Play Arts Kai Kratos - God of War 3 Review

It is with distinct pleasure that i bring you Play Arts Kai Kratos, one of my favorite video game characters of all time, the Play Arts Kai incarnation of the fabled "Ghost of Sparta." Took me a while to get him since 1) my sponsor sold him out quickly, heck! he's sold out even in the online shop of Square-Enix; 2) gotta be careful of getting one "elsewhere" since he's been bootlegged already and; 3) i hesitated to buy him at first since i saw that his scale is messed up again. However, having located an authentic one at a very reasonable price i decided to bite the bullet and grab him.

When i saw Kratos' online prototype last year i decided to ditch my NECA Kratos figures knowing that they'll be replaced soon enough by a more worthy version on my display case. Check out his b@d@$$ packaging and arsenal...

I just love the packaging, similar to FF13-2 Lightning and Nathan Drake but definitely better since he comes packed with a lot of weapons and accessories hence there's no idle space inside the box. You get a couple of hands, the Blades of Exile, Claws of Hades, a peg for attaching the weapons on his back and a couple of removable chains that you can attach to his weapons. The chains are made of steel by the way and they look awesome on Kratos.

His weapons are very well rendered and, compared to the older NECA versions, they are just teeming with details and the paint apps are vastly superior. I especially love the details on the Blades of Exile though my reception is pretty lukewarm with the Claws of Hades. I'm sure other fans would also rather see the Blade of Olympus. His Golden Fleece Armor is also pretty good though i wish they gave it a more metallic quality.

The sculpt is the main highlight of the figure, the details are dead-on with the game with one or two exceptions and i'm sure these are the reasons that turned off other collectors: his dirty black-wash on the face and his "tamed" look. This is the only aspect where NECA can claim a win versus the Play Arts Kai version, the Play Arts Kai Kratos is not "angry" enough in my opinion. You hope to see the clenched teeth, the glaring eyes, rage and the madness but they are, sadly, missing from his expression.

Another issue would have to be his scale. On God of War's Wikia, Kratos is listed to be around 6'6" - 6'8", some entries even list him as an 8 footer but looks like Square Enix decided to base this on his Mortal Kombat appearance.

Drake: Errr...i think i'm in the wrong place...

Though to be fair he's significantly taller than Drake and both of them are created by Sony so perhaps Kratos' scale is designed with the other Sony figures in mind. Issues aside, Play Arts Kai Kratos' playability is still top notched though his blades could use some transparent stand similar to Play Arts Kai SSF4 Ryu's Hadouken so you can pose them in action or on mid-swing.

Kratos is still a solid acquisition once you get past his scale, after all the paint apps on the face can be mended if desired. To those who plan on passing him you better think twice. He's pretty expensive but he's still a better buy than most Play Arts Kai releases recently. So obviously i did not dawdle along the way like i mentioned yesterday and was able to post this review on time as promised so, there, that's settled...

it's Playtime!

PTK guys - Kratos or Dante? At last we can settle this.

Drake: Are you a god?

Solid Snake: What are you lookin' at?

By the Power of GraySkull...

Solid Snake: Kratos have you seen my FAMAS Rifle around here somewhere?

Behold, the God of War.