E3 2012: Get Over Yourself and Enjoy God of War

Since PlayStation's E3 press conference Monday, my life has been a bit like an episode of the Twilight Zone. After years of talking about how silly the character of Kratos is while the rest of the world openly loved him, the script has suddenly been flipped. I seem to be the only one stupefied by the God of War: Ascension single-player demo.

It started pretty much as soon as the gameplay stopped. I turned to IGN editor Colin Campbell in the darkened Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and he gave one of those British shrugs of indifference he's so good at. When the conference was finally over, I expected my Podcast Beyond cohost Colin Moriarty to join my cause of God of War awesomeness, but he joined Campbell in the "It's the same old same old" camp and moved on to Beyond: Two Souls or Last of Us talk.

Let's be clear here: God of War: Ascension is in fact more God of War. Kratos is hurling his blades, dis-braining enemies and (probably) screaming. But there are some changes in that demo that warrant discussion and awe.

“ I've been describing God of War III as visual porn for years, but this blows it out of the water.

For starters, have you seen it? I mean, have you seen that demo? It's beautiful. I've been describing God of War III as visual porn for years, but this blows it out of the water. Look at the muscle detail on Kratos at the start of the demo, the way the flaps of his fustanella cascade off his legs, and the gush of blood that covers his shoulders when he impales that tentacle. These are visual cues that are flat-out amazing. When Kratos unleashes that rage radial smash, the camera pulls in on his face, and you can see his eyes get wide and the corners of his mouth react.

These little details make a big difference. That demo is one of supreme beauty, and it feels like it's been swept under the rug because it's "just more God of War." Sure Kratos has the power to rewind time from Singularity now, pick up weapons enemies tried to use on him, and climb ledges a bit more, but the core experience is more of the same.

But is that reason enough for God of War: Ascension to not be part of the E3 conversation? The overwhelming majority of people liked the previous God of War games, right? We told PlayStation we dug them, so they made more for us and seem to have drastically raised the bar both visually and in terms of the new multiplayer options. And now that it's here, we're shrugging our shoulders and talking about other stuff.

It's one of the perils of the video game industry, I suppose. E3 is the place for huge announcements and news. People come here wanting to be surprised, and this year, it seemed like we knew all about the big announcements. Writers like myself saw The Last of Us a few weeks ago, Assassin's Creed III has been all over the place, and even Quantic Dream's new Beyond: Two Souls managed to leak hours before its debut. If you ask me, it's because of this backdrop that Watch Dogs has been able to get so much traction. No one knew anything about it, so a cool demo was all it needed to launch onto many people's short list for game of the show.

I'm not saying that God of War: Ascension is my game of the show (it isn't), but I am saying ignoring it or writing it off is a huge mistake. Giving a talented team the chance to iterate and build is a very good thing -- ask IGN's 2011 Game of the Year Portal 2.



Source : ign[dot]com