Interview/Review: God Of War III – Now all the Gods are dead

Mike Bantick
Friday, 02 April 2010 21:07

Entertainment

Kratos is back and in the high definition world of the PlayStation 3, he relishes the new fidelity of violence.  So much so that Kratos can now be called the God of Gore.  Here iTWire talks about the game with Senior Designer Jonathan Hawkins and Lead Animator Bruno Velazquez, both from God Of War III development studio Sony Santa Monica.

First impressions of God Of War III told us we were in for an experience blurring the line between cinema and video game.  Kratos will perform his vengeful attacks on the Gods of Olympus at a variety of scales.

God Of War III
	Developer	Santa Monica Studios
	Publisher	Sony
	Rating	MA 15+
PS3

From the close up, sweat beads of in your face God of Gore, to the wide epic panning shots showing epic, mythic vistas where Kratos is a mere couple of pixels on screen, still performing his devastating moves, but in a more audio, rather than visual way; more God of Roar if you will.

God Of War III really isn’t much of a step up from its predecessors when you look at features on paper.  Kratos now has a bunch of weapons to use, but otherwise, this is the Greek mythos romp that God Of War has always delivered.

Delve a little deeper, and it is obvious the team at Santa Monica Studios has made the leap to PS3 with relish, the game simply looks and plays magnificently, and much of it came down to lots of sweat and tears within the team, as Jonathan Hawkins, senior designer explains:  “It wasn’t an easy task by any means, we all worked very hard and got it done, there were good times and bad, but in the end we got it done.”

Crunch time - the last few weeks leading up to release of the game - in particular can be stressful:  “Absolutely,” says Hawkins “everybody from the animaters and the guys doing the sound, through to the HR department who have to provide food for all of the team members, and get them what they need.  So it is a stressful time for everyone”

Having the team stay coherent has helped during these crunch times,  Lead Animator, Bruno Velazquez explains how the team has changed and grown: “God Of War I took about 50, God Of War 2, about 90 and God Of War III about 140, but over the years, I remember on GOW 1, one or two people had babies, and now that it has been six  or seven years, the team has matured and got a little older, got a little more family orientated, so there is an impact with ‘crunch’ especially for those people with families.”

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