God of War III First Look
Sony gives us an early look at the acclaimed action game's PlayStation 3 debut.
The last time we saw Kratos, the bald and bladed antihero star of the God of War series, he was aggressively working out some family issues. God of War II ended on a cliffhanger, with Kratos climbing up Mount Olympus with a whole mess of titans, eager to beat the smack out of the gods. This set high expectations for the next chapter in the series. While Sony has teased the upcoming game in trailers and in print, there really is no substitute to seeing a game in action with your own eyes, which is what we were able to do this week at a press event officially unveiling the game. Besides getting a look at another trailer, we were able to see a live demo of the game and talk with some of the team working on it. Does it live up to our gory expectations? It's getting there.
The event kicked off with game director Stig Asmussen taking the stage and serving as emcee for the event. Asmussen has been a part of the team since the original game, serving as lead and environmental artist on GOW and GOWII, and has now been handed the hookblades for the latest adventure. The game's direction is obviously to kick gameplay, story, and technological ass on the PlayStation 3. The team is pushing to make the game big in scale, mayhem, and bloody eye-candy and rich with gameplay.
But, while talk is nice, the proof is always in the game, and Asmussen didn't waste too much time in cutting to a trailer of Kratos in motion. The surly warrior is shown racing through a forest and tearing through hordes of skeletal warriors. His brutal assault highlights one of the new moves in the game--grabbing enemies and using them as a battering ram. The assault looks effective and painful. When a cyclops joins the fray, Kratos improvises and hops onto the monster's back, using it as a not entirely willing mount. Kratos doesn't seem to be too concerned with how the cyclops feels as he forcibly guides it through mobs of foes by stabbing and hacking at it. As the trailer winds down, the landscape goes wobbly as Kratos struggles with the cyclops and leaps off of it onto a passing harpy. The camera pulls back to show that the "forest" he's been fighting on is actually the back of a titan that is climbing to Mount Olympus. The trailer doesn't leave much to the imagination when it comes to what to expect next: an epic and bloody battle.
Before diving into the demo, Asmussen hit on four elements in the game that will shape GOW III's gameplay. The first is the "titan" gameplay, which, as you'd expect, is being expanded on quite a bit thanks to the PS3 hardware's muscle. As hinted at in the trailer, some levels in the game will be set on moving titans, which means they'll likely change up depending on what the titan is doing. This seems like Shadow of the Colossus on steroids, with level orientation shifting from horizontal to vertical as you progress. When you consider that these levels are set to span acres of land, this bit of gameplay could be a mixed blessing for the angry bald demigod.
The second gameplay element, the ability to mount enemies, ought to be an interesting addition to Kratos' repertoire of moves. Besides the obvious benefits of using a cyclops to clear some space when dealing with mobs of foes, you'll be able to make use of harpies to fly to new areas or dive-bomb enemies. Unfortunately, your unwilling mounts don't have too long of a life span, because Kratos "directs" them where he needs them to go by assorted stabbings, throttlings, and painful contortions. On the plus side, it sounds like there should be plenty to choose from and each has unique attacks and abilities.
The third gameplay element is the new weapon system, which has evolved out of user feedback from the first two games. Given that most players favored Kratos' hookblades, despite some very cool alternate weapons, the team is working to ensure that the weapons you gain in GOWIII offer the same feel, albeit with different effects. The only one on display in the trailer was the cestus--the metal ringed lion gauntlets. The powerful weapon is a close-range melee weapon that changes up Kratos' moves a bit, offering faster but shorter dodges and some wicked area-of-effect attacks perfect for slamming mobs of enemies away. One interesting aspect of the new system is the ability to switch between weapons on the fly during combos, which should make for some unholy chains.
Finally, GOWIII's overall scale for battle has necessitated the addition of new grabs, attacks, and other actions designed to deal with mobs of enemies. One example was the battering ram move, which lets you use one enemy to deal with mobs. This bit of gameplay appears to have evolved out of a need to figure out a way to deal with the hordes of enemies you'll be facing, which is considerably more than what Kratos had to deal with in the last game.
As before, the gameplay talk segued into actual gameplay as Asmussen queued up a live demo of the game. The demo was set in a massive stone keep cut into the side of Mount Olympus. Kratos is seen emerging from a cave and taking in the view of a battle between Helios and a volcanic titan that disturbed a group of harpies hanging out. Asmussen explained that the goal of the level was to find a mystic door in the keep that led to a secret path into Olympus, but there were some things to be tended to before that could happen. With an agenda set, Kratos is shown jumping the gap between the cave exit using his Icarus wings. Once he lands, enemies start to crawl out of the woodwork to murder him. The mob is soon large enough to warrant some battering ram action with an unlucky foe. While the mob regroups, Kratos is seen using his fire bow to ignite enemies, who catch their neighbors on fire, which helps clear the area. Unfortunately, a set of doors on one end of the level opens and a new mob, led by a centaur, comes out.
Asmussen pointed out that enemies will behave differently when a commander is on the battlefield, as evidenced by the aggressive behavior of the new enemies. This portion of the battle required some multitasking, as Kratos had to contend with the centaur's attacks as well as the more frequent rushes by his soldiers. While the enemies could be dealt with by using Kratos' standard attacks, as well as the battering ram technique, the centaur's spear jabs had to be countered, minigame style. With proper timing, Kratos could counterblock the spear and get in a healthy amount of stabbing. Once the centaur had taken enough damage, the familiar circle-button prompt appeared over his head, signaling the opening to initiate a finishing move. The finishers seem to work about the same. A series of button prompts will pop up, and if they're hit in time, they'll reward you with some painful and horribly bloody killing animation. In the centaur's case, it meant gutting him like a tauntaun, which resulted in a spray of guts and a whole lot of intestines.
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