10 Video Games That Peaked Too Early

3. God Of War III

The God of War games are all best remembered for their impossibly epic boss fights, and God of War III decisively sought to one-up its predecessors right from the jump with its mind-meltingly incredible battle between Kratos and Poseidon.

With the help of Gaia, Kratos climbs Mount Olympus and does battle with the God of the sea, in what was and remains an absolute landmark set-piece for third-person action-adventure games - and a firm one-upping of the previous games' already-stunning opening fights.

At the time of its release, the cinematic quality of this battle was virtually unrivalled, concluding with Kratos annihilating Poseidon and being thrown into the River Styx by Zeus, setting the rest of the game in motion.

But it was also a sequence so damn awesome that the rest of the game strained to get close to its level of high-wire suspense and sheer visceral appeal.

The next boss fight, against Hades, was a pathetically simple arena fight by comparison, and only really the ludicrous Cronos battle gets even close to marrying the sense of scale and bloody artistry together in such an engrossing way.

To be clear, God of War III is a brilliant game all things considered, but it also gave players the best of itself in its opening half-hour, and nothing else reached the same high peak.