God of War III - how far can games go?

Kratos readies to remove an enemy's head in God of War III.

God of War III following on from Uncharted 2 makes you stop and wonder: Seriously, how much further can games go?

Immersive is the most common adjective used to describe gamers' experience with the recent Sony war title and relates to every aspect of it - including the characters and flawless technical aspects like bloom lightning, not to mention the gorgeous hi-def graphics.

On the back of Uncharted 2, Final Fantasy XIII and the genre-bending Heavy Rain, you have to start wondering where movies end and games begin.

Now I have an expensive PC with top-end video card and have been enjoying playing recent games like Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight but if there was an advantage in drowning yourself in rich PC graphics, you have to admit consoles are really starting to catch up.

Games like the God of War series have provided a winning Greek legend plot driven by one character's pain and torment whilst delivering a thrashing gory game experience and ever-increasing levels of graphic detail with each successive release.

For example, God of War has the same "bloom" effect you get on PC games, where entering or looking into bright sunlight suddenly dazzles you – as it does on a bright day outside in summer.

Once you move to a big screen hi-def TV, surround sound and Blu-ray media for more game video and image storage, comparisons with the best of CGI-driven movie blockbusters are inevitable.

Of course, the cost of the biggest games lately are starting to also be comparable with the cost of big budget movies - or even higher. That's why developers and distributors can not easily afford fizzers.

It's great that the final chapter in God of War delivered so well from the opening epic battle scene and carried the action all the way along with a thoroughly immersive gameplay experience.

Heavy Rain has done as well or better in sales than the makers cautiously hoped for, even though it broke rules in gaming and was hard to define.

It's writer and director David Cage says in a Guardian interview that some of the big video games are spectacular but feel empty.

"I don't think that Heavy Rain is a video game anymore, although it is a fully interactive experience. In order to create emotion, I borrowed elements from movies, TV series, theatre, mixing them with other influences and with all the things that make our media unique: interactivity, immersion, choices and consequences.

"Photography was inspired by painting, cinema by theatre and photography, I don't believe that any new art form was ever created from scratch."

So whatever your take on that game, you have to admit something fresh and interesting is emerging in the game world.

Of course, Sony, which needs to sell new TVs as well as PS3s and owns game and movie-making divisions, is among the entertainment giants hoping that this year is the year of 3D over all the entertainment industry.

The jury is still out for me. I loved Avatar in 3D but Clash of the Titans and Alice in Wonderland failed to do it for me, although this was as much about the story, plot direction and character development as it was the immersive 3D experience.

But there will have to be a compelling reason for those of us with recent HDTVs to go out and buy all over again into a new batch of 3D TVs and to want to play games wearing 3D glasses or not in Nintendo's case, apparently.

Of course this is not the first time we've been hyped about virtual reality in gaming - or can anyone remember Jaws in 3D!

Movie's Avatar 3D has either started something big or been an exception which the entertainment industry, desperate for a new revenue builder, is striving for.

I hope they do nail it – I'm constantly impressed with Blu-ray discs I buy and want more and more big screen movie experience in everything I do.

Meanwhile, we can settle back and be amazed with the best of the games coming through, like God of War, in their present format.

- Mad Gamer