19 Feb, 2010
Wow! Where do I begin? The Spartan with anger issues is back – and by God (of War), he’s worth the wait!
I’m not going to spoil the demo for you by giving you a blow by blow (heh) account but I’d thought I’d share my thoughts and feelings, whether you want them or not. :)
Maybe I was way too excited about this game, but the intro music actually gave me chills. It was liking welcoming back on old friend, an old angry friend who wouldn’t think twice about ripping your head off if you so much as breathed in his direction.
If you’ve played God of War I and II, you’ll be familiar with the controls as they have pretty much stayed the same, though I do like the addition of the “battering ram” move that allows you to grab an enemy and, as the name suggests, use him to crush any other opponents in your path. The button prompts are still there to help you finish off the bigger enemies and even take control of them in some instances.
A new addition to your available weapons are the Cestus gauntlets which are a nice change from the long-range Blades of Chaos. Although you are required to get in close, they do a staggering (literally) amount of damage. The Head of Helios lets you find hidden doorways and blind enemies with it’s light and is similar in feel to it’s predecessor, the Head of Medusa.
Now, I’m not a graphics snob but it does look impressive. I’ve always enjoyed God of War’s graphics and now when the camera pans over a new area, the result is stunning. The sound is immense and, coupled with the graphics, will totally immerse you.
My only gripe is that it does feel a little samey. Granted, this isn’t always a bad thing but on a game that is essentially a button masher (albeit a very fun one) it could spell disaster. Perhaps I’m being too harsh, it’s hard to judge on the short amount of game play you get on a demo.
That said, it hasn’t lost that fun, addictive quality that we saw in the previous games (see? samey can be a good thing) and I’m still counting down the days until God of War III’s release on March 19th.
Oo, I wonder what’s going to happen in this one? GoW is one of my go-to favorite series. I love how intituative the fighting is. Even the puzzles weren’t so bad, although I think I’m experiencing amnesia since I’m sure I’ve nerd raged in GoW2 at least twice.