God of War III demo Impressions
The most awaited game of 2010 on the Ps3 and No. 1 candidate for GOTY award 2010 – GOD OF WAR III. Sony decided to reward Ps3 users by providing Gow collection and Gow 3 pre-order customers a demo access code to download the E3 Gow3 demo from PSN. A whooping 2.7GB big demo, but only offering a tiny glimpse of the AAA title.
If anyone has not seen the E3 demo of GOW3, they really need to kick themselves in the groin. Kratos starts off in a burning city where a titan is creating havoc all around and within 2 seconds of starting the demo, you get to kill some puny minions of the sun god Helios. As in the previous God of War titles, Kratos returns with his signature weapon – the mighty blades of chaos…and this time they are more powerful than ever. GOW fans will immediately recognize that the blades of chaos seem to do more damage this time and lead to bigger combos. But that’s not all, in the demo Kratos also has access to some of the weapons and enchantments he had acquired in the previous games – the Cestus gauntlets, bow and Icarus’ wings.
As you progress in the demo, the exceptional detail in the environment, character and textures becomes noticeable. Santa Monica studios might not have been able to offer jaw dropping visual effects as in the case of Killzone 2 or Uncharted 2, but Gow3 stands out due to the immense level of detail in the game, and the amazing lighting. If you have ever played the previous GOW titles on the Playstation 2, you already know that both the games had great detail and wonderful graphics which pushed the Ps2 to its limits. Gow3 does not seem to do the same with the Ps3 as far as pushing the limit goes, but as the game is still a work in progress, we do not know what the final game might look like. So even though it does not stand out as a visual masterpiece, the extraordinary level of detail, superb lighting and the brilliant artwork are seriously a sight to behold.
The epic GOW soundtrack makes its return as well as the superb sound effects. Kratos does not say much in the demo so a comment on the voice acting is not possible, but given the great work done in the previous titles, we can only expect the highest standards from Santa Monica studios. Game controls remain the same although you can’t help but wish for a few more camera angles in the game. The camera remains fixed just like it was in the previous games. But needless to say, the lack of extra camera angles does not hamper gameplay one bit.
As the demo progresses, you see a new albeit not so impressive feat from Kratos. He is able to damage harpies with the bow and then use them as short range transport for tough to reach areas. As enemies surround you, the blades of chaos take no time in dealing some heavy duty pain and build up massive 100+ combos in a matter of seconds. First mini-boss battle takes place against a centaur, who is sadly no match for the near-invincible Kratos. Quick time boss decapitaion events make a return and the centaur is laid to waste, his battered remains all over the courtyard. Kratos proceeds to shoot down the sun god Helios with the help of a ballista, and we watch as Helios’ blazing chariot crashes into the foreground. But before Kratos can make his way to Helios, he is greeted by a 3-in1 boss, who is part snake, part lion and part goat (four horned goat?). Kratos has to one by one dismember each part of this monster in order to defeat it, and them move on in the direction of the fallen sun god.
Helios is shown lying defenseless on the ground but before Kratos can get to him, armored guards surround Helios and create an impenetrable tower shield which even Kratos can not topple with his mighty weapons. Soon enough a gigantic cyclops makes it’s way and of course you get to beat the living daylights out of it. However, instead of killing the one-eyed monster, Kratos climbs on his back and takes control. The cyclops is helpless and is forced to obey Kratos’ orders, where eventually his colossal wooden club is steered by Kratos to take out the armored wall of guards around Helios. Once the cyclops has fulfilled his purpose, Kratos proceeds to rip out his only eye in a most gruesome fashion and it’s RIP cyclops (RIP = Rest in PIECES).
Each God of War game had taken gore to a new level, and GOW does the same. Helios is about to lose something from the neck up. Kratos consumed by madness rips off Helios’ head and like Medusa’s head from God of War, it is also a new item for Kratos to use – to discover secret areas, light up dark places(it’s the sun god’s head after all) and stun enemies. As he discovers a secret doorway into the next area using Helios’ head, Kratos makes his way through a dark passage stunning and ripping apart whoever stands in his way. A new cool move in GOW3 is the grab and battering ram, where Kratos grabs a foe and uses his body as a battering ram to clear out hordes of other foes. Other grab moves include a back-breaker and blades slice, which were there in the previous games as well. Kratos uses the wings of Icarus to fly up and out of the chasm while avoiding falling debris and other obstacles. As soon as he gets out of the chasm, he jump towards the titan and that is where the demo ends, much to our dismay. It was a small teaser after all, 2.7GB demo and barely 10-12 minutes of action. But who’s complaining? It’s GOD of Fucking WAR !
If you’re still wondering why the topic title says ‘Kratos on a diet’, let me explain. Unlike the previous GOW games, Kratos from GOW3 looks thinner. It seems all the killing and slaying has made him lose a good 20 pounds. Or is it the HD resolution messing with my head? Kratos definitely seems a lot thinner than he was in God of War 1 and 2. Too much sex with the ladies, or a serious lack of nutrition – that only the final game will tell. Sorry to disappoint you all, but there are no sex scenes in the demo. You do get to see fugly harpy titties – if that’s any consolation.
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