God of War 3 Press Event – 2/10/09

Sony held a small press event in Beverly Hills, CA to talk about one of the most anticipated games to hit the PlayStation 3 console, God of War 3, and unveil a never-before-seen trailer, until today.

The presentation was run by the God of War 3 Game Director, Stig Asmussen. All of us were hoping for more clarification about the release date but that was one thing they did not reveal. In fact, Asmussen stated that more info would be unveiled at this year’s E3, which means we probably won’t be seeing God of War 3 until June 2009 or later. We were also informed that the presentation was being filmed to be a part of the bonus materials that will be found on the game disc.

Asmussen first addressed the game’s vision. God of War 3 will wrap up the God of War series by creating a defining game for this generation
by bringing to the console, things that we have never seen done before, draw from the franchise’s experience and PS3 technology by delivering ground-breaking gameplay, and redefine “scale” as we know it in games today.

The team that has brought you the first and the second God of War games are also bringing you God of War 3. God of War 3 will introduce what is being referred to as “Titan Gameplay”. The developers are working on a level of size and scope that has yet to be seen. One of the levels is said to be taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago, which stands 1353 feet.

When making GoW I and II, the team pushed the PS2 to it’s limits, using what they call the “smoke and mirrors” effects to help achieve the end product. On the PS3 and for GoW3, they are able to do these characters and backgrounds for real! In fact, the Kratos character model is so big that it won’t fit on the PS2 – it takes up too much memory. The fog of war will always be in the background. If you were to take D-Day and combine it with the film, Cloverfield and then drop Kratos in the middle – you have God of War 3 – a game that promises to change how people look at games.

This game will bridge the series and get into the mind of Kratos, into his violent physical and emotional struggle. It promises an epic finale. This will also mark the final chapter in this trilogy, although we have all heard that one before. One issue to tackle is that Kratos’ story can be too complex for newcomers so instead of boring fans of the series with a retelling of the story, we will get a refresher while the newcomers will get a history lesson.

Some of the new and key features of this game will be the “Titan Gameplay”, rideable enemy characters, a new weapon system, and large scale battles. All of the cinematics seen in the trailer are at in-game resolution, textures, and effects. Kratos can literally be dropped in and do everything you see.

“In the end, there can only be chaos.”

A great example of the Titan gameplay is what you saw at the end of the trailer, when the camera pans out and you see that this forest he has been in battle on is really the back of Gaia climbing to the top of Mount Olympus. It is at that moment where you get a feel for just how large this world is going to be and how small Kratos is in comparison. This forest can be measured in acres.

In this game, Kratos will now be able to subdue and mount enemy characters and have full control of their navigation and attacks. You see this in the trailer when he takes control of the Cyclops. During the game play demo at Tuesday’s presentation, we watched Kratos, surrounded by heavily shielded undead legionnaires – all immune to his Blades of Chaos attacks, take control of the Cyclops. He jumps on top of his back, using the familiar button-timing controls, and thrusts his blade into the Cyclops’ neck which make the Cyclops attack the shielded skeleton army below. On the Cyclops, he is able to tear through them with great ease. When he is done, he performs a gruesome kill by tearing out the Cyclops’ eye, right out of its socket!

According to the feedback that they have received from gamers, even with four weapons to choose from, most defaulted back to the Blades of Chaos. This time around, they are introducing the Cestus, which is an ancient (well, not so ancient in the game’s timeframe) battle glove. These are the large lion-headed battle gloves that we see Kratos wearing in the trailer. The Cestus works just like the Blades and the player can also shift weapons on the fly for more creative and powerful attacks.

There will be more large scale battles and Kratos will have more integrated grab moves and attacks that will evolve when more enemies appear on screen. This is similar to the attack that we see Kratos execute in the trailer when he becomes overwhelmed with enemies and he explodes with a violent energy that send the enemies flying off of him.

Some other things seen in the game play demo is that the AI is going to get smarter depending on who or what is on screen. At the beginning, Kratos is battling with a group of undead legionnaires and moments later a Centaur arrives to the battle. With the Centaur in the battle, all the AI around him – the undead legionnaires – become smarter and more difficult to kill. Kratos can shoot fireballs into one enemy that will run around the screen, catching other enemies in his wake. The camera also zooms in on the battle for more intensity, the developers call this the CS Mini Games. We watched as Kratos executes the final kill on the Centaur, using what the developers call “zipper technology”, ripping open his underbelly and his innards spilling out on the screen.

We also watched a Chimera enter the battle – a beast made up of a deadly snake, a majestic lion, and a multi-antlered goat. Here Kratos must battle this massive mythical beast by killing each beast that makes up the Chimera.

Kratos can use enemies like Harpies to get to areas that are otherwise impossible to get to. He can jump from harpy to harpy with ease. He can also use the Harpy as a grenade by slamming it down into enemies.

The kills are far more gruesome and awesome than ever with Kratos tearing enemies from limb to limb, ripping heads off, disemboweling, and beheading enemies left and right. Kratos can even use enemies as battering rams, to get through an obstacles and groups of enemies.

There will be more control over the camera as well as a quick move for wall climbing. There is also a new mode of travel called the Icarus Ascension, where we will enter “dodging” gameplay as Kratos soars upwards, traveling via a vent highway, dodging obstacles along the way.

After the trailer and game play demo, they started an open Q & A session. We got some great answers here.

There was a very gory scene in the trailer where Kratos rips open a Centaur and we see his guts spill out. Frames of that scene were edited out of the trailer but someone brought up how the ESRB would rate a game like this as M for Mature which is the equivalent to an R rating for a film. He asked how we can have films like Saw and Hostel but when it appears n a game, it stirs up more controversy. Plain and simple, the answer was that the ESRB really needs to see past the idea that video games are toys. Games like God of War 3 are not aimed towards children, they are aimed towards mature gamers like the ones sitting at this event. Developers and gamers are more mature and are approaching games as they do films.

One question was regarding how they will catch people up on the series and a concern of having a “Metal Gear Solid” hour long cutscene and load times. The answer was that they are looking into creative ways to catch people up with the series and and present the story. Boring longtime fans is a concern as is making it a enriching game play experience for all gamers – old fans and newcomers alike. The previous games featured no long movies or load times and God of War 3 will follow suit by constantly streaming the game. They may even be looking into possibly rereleasing GoW I & II but not too much was said in regards to this.

In the game play demo, there was an absence of the red, blue, and green orbs. Not to worry, they will be back. They are also still exploring different options regarding how Kratos’ abilities will be available. In the previous games, Kratos started out with all the abilities only to have them stripped from him leaving the player as power hungry as the character they were playing. They have made no concrete decisions at this time as to how this will pan out. While most gamers want to start out as the most powerful version and just kick ass, there is some concern about gradually introducing the weapons and abilities.

With the scale of the game literally in epic proportions, there was a question about the game being so large that players would get lost. The developers feel that the extensive playtesting of the games will confront this issue should it arise and it would be dealt with before the game hits the shelves.

Also, with battles taking place on the back of a large, moving titan, someone asked if there would there be a challenge within that. The answer was “perhaps”. They are working on skin collision so that when the Titan moves it would shift Kratos’ movement as well. How much this would affect the gameplay is still in the air.

The presentation ended and we got to break for lunch. I teamed up with fellow journalist Redmond Carolipio and together we interviewed the Game Director – Stig Asmussen, the Lead Programmer – Vassily Filippov, and the Art Director – Ken Feldman.