The God of War III E3 demo can be yours today by taking a simple trip to GameStop and placing a pre-order.
The God of War III E3 demo is going to be making its rounds in the near future as a bonus included with both the God of War Collection and the Blu-ray version of District 9. But why wait? Some GameStop stores have already received God of War III E3 demo codes to give away as God of War III pre-order bonuses, and I was lucky enough to procure one for myself.
I don’t want to spoil the demo for anyone (assuming you haven’t already seen footage from E3), so if you want it to be a brand new experience, skip the next two paragraphs. Those not able to play it may want to know what it’s like though. Simply put, it’s God of War but with even more God of War. The graphics did not immediately blow me away, but I could care less about those; perhaps they will improve in the final product. The demo does look like a next-gen game at least.
God of War III can be picked up right away by anyone familiar with the God of War control scheme, because it is exactly the same. For example, you can still hold L1 and the square button to use Kratos’s familiar spinning move to rack up lots of hits on multiple enemies. Even in the short demo, some of the new aspects of God of War III are shown off, such as the battering ram move where Kratos grabs an enemy and uses it to ram through groups of other enemies, and the new Cestus weapon. Most notably to me is the new way that context sensitive actions are handled. Button presses required are now shown on the edges of the screen, actually allowing you to watch the kill and use peripheral vision to know what button to push. There are some very cool segments in the demo, such as one that has a phalanx of soldiers protecting an injured Helios, followed by Kratos taking over an ogre to smash said phalanx, which allows Kratos to get his hands on Helios and brutally rip off his head. The demo ends with an intense upward flying segment, forcing players to maneuver Kratos through a tight tunnel while avoiding flaming boulders and other debris.
The other God of War III news out of GameStop today was the reveal of the game’s new collector’s edition. The God of War III Ultimate Edition comes with a bunch of bonuses in a high quality sculpted replica of Pandora’s box, and will retail for $99.99. Included will be:
* Limited-Edition God of War Art Book featuring exclusive art, content and interviews
Exclusive Digital Content (Available via PlayStation Network voucher codes on day of launch)
* God of War Combat Arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges
* Premium Kratos Skin – Dominus
* God of War: Unearthing the Legend Franchise Documentary – a full-length movie documentary depicting the history of the God of War franchise
* God of War Trilogy Soundtrack – God of War, II, and III scores from the game (mp3 digital download).
* God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War (mp3 digital download).
Finally, the God of War III E3 demo voucher also includes a code for the Phantom of Chaos Kratos skin. Good golly, this is almost too much to handle. Actually playing the demo has made me much more excited for God of War III. I hope I’ll be able to resist spending the extra money on Pandora’s Box, but that is very unlikely.
