I liked God of War III quite a bit, but I'd agree that the violence is too much. God of War III was good because: they finally figured out a balanced weapon/magic/skill system (4 cool main weapons similar enough to not be dominated by the Blades but different enough to be interesting, 4 neat magic attacks, an awesome "rage meter" weapon, and 3 serviceable sub-weapons); the massive scale and surprisingly contiguous nature of the environments was downright stunning; and even if the violence was a little over the top, it was satisfying and a little cathartic to murder the Greek pantheon that had been sticking it to Kratos since the beginning of God of War II. The best death scene was definitely Poseidon right near the beginning.
I think that God of War II is the best of the bunch, because it had the most interesting mid-game, the best boss fights, and a decent angle with the whole revenge of the Titans business. The first God of War was good because it established the formula and got things rolling and the third God of War was good because of what I said in that first paragraph. It's a great trilogy with one decent PSP game, one sub-par PSP game, and a totally unnecessary upcoming prequel.
Oh yeah, this isn't the God of War topic. Whoops. I'm playing Psychonauts and Persona 4.