Sony Santa Monica Studios has lifted the lid off the campaign for God of War: Ascension in this exclusive interview.
How are you taking advantage of new technology?
The game looks better. God of War 3 looked pretty good already, but this game is actually looking better in my opinion. And of course it’s a multiplayer, which allows a whole lot of things that we weren’t able to do in it before.
Can you walk us through the story of this game?
This game takes place before God of War 1, about six months after he got his blades and swore the oath to Aries and it basically shows what happens when you try to break that oath and the torment that he goes through.
What are some of the cool new bosses players will see in this game?
In this demo we’re showing Hecatonkories, which is a Titan-sized character that has multiple arms and one big head and he also has a prison that’s on top of him so throughout this boss fight you’ll be going in and out of that prison and on his various limbs.
How have you designed this game to appeal to both hardcore and more casual gamers?
Hardcore gamers will probably appreciate some of our deeper systems like the rage meter and how you can build that up during a big fight and all the weapons you can pick up and all the abilities. Casual gamers should be able to just be wowed by the video presentation, cinematic thrills and the game shouldn’t be so enough that casual players can’t have fun.
What are some of the new weapons?
With the sub weapons that you can pick up in the arena they all do different things. The javelin that you saw gives Kratos a little bit of range to throw it and you got only ten of those. You’ve got to watch out, but he does have a sword that he can pick up as well that just means fast up close killing.
How did the open beta help with multiplayer?
We got a lot of great feedback from the open beta. We’re still tuning that part of the game and that will come through with the single player as well.
What are some good strategies when playing multiplayer?
Playing multiplayer is basically about reading your opponents. When you play with Kratos it’s very easy to just go crazy and just wail and attack, attack, attack. But in multiplayer people have to realize that if you do that people can counter what you’re doing. It’s really just paying attention to your abilities and trying to counter other people’s abilities and win the mind games.
