OverGeeked: Sony Takes on Mythic Expectations with God Of War III

Yesterday, Sony let out the chains just a little on its biggest video game release this year. Under the watchful gaze of poised statues, some alive and more watchful than others, the Canadian press was invited to sit down and play God of War III. It is the next installment in the juggernaut franchise that enjoyed multi-million dollar success on the PlayStation 2, and is now expected to produce those same results, if not better, for the PlayStation 3.

While bigger and better has always been the expectation in this industry, it has never been more so than with the God of War series. The games have gained their popularity by delivering "wow" moments on top of "wow" moments, using the monsters and gods of Greek mythology to simulate battles that are ever more complex in size, excessive in violence, and epic in scale. Each new monster has to be more impressive, each new battle more intense, and each new scene adding to a larger sense of grandeur and power. After accelerating its way through two titles already, there is the apprehension that it might burn out short of fan expectations.

Sony has definitely felt the need to manage the hype on this one more so than others. Although the game will be released in just over a week (March 16), the company limited the press attending yesterday's pre-launch event to playing just the first level. Company reps stood and watched each reporter play, quick to swoop in and seize the controller the moment he reached that first end point. It's enough to show that the beginning delivers on the series' sense of immensity and scale, but not if it can maintain it.

Kratos is the series' anti-hero, a walking column of resentment and rage committed to rebelling against the manipulations of vengeful gods even if it means destroying them all. The new game begins with him riding on the back of Gaia, a towering skyscraper-sized being of earth, as she climbs Mount Olympus, itself an immense peak. The two of them are intent on murdering Zeus, destroying Olympus, and taking all of the other gods with it if necessary.

Poseidon is the first sent by Zeus to try and stop them. He drops from the sky, the immense power of water against the unpredictable shifting of moving earth, infused with a water chariot lead by aquatic stallions, each writhing with appendages of tentacles and crab-like claws. These stallions lunge out as horse-headed eels, digging into the titan's earth body like parasites. This forces Kratos to climb over the shifting back of his ally, fighting legions of soldiers along the way. He hacks at crab claws and horse-heads to free Gaia from their grip so she can keep climbing and he can take on Poseidon directly.

This immense struggle eventually culminates into a mano-a-mano fight between Kratos and Poseidon, reduced down to normal size. They exchange dramatic blows like WWE wrestlers before the game places you inside Poseidon's perspective as his head is repeatedly bludgeoned against a column, his eyes gouged out, and his lifeless body tossed over a cliff.

Fans of the series will be looking for the game to beat that opening; to offer sequences more over-the-top, more excessive, and more shocking. For the creators, who have made a game that's 35% longer than the last, the challenge is helped by the transition between the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3, and thus between standard definition and 1080i high definition. The technological leap will deliver a wow even if the ideas don't.

John Palamarchuk is in charge of creating the game's movie-like sequences; the cinematics that portray dramatic moments that players have no control over. He says the shift to the PlayStation 3 allows Sony to create game worlds that are literally larger in scale, noting that the largest level in God of War II is only one sixth the size of a normal level in God of War III, which explains how they can offer fights amongst gods, on the back of titans, climbing up the side of a mountain.

"Throughout development, we kept adding new technology, and that would allow us to come up with new effects ideas, "explains Palamarchuck, who notes Poseidon's water effects represent the first time Sony has used motion blur on particles, water refractions, and deforming liquid surfaces. "Throughout the game, we have a massive variety of effects and so, the Poseidon level at the beginning, that is completely unique to its own, there's nothing like that in the rest of the game."

Even with new techniques to keep the ideas fresh, Palamarchuk admits that some levels feel like a racing game with so much going on. The intent with God Of War III is not to keep that accelerated need to impress going, but to reach a kind of closure. "The story, the emotion, it has a much more mature feel to it this time," explains Palamarchuck. "We really wanted to close the story, tie all the loose ends as the end of a trilogy. In that regard, we've taken a little more of a cinematic approach, to tell whatever story we have to and finish it off".

From the reaction to yesterday's preview, it's clear the game starts at the height of expectations. As to how it ends, we'll see on March 16th.

Article Tags:  poseidon, playstation, first, water, level, series, kratos, story, yesterday, immense, explains, effects, ideas, earth, scale, moments, climbing, sequences, offer, dramatic, definition, normal, press, palamarchuck, going, little, watchful, throughout, pal