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God of War III: first impressions
- February 18, 2009 09:07 AM PST
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Deicide
The storyline picks up moments after God of War II on the PS2 left off. Kratos now leads the race of Titans, monstrous walking mountain gods, up the towering side of Mt. Olympus. His goal is to wipe out the surviving gods, which include Helios, Hermes, Hades, and especially old daddy bear Zeus. From what I saw, Kratos's bloody quest for vengeance will be largely fought on the bodies of the Titans themselves as they slowly ascend the impossibly tall Mt. Olympus. The Titan gameplay scenarios looked impressive: trees, grass, and other landmarks dot these moving landscapes, and at certain times the action went vertical when a Titan flexed one of its enormous muscles. The Titans are big: so big, in fact, that the Sony developers bragged that the entirety of Medusa's temple from the original God of War would easily fit into the palm of the Titan Gaia in God of War III.
There are also a legion of gameplay improvements that push the combat tactics to a whole different level. Kratos himself if nimbler and more powerful than ever, and can use smaller enemies like a battering ram, bowling over other enemies as he dashes through the crowd ala Dead Rising's Frank West. Kratos can also set enemies ablaze with his new Fire Bow, or pummel them at close range with a set of enormous, chained gauntlets called the Cestus (PSP owners will see similarities to the Gauntlet of Zeus). Kratos can also ride and control certain enemy creatures by latching on with his chain-swords and prodding the monster into action. We watched him force a towering Cyclops to bowl over its own soldiers; later, Kratos impaled an airborne Harpy and used it as a kind of makeshift glider to cross a wide gap. The gameplay improvements appear to be profound and meaningful, going far beyond a few new moves here or a couple of new combos there. And there are, of course, countless new fatality moves that you can use to really put the screws to your hapless victims - I saw stringy eviscerations, cranium impalements, and a manual decapitation that would put Sub-Zero to shame. For God of War fans, this game is nothing short of a big, sloppy kiss. Pucker up!
"I Hope for Nothing"
From here, the path to victory is clear. But much like the Titans' ascension up Mt. Olympus, it won't be an easy climb. God of War III will either live up to the hype or it won't. The challenge will be for the developers to match the blistering pace and sheer inventiveness of God of War II, a game that still ranks in the highest pantheon of all-time action games. Other considerations, such as the length of the quest and the quality of the story's conclusion, will ultimately determine whether God of War III goes down as a true legend or merely a bloody thrill ride. The pedigree is there, the technology is there, and Kratos is there. Speaking frankly, this one looks like a slam-dunk.
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- Feb 13 2009 at 12:16:30:PM PST
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Oh.
My.
God.
I can't wait to see how the Titan assault on Mount Olympus turns out. GoW 2 had such an awesome ending.
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Its not coming in 2009. All GOW games release in the March-February so its gonna be next year. But this looks just epic.
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Can't wait!!! The first 2 games set the bar pretty high though... hope this one is at least as good as the other 2... :)
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will GOW3 actually improve on the gameplay and story that GOW2 has set... it will be very hard, but I shall wait and see, hopfully going to be amazed by this game
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Now this was the game I was thinking about on line on launch day, no other, and if the PS3 could pull off a few more of these rather then trying to compete in the shooter market, the PS3 would be the third MUST HAVE console.
The GOW series was clearly the best looking games on the PS2, so there was no doubt in my mind that part 3 would be look as shit.
Now, while this game looks freaken nuts, I am seeing much of the same imagery and enemies that I saw in the first two games, which is fine, but I really hope that they cover much needed new ground, not just the same game with graphical enhancements...
It's gonna be really tough waiting a year for this one, ... but then again I said the same thing last year about RE5 and that's only weeks away.
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We saw PLENTY that isn't in these screens, like the massive Chimera - part snake, part lion, part goat. More details coming very soon!
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xniax1 wrote:
To bad the trailers for the GOW games are better then the actual game. Unless you're type that likes to mash on the same 3 buttons through the entire game. /Lose
EPIC FAIL.
/Lose.
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