I only beat GoW1 so far and I didn't care for it.

I'm a few levels into GoW2 and its already far more satisfying than the original.

God of War III > God of War II > God of War

Each title topped the previous by big margins.

GOW 1 & 2 are among one of my favorite games ever, I love 'em. Not so much 3, I honestly found it boring and forced myself to play it for the trophies. Sure it had wonderful graphics, few awesome set-pieces and the most refined battle-system in the franchise but the awful story and shitty ending really held it back for me. Compared to other action-adventure games, it pretty damn good but I didn't like it as much as the first two.

I completely agree with you. the story for GoW 3 was awful, the director Stig is shit imo. i wish David Jaffe had not left after the 2nd game and contributed directly to the script and the level design.

i think the level design in GoW 3 was not good either tbh.

in GoW 1, we had incredible locations like the Desert of Lost Souls, the Temple of Pandora, the Trials of Atlas, Poseidon etc, in GoW 2 we had even more things like the Steeds of Time, or the Temple of the Fates. that part of the game where you fight the Kraken is simply brilliant level design.

GoW 3's design was poor imo, the centrepiece of the game was a dark cave with loads of big boxes in it. Olympus was tiny, the only main part we visited was this 'HUB' area with Pandora's Box. surely they couldve come up with something better than that box room and made Olympus a lot bigger with more halls, puzzles and rooms. it feels so small.

and lastly the Titans wernt even in the damn game, what the hell happened to Atlas, i thought he and Kratos had a score to settle.

Wow, this is very motivating reading this article considering I've only played God of War 1 so far.  Seems a lot think 2 and 3 are better than the first.

GoW2 > GoW1 = GoW3

You know what, as much as I hate to say it but the sequels that followed God of War were really unecessary. I'm not arguing whether they're good or bad games but if you look at the first God of War from a narrative point of view, it was really a well written, self-contained story that didn't need a sequel.

The entire adventure was about Kratos trying to find redemption from his sins by going through one last task by killing Ares. In the course of the game, you see Kratos' rise and fall into his current state and you slowly learn why he's such a violent asshole. By the end of the game, he looks back at all his mistakes and regrets and then decides to kill himself because the nightmares and memories of his past will never stop haunting him. It was basically a greek tragedy done right.

P.S: I highly recommend watching this video for an interesting analysis on the God of War series.

I agree with a lot of the things you've said... however i think GoW 2 was an excellent game. i mean okay some things couldve been done better and time travel dosent fit in Greek mythology, but i think it was a compelling story that was excuted well.

about the whole redemption angle, this really shouldve been in GoW 3, and the story shouldve come full circle in GoW 3 imo. GoW 2 was more of an Empire Strikes back type thing, where everything gets crazy. Kratos shows some form of compasion for what hes done when we fight the Kraken and he thinks hes speaking to his wife, etc.

i think while GoW 2 was a bit inconsistant with GoW 1, due to directional change, it was a good game and the problems couldve been corrected when the story came full circle in GoW 3.

by the way GoW Chains of Olypmus and Ghost of Sparta feature imo excellent scriptwriting, storytelling and gameplay. and for whatever reason that is, the character does have a very 'tragic' evolution in both those games.

i only wish they were on PS3, because imo - aside from the titan battles, they were better games than GoW 3. which i also think suffered from inappropriate allocation of resources. i mean spending time and resources to animate a rock wall isnt good time management, when they couldve designed more areas and had average looking rock walls.

God of War 2 without a doubt.

It got everything right.

GoW III by a country mile. Proof that sheer graphics, style and scale can increase the gameplay experience :D

But GoW II was monumental in its own right.