The God of War franchise is one of Sony’s biggest exclusives. The first game in the series launched on the PS2 in 2005, and was met with rave reviews. God of War II followed suit in 2007, pushing the PS2 to its limits (despite the fact that the PS3 had been out for several months) and again garnering tons of critical praise. A well-received prequel, Chains of Olympus, came out the following year, and is the highest rated PSP game of all time, at least according to aggregate site Metacritic. Five years after it all began, God of War III is poised to take the PS3 by storm this March. From what I saw of the game at a Sony event last month, fans of the series will not be disappointed.

I started at what I was told was the beginning of God of War III, once again taking the role of revenge-driven Kratos. The controls are pretty intuitive, just like in the last two God of War games, so you’ll probably know what to do without even thinking about it. As I began to play, I noticed that the environment was moving, as if alive. The ground was shaking, and I quickly got to work, decimating a few small foes and encountering my first button-mashing event, which required pressing X repeatedly to move a large fallen tree that was blocking my path. I was making my way up the side of what appeared to be some sort of hill or mountain—or so I thought. As I approached the end of the section, I was confronted by some sort of half-horse water monster with giant claws. Its head towered over me; I was just a tiny speck in comparison. The camera changed, and I saw that I, like the horse creature, was on top of some of kind of giant man-like thing climbing Mount Olympus.

Did you catch that? I was fighting a giant beast on top of another giant beast.



Through a combination of attacks and quick time events, I leapt to one side of the horse’s head, driving a chain into the side of its mouth. I then made my way to the other side—I was knocked off the first time, but successful the second—and attached the other end of the chain. After that, I was able to finally take down this creature (which I was told didn’t have a name yet) by ripping off its jaw. Can you think of a better way to destroy a half-horse water elemental monster? I sure can’t. This whole struggle, by the way, was still taking place on top of the giant, making it one of the coolest boss fight scenarios I have ever encountered.

Throughout the entire thing, I couldn’t help but notice just how gorgeous God of War III looked. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since God of War II was one of the best-looking games on the PS2, but seeing the franchise in action on the PS3 for the first time was breathtaking. This was especially apparent during my boss encounter, which was obviously the highlight of my experience. I could really get an idea of just how small Kratos was in comparison to these larger beasts, and everything looked crisp, clean, and beautifully rendered. Afterwards, I was so hyped up that I was just about ready to go home and play the God of War Collection, just to keep up my level of excitement.



My time with God of War III was far too short, but still fairly epic. I was told that this was just one small moment in the game, and I was really impressed with what I had seen. It’s clear that the developers are really trying to outdo themselves with this title, and for good reason. This could be the system-selling exclusive that Sony is looking for, but with such a critically acclaimed history, God of War III has a lot to live up to.

God of War III will be out in March 2010, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.