God of War 3: For the Love of Aphrodite

It's not easy killing your way through the ranks of the Greek Gods, especially when you're doing it as part of a videogame series. There's the problem of running out of deities to stab repeatedly and smash against stone but there's also the problem of what to do with the ladies who possess divinity. God of War 3 tries a host of approaches when it comes to them and I found the one towards Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, to be the most unsatisfying of them.

Hera is portrayed as a drunk who cannot get over the adventures Zeus, her husband and the leader of the Gods, has had with various women, creating a host of offspring that have usurped her own children. Athena is easily dealt with because she is dead and can act as a sort of guide for Kratos, showing him the way to his ultimate revenge and commenting on the weapons and the powers he picks up as God of War 3 progresses.

Aphrodite, the patron of beauty, is much more of a problem. Kratos has a history of allowing himself to be charmed by the barely clothed lovely ladies he has met in his previous adventures and Aphrodite is the ultimate prize when it comes to romantic conquests, even for a man who was born of Zeus and then managed to become God of War by taking out Ares.

So, Kratos meets Aphrodite and two of her companions and a fairly tame scene follows, which is supposed to transmit the idea that the abilities Kratos uses to take out waves of enemies can also be applied to the unconnected area of love.

The problem is that there's no clear consequence to the act and that it has no actual sense in the game world and in the way the narrative has been evolving. Kratos doesn't even brag to Hephaestus when the latter meets him and it all feels tacked on fan service, a place for fans of the series to have a save game that they will often turn to.