God of War III
God of War III was announced at E3 2008 and is scheduled to be released in March 2010. It is a forthcoming installment in the God of War series which falls under the genre of hack and slash, and action-adventure games with an ESRB rating of M 17+. God of War III is developed by SCE Studios Santa Monica and published by Sony Computer Entertainment under the God of War series with a native resolution of 1080 pixels for its PlayStation 3 game console platform. Chronologically the fifth chapter in the series after the God of War II, the game is expected to feature a similar gameplay to that of the previous installments, with only two weapons confirmed as of so far, including the trademark Blades of Athena and the Cestus, a pair of fist gauntlests shaped like lion heads. The latter is a new weapon that appears to have the ability to smash through solid objects such as rocks. Not only that, screen shots also show the Golden Fleece appearing on Kratos’ arm as well as the Icarus’ wings, indicating that he keeps both from his adventures in God of War II. There is also a screenshot of Kratos tearing of the head of the God Helios, which will be available for use in a similar fashion to those of Medusa and Euryale from previous installments. In contrast to Medusa and Euryale’s powers which revolve around stone, Helios’ stems from light, providing distraction to undead soldiers and as a lantern in dark areas. Not only that, the number of enemies onscreen has also been increased to 50 as opposed to the maximum of 15 in previous God of War chapters. God of War III is set right after the events of God of War II, with the main character upon Gaia’s back eager to exact vengeance on the gods. Unfortunately, even though Kratos had been wielding the Blade of Olympus at the end of God of War II, the whereabouts of the blade in the fifth installment seems to be unknown.
Reviews
In God of War III, Kratos, the god-killing warrior with his legendary Blades of Chaos is seen tearing through a series of soldiers, harpies and more, and then culminates into a feverish escape from a crumbling tunnel using massive feathered wings. The fifth installment is supposed to be the last of the God of War series as it will finally end the battle between the gods Zeus and Kratos, according to Sony. The demo put on by the developers started of with winged beasts on fire and soldiers fleeing for their lives, of which players of the previous games would know that that’s usually an indicator for Kratos to go check it out. Among some of the scenes shown include Kratos firing a bow and arrow with ammunition that was on fire, using flying beasts to transport across chasms, beating them up an then ripping their heads off at the end, cutting open the belly of a huge centaur using the series’ quick time even system, as well as breaking off the horn of a Chimera and slamming it into its own head to kill it.
“The game already feels fast and ferocious, but I’m actually a bit concerned with the visuals at the moment. Sure, God of War looks really good when you get up close and personal, but there are moments, as Kratos runs about slashing skeletons, where I find the art style to be very generic. Perhaps this is due to the visual style of the particular level, or maybe the God of War formula isn’t quite clicking with me yet, but sometimes I just don’t see the appeal.” (IGN, 2009)
