Gaia is grabbed by one of these things and as Kratos runs to investigate, one of them bursts through the Titan's body to confront the Ghost of Sparta. Best described as a Water Horse Crab Snake... Thing, the embodiment of Poseidon's aquatic will is nothing to be trifled with. Without revealing everything, Kratos has to spar with the critters on multiple occasions, tearing off their limbs and eventually pummeling them into submission. After beating the first critter, Kratos is dragged through the wound in Gaia's arm, out into the open air, and then has to climb Olympus himself to continue the fight.

As he threads his way through the pristine bowels of Olympain architecture, pristine marble rife with gold inlays and massive protective doors are everywhere. Though honed from the mountainside, there's a distinct lived-in feel to everything that feels... timeless. Gone are the dilapidated corridors and crumbling pillars of "normal" human life; this is the home of the gods, and it looks understandably majestic. After wrenching open a few chests (now done one-handed because Kratos is that much more badass) and thumping on a handful of baddies (employing the new ability to grab enemies and use them as a battering ram to clear out crowds, Kratos returns to the matter at hand: Poseidon.

Eventually reunited with Gaia as she continues to climb with the rest of the Titans, the battle against Poseidon and his WaterCrabHorseSnakeThings begins to turn in favor of the water/horse god. With so many Titans being literally ripped off the mountain right next to Gaia and Kratos, it becomes increasingly important to put the hurt on the... Things. In a dramatic reveal, Poseidon finally shows himself and after plenty of crab leg beatings, Gaia manages to pin him to a wall, where Kratos proceeds to beat the everloving crizzap out of the god's watery form. In a final, climatic moment, Gaia hauls back and leans into a huge punch, sending Kratos flying off the fist, through the watery form of Poseidon and chucks his corporeal body into a stone lip.

Beaten and bloodied, he offers a typical "you can't do this, you'll destroy everything" speech Kratos has gotten by the fistful over the years, and then promptly gets the proverbial shit kicked out of him. Kicked, punched, and thrown around the smallish area where he and Kratos landed, Poseidon's beat-down is actually shown through his perspective as Kratos mercilessly reworks his face. In a final, climactic moment, the god scrambles to escape to the waiting cliff and water below before being dragged back to Kratos and has his eyes gouged out by the Spartan's thumbs -- all from a first-person view. Kratos shoves the body off the cliff, it begins to melt into water and when the god finally reaches his aquatic grave, there's a massive explosion, tidal waves wash over the people below and the world is flooded.

Not a good sign for what's to come when the other gods are offed.

Words -- something we're supposed to be good at -- fail at describing just how impressive the total package of God of War III really is, but if this is how the end begins, we can't wait to tell you more. Or for you to see it all for yourself. Luckily, we have less than a month to go before both happen.