The Ghost of Sparta’s 3rd coming (God of War 3)

So, the story started on Wednesday 11th, when some intrepid fellow released scans of God of War 3 from Game Informer. Of course, Game Informer quickly had them taken down, but not before a list of features were released onto the general internet.

Everyone thought that was the end of the story and that we’ll have to wait a ghoulishly long time for any more info, and then we were hit a few hours ago by a two-fer; a preview article at Kotaku and GameTrailers taking everyone by surprise with an apparently in-game HD trailer.

So, the important things to take note of so far:

• 50 enemies on screen at the same time
• things are MUCH bigger, broader and more detailed in scope
• at least three new weapons, with each weapon now having a totally different playstyle (a la Ninja Gaiden, DMC et al.?)
• variable difficulty A.I., with commander enemies ramping up the strategy
• Kratos travels across and climbs titans, possibly in a similar style to SotC
• All in-game movies are handled with in-game assets (most likely similar to UEngine’s matinee system, for those who are familiar with it)
• Another sex mini-game
• Another useful dismembered  head item

So, while God of War 2 was the PS2’s swansong, could God of War 3 re-define the Playstation 3? Well, while it’s not been officially stated, it seems like it’ll be in true 1080p, the game seems to be a very long game if the details and trailer are to be believed and we all know how well established and polished the gameplay for the first two are. So if this one further improves on the gameplay as much as the engine has been developed, it may well be THE game to have on the PS3. Also, as one poster at the SomethingAwful forums stated, if a backwards compatible PS3 with God of War 3 bundle is released, similar to the MGS4 deal, whereby peeps could play the previous two titles, this could sell many more PS3 units. Hell, I might even buy a PS3 for this!

Even if we ignore all that though, looking at the trailer (apparently rendered in-game minus HUD), the old fantastic music is there, all the blood and gore is still intact and Kratos looks and sounds as Samuel L. Jackson (but still thoroughly not greek) bad-ass as ever. But then I’ve got some greek blood in me and I’m a God of War and ancient Greece fanboy, so take everything I say about it with a pinch of salt.

More to come as more details are released! (possibly within the next 24 hours if rumours are to be believed!)