God of War III: Anti-hero's mythical mission

The iron-tough, white-faced Kratos, who fears absolutely nothing in this mythical realm has grabbed gamers since he reared his scowling head on Playstation2. Photo / Supplied

Kratos is mighty pissed off. And after battling his way through what is arguably PlayStation's most spectacular storyline - the much-vaunted God of War series - who could blame him?

Set among the stuff of Greek mythology, God of War III is the final chapter in protagonist Kratos' quest for revenge against all who betrayed him - and there are a few.

It is set in an incredibly immersive world of monsters, magic, uber-giants, grumpy gods, imaginatively and highly destructive weaponry - and truly savage violence.

The iron-tough, white-faced character, who fears absolutely nothing in this mythical realm has grabbed gamers since he reared his scowling head on the last-generation PlayStation2 console.

God of War III is the first title to be released on the more powerful PlayStation3, although a tasty collection is on offer with high-def versions of the two previous games.

It takes advantage of the grunty hardware by delivering a far more immersive experience - four times the resolution, markedly larger gaming environments and fast, smooth imagery that drops you in the middle of some of the most intense battles to be found in any title.

And this time around, Kratos has set his target high - right at the top of Mt Olympus. Killing Zeus is far from a simple task, even for Kratos and his devastating Blades of Athena, and gives players the chance to see out the series in style.

TimeOut caught up with two enthusiastic gameheads from the God of War team, out of Sony's renowned Santa Monica studio. Jonathan Hawkins, senior designer, has worked on all three games, while lead in-game animator Bruno Velazquez, came on board after the original's release.

Both, rightly, believe that this final chapter has taken the game to the next level, with seamless flow from cut scene to gameplay, bigger environments and even a chance to see into the violent mind of Kratos.

"He still has his brutality and his viciousness and that beastly feel," assures Hawkins. "But there are moments that we've added in this game that add a bit more humanity to him and you start to understand the inner workings of his mind. I think that will make people understand more that he's a human, not just this vicious killer."

He promises a scene towards the end where we will see a "surprising" side of Kratos. But it is the high-definition, 720p graphics grunt that most players will notice first.

"From an animation perspective, we could bring up Kratos' detail so much," says Bruno, "to get all these nuances in his facial expressions, veins that pop up when he flexes his muscles, and more details in Kratos' movement.

"The artists really nailed it," agrees Jonathan. "It creates such a vivid world for the player and almost doesn't leave as much to the imagination. You're just sucked into this world that's created to massive detail and you're totally inside it."

The studio took a similar move to Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, eschewing computer-generated cut scenes and using in-game goodies to produce those "movie" moments so as not to jolt players from one to the other.

"We decided not to create CGI outside of the game engine," explains Bruno. "Everything that you're going to see in God of War III is using the same assets as those used while playing the game. It's like Uncharted 2 - everything you see Kratos doing in the cinematics is exactly the same as the character you control. All the facial animation - all the details in the movies, you'll experience in the game. We didn't want the player to be taken out of the experience, we wanted it to be smooth from beginning to end, without jarring changes.

This makes for very seamless play, something that Jonathan says the team is particularly proud of.

"The pacing, in terms of movement to movement, is excellent - every time you're turning a corner or meeting a new character or a new enemy to fight, new locations and set pieces.

"It creates a very interesting and driven experience for the player, and makes them not want to put down the controller - which is, like, the objective."

Alongside the stroppy Spartan, incredible characters and fearsome monsters, weapons are real stars - and the Santa Monica duo know what works best, and while God of War II had spears and hammers, some fresh armoury was needed.

"My personal favourite is the Nemesis whip," says Bruno. "It's the fourth weapon that you acquire in God of War III. We thought 'okay, this time around we'll give them something a little bit closer to his blades' - that's how the Hades hooks and Nemesis whip came about. Since the blades are such a big part of Kratos' character, people are still going to gravitate towards them. The options that we've provided are useful and fun enough that players will find a couple of new favourite ones."

His partner in crime prefers a new nasty called Cestus.

"They're these giant, meaty boxing gloves that are made of steel - you basically just beat the shit out of anything that's in your way. When you punch, it really has that solid, satisfying feel with a lot of force and power behind it. You feel like a badass."

If you haven't had the joy of hacking and slashing in this take on Greek myth, it is possible to play as a standalone title.

"If someone wanted to jump right into God of War III," says Bruno, "Kratos is a straightforward kind of a guy - they'll get what his intentions are and will have fun, even if they haven't played the first two games."

Lowdown

What: God of War III, the final adventures of Kratos

When: Out this week

Rating: R16 (violence and nudity)