Game Release Tuesday

Guess he'll never be 'head' of a major company... sorry...

God of War III - PS3

I don't really know how Tuesday became the day for new games releases.  I guess movies already had Fridays, and well, rainy days and Mondays always get seem to get people down.  So Tuesday it is and this week's release is titanic, colossal, one might even say Mythological in size. For all of you who have refused to pick up a PS3, today is the day you get to hang your head in shame, for today Sony unleashes the third and final installment of God of War.

Kratos, the titular God of War, has decided he's had it with the whole "deity" thing, and rather than writing the gods a disapproving letter while listening to Take this Job and Shove It, he's doing what he does best: killing them all.  With the help of the Titans, Kratos is storming Mount Olympus to put an end to polytheism by dismembering, disemboweling, and decapitating anything that remotely resembles mythos on his scorched campaign to Zeus's throne.

God of War III is an archetypical "hack'n'slash" game, meaning the bulk of the play-style involves pounding buttons, wracking up combos, performing quick time events, and dodging and dashing to keep your health up.  However, what God of War has always done that sets it apart from its lacky look-alikes (cough cough Dante's Inferno cough) is nailing the sense of epic scale.  This game has you fighting on the backs of giant Titans, much like the game Shadow of the Colossus, with the camera seamlessly transitioning from fighting up-close on the swaying landscapes, to zooming out till your still controllable character is but a mere few pixels on the screen.  Unsurprisingly, God of War III is NOT for squeamish, as the game's brutal quick time based finishing moves promise to be as graphic and gory as ever.

I admit this genre has never been my favorite, always a bit more twitch than I find comfortable.  Also, since the PS3 is the first PS I've ever owned, I've never played any of the previous installments, and have no real ties to the character or his story (though I gather it goes something like: "Kratos gets angry, Kratos kills things, Kratos is still angry). But with the promise of massive scale that shows off computing power of the PS3's core processor, gameplay refined over two incredible popular releases, and a chance to finally stick it those damn greek gods, I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening.

Oh, right, Lost is on...hmm...