I should start by saying the only God of War game I have ever played was the third one. I own the other four (I bought the PS3 collection thingy a few months ago, seemed like a good deal), but I have yet to play through all of them completely. Also, and I'll be frank about this, I suck at playing of God of War games, but I have an absolute blast with them, mostly for the spectacle (and the occasional moment where I'm good at the game for a whole fight and feel awesome for 2 seconds). Taking the story seriously for me is difficult, but I honestly adore the story because it gives me an excuse to beat the shit out of mythological figures (if they make another fucking prequel, he should fight Gilgamesh and friends, just for the kicks).

On that note, the demo was fantastic in my opinion. The frame rate seemed a little off to me for some reason, or maybe the textures aren't as high quality, I'm not sure what it was, but the graphics seemed strange. The combat was fun as always, but the scale was even more staggering that usual, which is not a bad thing. Something that caught my eye in a good way is that the platforming sections and climbing controls seemed better than God of War 3 (this was my biggest gripe in that game, I died more to platforming than any boss in the game).

Despite all of that, and the fact the demo was pretty long, I still feel lukewarm about the game. I want to know how long the campaign will be, and I never tried the multiplayer, so that's not a selling point for me. More importantly though, I want to know where the hell this franchise is going.

There's no way that Sony will just let it lie. I imagine they'll take a stab at Kratos on the PS4, but I'm wondering if they'll do their abandoned concept I remember hearing about (involved Greek Mythology being resurrected in the modern world, concept art showed Kratos dueling a sea monster in New York if I recall correctly). I honestly don't care what they do as long as they deliver another quality campaign, but not another prequel. I'm sure at this point I'm mirroring most people's thoughts, but I have to be honest about one last thing: I had almost no interest in purchasing this game until I completed the demo 15 minutes ago. You've piqued my interest Santa Monica. Follow through.

Just finished the demo and overall agree with you. Now to their credit, I distinctly remember the god of war 3 demo looking worse than the full game. With that said, the game is still pretty gorgeous, despite the somewhat lacking frame rate. Combat is still solid as every god of war game is, the addition of the blade grapple is pretty great though. Also I gotta say the sound effects are really satisfying, especially with The chain blades. Last but certainly not least was the scale and set pieces. Boy was that shit INCREDIBLE! Say what your will about the gameplay, but Santa Monica knows how to making a fucking cinematic experience.Overall it's on my radar but Ill wait for a price drop most liked before I buy it.

@sackmanjones: Is this the same demo that came with the "Total Recall" Blu-Ray a few months back? If it is, I can see the graphics improving in the final game for sure. But yeah, you're right about the God of War 3 demo, there's a noticeable difference between the final product and that demo, even in just the textures alone. The most impressive part of the demo for me was the rotating room fight and seeing all the hands grab it. The environment in that area was crazy, and knowing God of War level design, you'll probably visit a good chunk of it. I'm wondering how that sequence can possibly end, and if the game becomes even crazier from there.

Indeed. The enviroment and all stuff happening in that area was stunning. If this game keeps that level of level design all the way thru this is gonna be one of the better god of wars games I think.

But Im also a bit worried that the single player campagin is not as good as the others due to the multiplayer feature they ahve thrown in. But I sure hope they have put as much effort as possible into making both of them fun.

@thatguywiththedeepvoice said:

I remember Jaffe went on record that while he was still on board, they wanted to move Kratos to the Norse pantheon. I'm fine with that, let's kill all gods.

Playing the new DMC made me realise that I'm really not into action games yet I love God of War and its sequel (though I never finished the third). I think this is due to the fact that it's based on Greek mythology and I really dig that stuff. Even if the story is only there to justify the mind-numbingly violent combat, it still pulled me in like no other action games have done. That being said, I've lost interest in the series and probably won't pick up Ascension. Unless they do something crazy with it which I doubt.

@ghostiet: I'm already mentally picturing an execution against Thor where you smash his arms and legs with Mjonlir (or however you spell it), leave it on his chest, and have so much lightning enter his body that he explodes. You know what, they better kill the Norse pantheon, that sounds awesome in my head right now. You could even do the titan style fights with some huge frost giant creatures or something.

I think it has jumped the shark. Reboot it with the Norse pantheon or just let it die.

According to Japanese Famitsu magazine this game is pretty awsome. They have given it 36 out of 40 possible points in their latest issue.