God Of War III

No game has ever tried as hard as God Of War III to get an 18 certificate. It really is that simple. While the first two games were pretty damn brutal themselves, standard-definition output on the PlayStation 2 meant that you would never make out the full extent of the carnage caused by Kratos’s bloody rampage. Now, though, there’s a lot more to gutting those that stand in your way than just hitting buttons until they turn gooey and red.

The 1080p era brings with it the ability to see every last drop of claret spilled, every internal organ that slithers to the ground and every other horrible little detail that accompanies Kratos’s decidedly brutal array of kills. It’s not only the most violent God Of War yet – it’s one of the most gruesome games we’ve ever seen.

If it appears from screenshots that not much has changed since we last met Kratos, and that’s because… well, it hasn’t. Sony’s ‘if it ain’t broke’ policy ensures that this is very much more of the same, only in glorious high definition, which, if we’re honest, is pretty much all we wanted from it anyway. The core gameplay is that little bit tighter as you might expect, but primarily it’s the new weapons and equipment that fundamentally alter God Of War’s gaming experience.

As well as the standard chain blades, we got to see a couple of Kratos’s new and improved tools – the fire bow returns for dealing with distant foes and juggling launched ones, while the huge gauntlets were the more game-changing of the two, exchanging speed for raw power as your methodical blows land with punishing force. They change the very pace of the videogame and will no doubt prove invaluable against larger or armoured enemies too.

As ever, many of Kratos’s bigger quarries need to be weakened with regular attacks before triggering quick-time button-press events to put them down for good, and it’s here that God Of War III is at its most darkly creative. Wrenching heads from bodies, impaling creatures with their own horns and generally sticking sharp things into places where sharp things don’t belong, God Of War III is certainly not for the fainthearted.

Our only concern at this point is that with Sony clearly just going down the ‘more of the same’ route, will the game’s release early next year still be as exciting once we have got our sweaty little mitts on videogames like the more original title Bayonetta? Of course it will – it’s God Of War. Plus, as we’ve seen before, Sony is not to be underestimated when it comes to springing the odd surprise on us. Bigger, better and harder than ever.