Platform: PS3 Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Rating: TBA Players: Singleplayer Genre: Action/Adventure Release Date: March 26th, 2010

Website: www.godofwar.com

Last week we ventured along to Sony’s hands-on event to highlight their new selection of games releasing over the next season. With Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time releasing soon and Gran Turismo for PSP releasing last week, we were pretty keen to get a glimpse of God of War III. If you thought the previous GoW was great, you’re going to absolutely drool over GoW III as Kratos has evolved with even more deadly combinations and weapons, not to mention that overall bad-ass attitude he seems to have going on. Fact is, we all love Kratos and we just can’t get enough of him!

The code we had to play with was obviously unfinished and incomplete but we had a close-up and personal taste of some of Kratos’s shiny new weapons. The Cestus is Kratos’ new pair of gauntlets with the head of a lion on the front. Kratros uses this weapon to bash and smash things as opposed to using his trademark blades to slice and dice. Returning to the game are the Wings of Icarus which you can use to great advantage. Some of the aerial shots taken of Kratos like this one are very slick:

Don't try this at home, kids

Helios also plays a part in the new game, with Kratos fighting the usual array of gods and Titans etc to finish what he started. The path ahead is more bloody and gruesome than ever before. You’ll get lots of close-up shots of Kratos doing what he does best by ripping things apart and proving once again, that blood-letting is indeed what Kratos was made for. One particularly gruesome battle involves a Minotaur and some disembowelment action going on! Sony have spared no expense on the blood and gore – there’s blood curdling violence in copious amounts. Hurrah!

Kratos also gets around by using other means of transportation which includes hooking his blades into the necks of Harpies and flying across from one place to another which is more of the awesome stuff that makes God of War such an exciting game to play. And there’s no shortage of new combination moves to master as well as new puzzles which fans will find familiar from the previous game.

Hi, I'm Kratos, mind if I rip off your head?

New Zealand gamers are going to have to wait a wee while for God of War III as it doesn’t release here until March 26th, 2010 but rest assured, judging by the early glimpse of the gameplay we had, it will be well worth the wait.