When it comes to God of War, despite being similar in real life to anti-hero Kratos, I’m fairly inexperienced. I played through the first game only a year or so ago, and enjoyed the pants off it. The series is known for gore, mythology references, and some of the best action you’ll find in video games. The first game certainly wasn’t without its flaws, but most of them were overshadowed by the epic adventure, massive boss fights, and fatalities to make Mortal Kombat veterans blush. With the imminent release of God of War III in early 2010, I was happy enough to lay my hands on a copy of the demo showcased at E3 this year. Always late to the boat, I nonetheless wanted to give my own thoughts on what I played.

The first thing I noticed when booting up was just how similar and familiar this game feels. Kratos looks the same, if sharper, the backgrounds (at least in the demo) are very reminiscent of anything you’d see in the first game, and it even has him using the same blades-with-chains as he’s used in every game. If the game didn’t look so impressive, players might assume they were plunging back into the original. However, it does look good, and there’s no mistaking this as anything but a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

The demo begins with Kratos running around a city wall killing whatever happens to cross his path. There is a magma-covered Titan in the background scaling the buildings and being harassed by Helios, god of the sun, who continually circles around the city on his fiery chariot shooting arrows at our hapless giant. There is no story to be had, and Kratos seems to stand alone. The game leads players on a simple path with no diversions to speak of, slaying nasties, opening boxes for health, and engaging in the occassional odd minigame or quick time event. The demo shows off Kratos’ ability to whip harpies for extended flight, control large ogre like monsters for some extra crushing force, and even has a semi-boss fight. It’s all very similar to what God of War fans have seen in the past. Kratos begins with some of the upgrades from previous games, like the Bow and his Icarus wings. The controls feel immediately familiar, as do the weapons. The demo does show off the newest Kratos killing implement, however, in the brutally fistful Cestus Gauntlets. They’re slow, but have quite an impact and their own set of gruesome attacks and fatalities. I’m not entirely sure how I felt about them, given the short time I was alloted use. They’re cool looking, no doubt, but games like these often require fast weapons just to stay alive. The Blades of Chaos are so finely honed and players become so accustomed to using them that it’s difficult to imagine switching over when there’s no need to. Perhaps I’m alone in this, but I found the same to be true of the first game and the big two-hander Athena gifted me with midway through. These hard hitting, slower weapons lack the range and speed that I so enjoy.

The demo also shows off the now-famous head of Helios scene, in all it’s neck-ripping wickedness, and thus gives players a chance to use another new item; his head. It shines on secret areas and messes up enemies with some kind of mouth firelight. It’s neat, if a bit unwieldy. I generally hate having something that uncovers secret areas like this. It makes me feel like I should constantly have it out and shining for fear that I will somehow miss something epic. I appreciate that they attept to give us a chance at finding secrets instead of blindly stumbling along, but it still gets me anxious.

The demo ends with Kratos spiraling up a vertical shaft of wind in something new to the series; a flight sequence. It’s not technically flight, more of an ascension on a massive wind updraft, but his wings are out and players can control his movement so its flight-ish. I found this section to be pretty heart-pounding fun, probably due to the ridiculous speed that Kratos ascends. It’s the kind of thing that could quickly become overused, but it worked in the demo. The sequence, and demo, ends when Kratos emerges from the tunnel and comes face to face with the massive Titan from before.

My overall thought on the demo was that it was very well put together. It showcased many of the new things, felt very familiar with the old things, and though it did ”spoil” a few moments that will be in the actual game, I knew playing it that there would be many more to come. It never delved into story or anything, but it managed to give just enough for me to know how the rest of the game would play out, and more importantly, if I would like it. I’m pretty sure I will. My only real negative to say about it was that I played it within hours of both the Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta demos, and unfortunately for Kratos, enjoyed them both more. Maybe I just appreciated the new paint job they offered. Maybe they felt slightly deeper to me. That’s certainly not to say I won’t be buying God of War III probably on day 1 because I think it’s going to be huge, and where those other games do delve into unknown territory and thus possibly unknown quality (at least where Dante’s Inferno is concerned), we know that Kratos will lead us on an insanely well polished and blood thumping ride. And there will be blood…so much blood. Can’t wait!

Tags: blood, Death, dismemberment, God of War III, Kratos

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 1:33 pm and is filed under PlayStation 3, Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.