The game many are calling “Epic” is finally here.  God of War III is the last piece to the trilogy featuring ex-Spartan Kratos against… everyone else.  Greek Gods and Titans will have to face his Blades of Exile bounded by chains to his arms and dripping with blood.  The opening cinematics  preview flashbacks of Kratos’ previous adventures in God of War I and II.  The suffering he’s gone through, the chaos he has caused but most importantly the revenge he seeks is what keeps this warrior alive.  Given the name Ghost of Sparta and eventually dethroning Ares as the new God of War has not been a peaceful journey for Kratos.  You’ll battle Titans, go face to face with Greek Gods with plenty of blood to go around.  God of War III, developed by Santa Monica Studios concludes the trilogy with our hero Kratos, the new God of War, seeking what he fights for most, vengeance!  Will he (and Santa Monica Studios) earn the term, Epic?

Where did we leave off and where we’re heading. Back in 2005’s God of War II, Kratos was cast down to Hades by the King of the Gods, Zeus himself.  So, without burning a sweat guess who he’s after in God of War III.  Yup, Zeus.  The story begins with Kratos riding the back of Gaia, Mother of the Gods, as they both ascend to the top of Mount Olympus.  But if it was that easy there wouldn’t be a game would there.  With the help of Zeus’s lightning bolt and Gaia, you descent down to Hades where you encounter the third brother of Zeus and Poseidon, Hades, God of the Netherworld.  By far, one the coolest battles you’ll encounter is with the Hades.  Tearing him apart, literally and exposing his innards are all you’ll experience in your first major battle.

Hack-N-Slash… again. Attacking is fairly simple in most hack-n-slash titles.  It mostly consists of pressing the light and strong attacks for hit combos, or button mashing.  After you defeat the enemies, you’ll gain red orbs that can be used to level up your weapons.  Anyone else notice the “urinating” sounds as you empty your red orb pool?  Green orbs fill up your health bar and Blue orbs fill up your magic bar.  In GOWIII, you’re equipped with a third bar from the beginning which is your item meter.  When you use items such as the Bow of Apollo, this meter drains but quickly regenerates.

Load screens? No more. One of the advantages of God of War III is playing on a blu-ray disc.  Because of this, there is no required installation and impressively no noticeable load screens.  I’m not sure how they pulled this off, but the cut-scenes into the gameplay are seamless.  As a matter of fact, only the gameplay graphics let me know it was time to pick up the controller and play as Kratos and put down the popcorn from the movie-like sequence that preceded.  One thing I did notice was the fan on PS3.  At some points of the game, I noticed the PS3 fan kick off and continue to spin until a less detailed scenario took place.  May be a coincidence, but it’s happened minutes after turning on the PS3 and God of War III.

To Be Concluded… The trilogy comes to a conclusion in this latest installment, God of War III.  But for those who plan on picking up the game and a PS3 just to enjoy the fantastic graphics and storyline, you’ll be missing two important things.  God of War I and God of War II.  No you won’t be completely lost, but to better understand the story, you may want to pick up the God of War Collection for the PS3 which bundles GoW I and II on one blu-ray disc.  Everything from Kratos’ dark past, how he got those scars on his abdomen and his hatred towards Zeus are all explained and sets the scenario with a clearer path to GoW 3.  I found that many examples of the story were continued and referred to Kratos’ past but while it’s not mandatory to know all that happened previously, it’s like watching The Godfather III without watching the first two.  Or like Chewbacca being on Endor… it does not make sense!

Scaled to Fit. One thing you’ll notice immediately is the scale of God of War III.  The technology used to produce such an amazing quality game is well noticed and breaks the mold for video games.  The environments and characters that surround Kratos are massive.  Up to 200 times the size of Kratos, you’ll run into huge slow moving Titans and cascading mountains all detailed and did I mention massive.  Most scenes easily fit the entire screen and need to be panned back to appropriately show Kratos in perspective.  One of the first characters you’ll remember from the previous God of War series is the Titan Gaia.  Her build is made up of wood, trees, and stone and at one point you’ll battle on her back and arm.  The highlight that exhibits the PlayStation 3′ power (which has been reported running at only 50% of the PS3’s potential) is Cronos.  You remember him from God of War I right?  He carried Pandora’s temple on his back through the desert.  This time you interact and eventually battle the gigantic Titan.  You don’t even measure up to his fingernail.  Panning out during some scenes, you’ll be able to play a tiny Kratos from afar resembling an ant from a one story building.

A touch of QTE. This year, 2010 has brought us many games that utilize QTE.  Heavy Rain was Heavy on it.  And Dante’s Inferno filled up hell with timed buttons.  In GOWIII, they changed up the QTE’s a bit.  Now, each button is shown on the appropriate part of the screen.  For example, the square button is shown on the left, triangle towards the top etc.  This makes the task for newcomers a bit easier to figure out but for the veterans of the series you’ll find this change a bit of an inconvenience since now you have to look at four sides of the screen instead of one dedicated area (i.e. right corner)

Characters of Note. Besides the recurrence of Zeus, Athena, Cronos and Gaia, you’ll encounter other Olympic gods and Titans you learned about in class.  To start, the Greek God of the Sea, Poseidon.  Hermes, great Messenger of the Gods. Hercules, son of Zeus and Krato’s half brother.  The goddess of Love, Aphrodite is one you won’t forget.  Her role in GOWIII is purely a sex mini-game that Krato’s has to “please” her.  For those who played the GOW III Demo, Helios, Greek god of Sun rides his chariot while trying to blind you during his battle.

Epic Sound joins Epic Game. The sounds of God of War III shall not go unnoticed.  The score played in the background during normal gameplay or the dramatic escalating symphonic sounds  to build up a boss battle all add to the authenticity.  The voice acting is also incredible and all portrayed perfectly.  Michael Clarke Duncan (Atlas), T.J.  Carson (Kratos) and Linda Hunt (Gaia/Narrator) all lend their voices to name a few.

Pros:
- top notch graphics
- boss battles
- dramatic sounds
- storyline
- smooth gameplay

Cons:
- fixed camera angles
- QTE button placement

Final Thought: Simply put, God of War III is one of the most amazing games I have ever played and is a must play.  Very few games have lived up to the hype and GOW 3 surpassed them.  All great things must come to an end, and this trilogy is no different.  For now.  The story of Kratos, God killer, was magnificent with it’s mind-blowing graphics, intriguing storyline and smooth gameplay that I’m claiming this PS3 title, God of War III, Game of The Year 2010.  Lucky for other consoles, this Olympic Masterpiece is exclusive to the PlayStation 3.  To sum it all up, Epic!

10/10

Related posts:

1. Review: God of War: Collection, Worthy of the Gods? There are simple reasons why I’ve many have claimed...
2. God of War III Demo Screenshots, Kratos Approved Ok PerezStart.com followers.  There’s good news and bad news. ...
3. God of War Collection Goes Gold, Coming November 17th Gone Gold are the two best words a gamer...

In case you hadn’t noticed by the sidebars of PerezStart for the past couple of months, we have been patiently anticipating for the release of God of War III.  During last year’s E3, Sony promised us a March 2010 release for the game, but I personally wouldn’t be happy until I could place an angry Kratos sticker on an exact date on my calendar.  It looks like little angry Kratos finally has a spot on my calendar to sit on as Sony announced today March 16, 2010 will be when God of War III finally releases.

The questions isn’t whether anyone with a PS3 will pick up the game: The question is if you’ll pick up the standard version of the God of War III Ultimate Edition.  For those of you who, like me, enjoy getting some extra goodies with your video game purchase, here’s a rundown of what to expect in the Ultimate Edition:

Exclusive Collectibles
• High-End Sculpted Replica of Pandora’s Box
• Limited-Edition God of War Art Book featuring exclusive art, content and interviews

Exclusive Digital Content (Available via PlayStation Network voucher codes on day of launch)
• God of War Combat Arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges
• Premium Kratos Skin – Dominus
• God of War: Unearthing the Legend Franchise Documentary – a full-length movie documentary depicting the history of the God of War franchise
• God of War Trilogy Soundtrack – God of War, II, and III scores from the game (mp3 digital download).
• God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War (mp3 digital download).

Looks like my piggy bank has a date with a blade of chaos come March 16.

source

Related posts:

1. BioShock 2 Gets New Release Date, Feb 9, 2010 After a push and shove, 2K Games has finally...
2. E3 2009: Crackdown 2 Announced; 2010 Release Date A sequel for Microsoft’s hugely popular Crackdown was announced...
3. E3 2009: God of War III, The Final Game in the Series – March 2010 It’s coming March 2010. Unfortunately, God of War will...

Ready for some HD God of War III screenshots? If we haven’t informed you of the hottest PlayStation 3 gaming coming in March, then you’re not paying attention. The screenshots below are courtesy of Kratos and we’re proud to show off how crisp and clear he and Atlas look. Check them out…

With only two months away, GoWIII will be seen on every PSN playlist and these pics confirm that theory. If you read our impressions, we explained just how great the demo played. We know the demo was the same at last years E3, so the fact that it played so well only shows the improvements must have made months ago.  In other words, the gameplay can only go up from here. Unless you’re viewing these screens on your PS3 (which I highly encourage) you see the screens in 720p quality. Enjoy Kratos in HD!

Check out all the tumbnails below:

Related posts:

1. God of War III Demo Screenshots, Kratos Approved Ok PerezStart.com followers.  There’s good news and bad news. ...
2. Caption Contest: Win a ‘God of War III’ Demo Voucher Hopefully you read both our God of War III impressions...
3. Kratos Voice Actor from God of War Series is… God of War III will be an amazing game. ...

Ok PerezStart.com followers.  There’s good news and bad news.  Good news is there’s a God of War 3 Demo that we have been playing and loving with our official impressions coming Monday.  Bad news is we couldn’t get a Demo code for you guys… yet (we’ll try).  So make sure you come back Monday since we’ll have a full write-up on the Demo, with screens for viewing.  For now, enjoy these screens featuring Kratos in these never before seen demo screenshots of everyone’s favorite Titan killer, Kratos!

The amazing graphics can easily be seen on these screenshots with the blood from the Cyclops’ eye above sprayed all over Kratos.  The gore doesn’t stop here.  Kratos is also involved with another enemy who “disturbs the gods”.

Here’s the plot for God of War III, so if you’re not into spoilers just check out the screenshots below.

God of War III takes place right after the events of God of War II, with Kratos upon Gaia’s back eager to exact vengeance on the gods and make them suffer. As seen in the trailers, the whereabouts of the Blade of Olympus is unknown, even though Kratos had been wielding the blade at the end of God of War II. Little information has been released on the battle between the Gods and Titans that will explain the end of Greek mythology.[10] A more recent screenshot shows Helios on his knees with a bloodied face, Kratos is also in the picture grasping the god’s head, about to tear it off with his bare hands.[11] A game demo released at E3 2009 shows Kratos, with assistance from Perses, bringing down Helios and his chariot and then ripping off the god’s head.

Related posts:

1. HD ‘God of War III’ Screens, Kratos 1080p Ready for some HD God of War III screenshots?...
2. Impressions: God of War III Demo, WOW We saw.  We played.  We were impressed.  Very impressed! ...
3. E3 2009: Leaked God of War III Screenshots, Kratos Impressive Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Sony press conference,...

Hopefully your catching this video before it gets pulled down from Youtube, but some weasel managed to leak out this exclusive first gameplay of God of War 3.  Kind of reminds me of a bad CAM version of 300, “Hooo, Hooo’” I invented that!

Related posts:

1. BioShock 2 Gameplay Footage; Hunting The Big Sister If you weren’t pumped at the prospect of filling...
2. Tales Of Monkey Island Gameplay Trailer Includes Ghost Pirates, Cursed Cutlasses, and …a One-Headed Monkey?! The release date for TellTale’s Tales of Monkey Island...
3. Sony Teases Us With 13 Minute God of War 3 Gameplay Footage God of War 3 is probably one of, if...

Related posts:

1. E3 2009: Leaked God of War III Screenshots, Kratos Impressive Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Sony press conference,...
2. NEW God of War III Screenshots, Check em Out E3 is quickly approaching (June 2-4) and there’s been...
3. God of War III Demo Screenshots, Kratos Approved Ok PerezStart.com followers.  There’s good news and bad news. ...

Ok, so we’re a day early on God of War III news.  I’m sure you don’t mind if I give you the full breakdown of what’s to come.  Now, the information is of course leaked, so let’s keep this hush, hush.  Thanks Eurogamer!

Here is the information quoted on Eurogamer:

The biggest challenge will be harnessing what the PS3 can accomplish. “We want this to be the game that shows people what the PS3 can do,” game director Stig Asmussen told the magazine.

That means titans: enormous and ancient god-like beings that have been tussling with the Greek gods for a while. Whereas action sequences involving titans in previous God of War games were restricted to cinematic sequences, they’re now integrated on a much more dynamic level.

Kratos – a tiny cluster of pixels compared to the full model of a titan – clambers up their immense frames as they rock to and fro, some even aggressively interacting as our hero ploughs forward. “It’s not just a set piece anymore; it’s a living, breathing character,” added Asmussen.

As for Kratos himself: he’ll be around four times as detailed as on PlayStation 2. “Kratos on PS2 was probably about 5,000 polygons, and now he’s 20,000,” said art director Ken Feldman. “We wouldn’t even be able to load him on PS2.”

The gnarled warrior also visually carries the scars obtained in previous God of War games, as well as some of the abilities acquired: the Golden Fleece and the Icarus Wings are mentioned.

There’s plenty of room for him to grow, though. The skill-set has expanded to include a wider array of combos and grapples and environmental interaction like smashing heads on walls. And a brand new supernatural magic-type has been introduced, as relying on god-powers of the past would be thematically daft; the gods are no longer friends of Kratos and are unlikely to grant him any more power, so his magic will come from somewhere intrinsic, somewhere else.

Additional weapons also await, and Sony Santa Monica promises each weapon will feel completely different to the signature Blades of Chaos, providing real alternatives rather than quick-thrill distractions. The Cestus gauntlets are given as an example; these spout spiked balls on chains from their decorative animal mouths, causing shockwaves that throw enemies back on each hit.

Abilities such as those will come in handy, as Kratos faces much stiffer opposition than ever before. The developer reached around 12 to 15 enemies on-screen in God of War II, and has bumped that number somewhere closer to 50 on PS3. Enemies can also jump on Kratos, eventually weighing him down and smothering him. This can be broken by wiggling the analogue stick.

Multiple baddies will now coordinate attacks, too, or take orders from a commander to organise into formations. And, of course, Kratos will face boss battles.

“You can look at the cast of characters from the end of God of War II, and you can kind of deduce [the bosses] from that,” hinted Asmussen. One confirmed battle will be with Hades, who rules the underworld.

Sony Santa Monica went on to confirm that God of War III will not have multiplayer, although DLC remains a possibility for the future.

As far as story is concerned, God of War III will bring the trilogy to a close, but the franchise will live on, although we’re told it won’t be “run into the ground”.

God of War III is in development exclusively for PlayStation 3. No firm release date has been set. Sigh.

source

Related posts:

1. God of War III Demo Screenshots, Kratos Approved Ok PerezStart.com followers.  There’s good news and bad news. ...
2. Rumor: PS3 3.0 Firmware Details Leaked? Change As Big As NXE? It looks like the Xbox 360 isn’t the only...
3. HOT: PSP Go Details Leaked; 16GB Flash Storage and Bluetooth [UPDATE] – With Video from Core from the PlayStation...

This week is God of War III week.  In the upcoming March issue of Game Informer the brutal star of the God of War series, Kratos will be featured on the front cover as he hacks and decapitates Cyclops.  Even more special news this week, on February 13th 12pm EST, SONY will be unveiling God of War III to the public media.  What does this mean for you?  How about some more Kratos goodness to wash away the taste of the poorly reviewed Rise of the Argonauts.

source

Related posts:

1. Sony Teases Us With 13 Minute God of War 3 Gameplay Footage God of War 3 is probably one of, if...
2. Kratos Voice Actor from God of War Series is… God of War III will be an amazing game. ...
3. God Of War Collection Releasing Nov. 2009 Sony announced today they will be bringing both God...