God of War III Impressions

God of War III is a title that will sit atop most PlayStation owners' wish lists, and judging from the latest footage of the game at E3 2009, their prayers will be answered. That said, Sony did say that this will be the "final chapter" of this particular story, as it will finally end the battle between the gods Zeus and Kratos.

Sony introduced the developers from Santa Monica to demo the game live onstage. The menu screen melted away seamlessly to show the main game itself, allowing them to get straight into the action. With winged beasts on fire and soldiers fleeing for their lives, it's clear that something's wrong, but players of previous games will know that that's usually Kratos' cue to go check it out.

We got to see Kratos do a massive number of highly entertaining things during the demo. First off, he fired a bow and arrow with ammunition that was on fire. He then used flying beasts to transport across chasms, beating them up and then ripping their heads off at the end. He also cut open the belly of a huge centaur using the series' quick-time event system. But the most amusing death was when he broke off the horn of a Chimera and slammed it into its own head to kill it.

We've got loads more to say about God of War III, but with the game playable on the show floor, we'll give you our hands-on impressions soon. In the meantime, mark March 2010 in your diary for the final release of the game.