Heavy Rain didn’t quite manage it, but Uncharted 2 certainly did. What are we talking about? Using the first five minutes of a game to sell the whole concept to the player, to hook them in and make them want to keep going: it’s not an easy task, but the best developers know how to do it, and so we turn to another PlayStation 3 exclusive in the form of God of War III.
Surely if anyone knows how to keep you entertained from the off it’s Kratos, right?
[drop]Right. God of War III starts in bombastic fashion: the epic scale of Mt. Olympus rising into the sky is one thing, but the sight of several Titans ascending the mountain as they converge on Zeus is another, and the game wastes no time in throwing Kratos right into the middle of it – onto the still climbing hulk of Gaia, no less, and already surrounded by an angry mob wanting blood.The game treats this initial segment as a relatively smooth introductory period – the enemies aren’t terribly deadly and thus the drip-fed onscreen prompts that show the player which button does what don’t need to be rushed. Once familiar with light and heavy attacks the player’s free to dispatch the bad guys without fuss, moving on the story at a relatively quick pace – but one ultimately controlled by the player.
A few other buttons are relayed during the opening minutes, but nothing too complicated – what the game does well is mix up the first couple of battles against the low-powered enemies so that the player can translate his newly learned skills to a number of scenarios, and when Poseidon rears his head as the scale ramps up considerably, the player is ready to put these skills to good use. This first boss battle is obviously made easy without being insulting, but it sets the scene perfectly.
[drop2]Ending with a (pre-empted) quick time event, the player is tasked with tapping buttons when prompted to see off Poseidon, and this closing method of dispatch seals off the first portion of the game neatly. In it, the player has learnt to move, fight, dodge, attack upside down and on a vertical surface and knows how boss battles are handled, without once feeling like they’ve been patronised or spoon-fed.Of course, the epic scale of everything going on only serves to highlight that this is a development studio at the top of their game visually, and in terms of an opening section it still feels as fresh as the day it was first unleashed roughly a year ago. When first impressions count so importantly, it’s crucial to get this bit right: Sony’s Santa Monica Studio absolutely nailed God of War III’s opening.
citizeninsane45
This was the first game I thought of when you started project 5. Surely one of the best!
SpikeyMikey23
I had this game as well as GOW collection for christmas, only played a bit of GOW1 so far, just finishing off some other games before it, but now I really want to play GOW3 so tomorrow I’m gonna play GOW collection and finish it so I can move on to GOW3
Selachii
I always use GoW3 (on easy) to show laymans (family, whatever) the state of the video game industry. They are always flabbergasted and ending in the underworld is a nice finish.
So, yes, ‘nailed’ is the word.
ThatBoyTim
This game had me gripped for the first 5 hours let alone 5 minutes – excellent game and a must for PS3 owners IMHO.
PriceKitty
Bullshit @ “Heavy Rain didn’t quite manage it.”
Only the boring, inpatient people who want nothing in a game except action are the only ones who didn’t want to keep playing Heavy Rain.
I wanted to ‘keep going’ through Heavy Rain a lot more than Uncharted 2.
I mean, I like action in games as much as the next guy, but come on, hasn’t that been done countless times?
Try something new, it won’t hurt.
Quantic Dream, along with Heavy Rain is way too underrated.
SpikeyMikey23
you do realise that these articles are purely based on the first 5 mins of the game. Nothing else… just the first 5 mins. I dont know about you but the Heavy Rain prologue bored the shit out of me. The rest of the game was fantastic
smifta
Heavy rain is one of the gems of ps3 but if you’re judging a game on the first 5mins let’s be honest it isn’t the best! While gow3 has the best intro in gaming history, I can’t honestly think of a better game for action and excitement!