[E3 2009] God of War III Hands-On
We finally got to play it! Who wants to touch us?
Published: June 3, 2009
This day has been long in coming. Kratos' next-gen debut and the close to the trilogy that began just four years ago will come to a close in March of next year. After being teased with a full level from the upcoming ultra-violent epic way back in February of this year, we finally got the chance to play it, but not before learning a bit more about that same demo as it was played through again with God of War III's director, Stig Asmussen providing commentary.
There wasn't a whole lot discussed during the behind-closed-doors showing beyond some interesting tidbits about how often the team was play testing things (dozens of times during multiple phases of the development process), though we did find out there'd be a demo of the game, and that it would not be the same thing that was playable here at E3, but rather something different and likely more involved. So long as it's as meaty as the one on the show floor, it's going to sell sooo many copies of the game.
With the second (third, if you count the E3 press conference) demo out of the way, we decided to head down to the show floor to get some hands-on time with the game ourselves. It might sound trivial (and, in a way, it is), but the improved lighting of the game that was implemented since we last saw it really has made a big difference. The light playing off the ridiculously hi-res model of Kratos, the detail in his pores and the fact that we were no longer look at all this blown-up on a screen in a private theatre, but instead had it all playing out a few feet from us on a 40" Bravia made all the difference in the world.
The animation popped more, the textures were more obviously detailed, that lighting we keep talking about bathed the environments in both rich hues of red and tan, but also had Kratos basking in almost purplish greys when running around in the few indoor areas of the demo. The whole thing was remarkably short (perhaps only about 15 minutes if we really took our time, but then we know exactly what to do and where to go thanks to previous showings), but it wasn't any less visceral than we'd already seen.
There were a few small tweaks to things we didn't notice before, the biggest being that the Quick Time Events that usually meant we were offing some mythological beast (downing and then gutting a centaur, breaking off and then plunging the horn of a chimera into his own head, pulling the eye of a Cyclops out, tearing Helios' head clean off his shoulders) now appeared at the periphery of the 16:9 view. You might think it a small change, but by doing so, the focus could stay on the animation and the incredibly brutal finishers; one needed only see that something had popped up on the left, right, top or bottom of the screen and then hit the corresponding face button to kick off the next set of moves. It was a welcome and unexpected change, but one we instantly appreciated as we were spilling entrails and lopping off tails.
The game itself, though, played like classic God of War, which is to say all the typical shoulder button modifiers were in place to do area effect or more powerful strikes, and switching between the Cestus gauntlets and the Blades of Athena was nothing more than a quick d-pad right or down press. The Cestus' R1-modified heavy attack had Kratos slamming sections of the gauntlets down into the ground a bit away from him and then pull the chained weights together to clap both ends into the head of our chimeran prey. It. Felt. Awesome. The whole game, did, really, and since we've already recounted what happened in the whole demo, we can't really say anything new beyond the fact that it simply felt... right.
Kratos is back, and his third and final chapter looks to be every bit as epic and carnage-filled as we'd hoped. March can't get here soon enough.
There wasn't a whole lot discussed during the behind-closed-doors showing beyond some interesting tidbits about how often the team was play testing things (dozens of times during multiple phases of the development process), though we did find out there'd be a demo of the game, and that it would not be the same thing that was playable here at E3, but rather something different and likely more involved. So long as it's as meaty as the one on the show floor, it's going to sell sooo many copies of the game.
With the second (third, if you count the E3 press conference) demo out of the way, we decided to head down to the show floor to get some hands-on time with the game ourselves. It might sound trivial (and, in a way, it is), but the improved lighting of the game that was implemented since we last saw it really has made a big difference. The light playing off the ridiculously hi-res model of Kratos, the detail in his pores and the fact that we were no longer look at all this blown-up on a screen in a private theatre, but instead had it all playing out a few feet from us on a 40" Bravia made all the difference in the world.
The animation popped more, the textures were more obviously detailed, that lighting we keep talking about bathed the environments in both rich hues of red and tan, but also had Kratos basking in almost purplish greys when running around in the few indoor areas of the demo. The whole thing was remarkably short (perhaps only about 15 minutes if we really took our time, but then we know exactly what to do and where to go thanks to previous showings), but it wasn't any less visceral than we'd already seen.
There were a few small tweaks to things we didn't notice before, the biggest being that the Quick Time Events that usually meant we were offing some mythological beast (downing and then gutting a centaur, breaking off and then plunging the horn of a chimera into his own head, pulling the eye of a Cyclops out, tearing Helios' head clean off his shoulders) now appeared at the periphery of the 16:9 view. You might think it a small change, but by doing so, the focus could stay on the animation and the incredibly brutal finishers; one needed only see that something had popped up on the left, right, top or bottom of the screen and then hit the corresponding face button to kick off the next set of moves. It was a welcome and unexpected change, but one we instantly appreciated as we were spilling entrails and lopping off tails.
The game itself, though, played like classic God of War, which is to say all the typical shoulder button modifiers were in place to do area effect or more powerful strikes, and switching between the Cestus gauntlets and the Blades of Athena was nothing more than a quick d-pad right or down press. The Cestus' R1-modified heavy attack had Kratos slamming sections of the gauntlets down into the ground a bit away from him and then pull the chained weights together to clap both ends into the head of our chimeran prey. It. Felt. Awesome. The whole game, did, really, and since we've already recounted what happened in the whole demo, we can't really say anything new beyond the fact that it simply felt... right.
Kratos is back, and his third and final chapter looks to be every bit as epic and carnage-filled as we'd hoped. March can't get here soon enough.
