseidon's death, after he had averted it at the end of the second game.]]
** One could argue that Kratos crosses this when he uses Poseidon's Princess as a ''living doorstopper'' to hold a gate open at the expense of said princess screaming in horrible agony whilst being ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath grinded into chunks of meat]]''. While the environmental cataclysm Kratos inflicts is collateral damage done by slaughtering the gods, Poseidon's Princess is just a hapless innocent girl in the very worst time and place possible and Kratos ''deliberately'' uses her to hold open a gate without her consent. While Kratos does remain sympathetic, especially thanks to [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 latter]] [[VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok installments]], it's easy to see this as one of the worst things he's ever done in the Greek era.

** The Cronos Boss fight. Tearing off his blistered fingernail, cutting open a scab, getting swallowed and then graphically cutting your way out of his stomach with the Blade of Olympus? Disgusting. A skinless cyclops busting out of a wound on his shoulder? Also disgusting.

* MoralEventHorizon: For the Olympians, seeing the "Three Judges" in the underworld. Up until the second game, the actions of the gods have seemed cruel but justifiable; they're trying to stop a mass-murderer from destroying civilization over a petty grudge. But then you see the 'judgement' of mortals, which reveals exactly where all those Undead Legionnaires Kratos has been fighting throughout the entire series came from: recently-killed civilians, neither heroically good nor irredeemably evil, are dragged into the ground by the hands, where they are transformed into zombified husks that shamble towards a shining wall of light, only to be transformed by it into the monsters that attack mortals on a regular basis. [[note]]And no, they're not manifestations of Kratos' madness; Hercules orders them around as disposable cannon fodder.[[/note]] It's at this point that you realize for all the horrible collateral damage Kratos has caused in his quest for vengeance, the Olympians ''need'' to be stopped.

* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]: Hades. He's got a great intro (just him chuckling at you in the darkness before emerging), his attacks are powerful yet nicely telegraphed so you don't necessarily die to his "infinite number of chains spiking the ground" move, you get into a tug of war with him when his chains and Kratos' chains get entangled, and you finish off the fight by ripping out his own soul!

* SignatureScene:
** The first fight with Poseidon and his gruesome death. It serves as a good demonstration of what's to come.
** The fight with Cronos is commonly said to be one of the best, if not '''the''' best fight of the entire game, as the battle revolves around Kratos jumping across the Titan's entire body to gradually wear him down.
** Kratos brutally ripping off Helios' head is one of the most remembered scenes in the series' history.
** The final fight with Zeus goes on for quite some time. Which has led to many people claiming it as the definitive fight in the game and the series.

** If for whatever reason one doesn't feel that Kratos crossed it before, the fact that he doesn't care what damage is caused to the world when the Olympians are killed is this. [[KickTheMoralityPet He doesn't even show any care that Sparta was no doubt destroyed after Poseidon's death.]]