We’re talking a lot about the next generation of consoles right now, since they’re getting close (almost certainly, the PS5 and next Xbox will both release next year). While it’s exciting, those on a budget have another reason to be excited, as that means a lot of the big games from this great generation are going on a permanent discount. Today, Sony announced five new games that are coming to their PlayStation Hits line.

The line already has quite a line up, from the likes of Persona 5 and Bloodborne to Uncharted 4, The Last of Us, and many more. Sony have now announced that they are adding Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition, Resident Evil 7, Nioh, Friday the 13th, and God of War 3 Remastered as well. Resident Evil and Nioh also have complete editions with DLC content, but it seems as if only the base editions are part of the Hits line.

You can check out an entire chart of the line up of games you can pick up below. If you’re on a budget, or you just happened to miss out on some of these, it’s a fantastic time, and price, to jump in. The five games announced today will go on the Hits list starting June 28th.

Okay, the God of War 4 rumours have been piling on top of another for a long time now- again, and again, and again, and again– and it’s all but confirmed. No one now is dumb enough to think that it doesn’t exist. Sony may as well just announce it now, because another report has surfaces that strengthens the rumours.

South African retailer BT Games (via Joystiq) has listed God of War IV as available for pre-orders, and according to the listing, the game ships out in February 2013.

“We haven’t announced any future God of War titles,” a Sony representative told GameSpot when asked for clarification. Well, he didn’t exactly deny the reports.

A sequel is all but inevitable. Not only because the franchise is super successful, both, critically and commercially, but also because all these rumours and reports over the past few months have more or less confirmed its existence.

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated.

Note: Please click the image to see them in full screen.

The Heroes

Their Combat

Their Brutality

Their Platforming

Update: This video is no longer available.

Kratos: The definition of bad ass

Even though the game plot might be a miss and a hit, God of War III’s amazing game play will keep you hooked for the sixteen odd hours or so. Yes it’s the same good old God of War action where you have to hack and slash you way through. Yes it’s again the button smasher that we all have love since the first game, half a decade ago. When you start the game you will have your infamous Blades of Chaos with you. The same control schemes are retained for this weapon. With the square button you can inflict a light attack and with the triangle, you can chop off with a heavy one.  Next up is Claws of Hades, which is pretty much similar to the Blades of Chaos, but with this weapon you can actually send souls to fight against enemies, which have outnumbered you. Also there is magic associated with each of the weapons that you will pick up along the way. The third one is the Nemesis Whip which went equipped releases electric shock to the nearby enemies. The most amazing thing about these weapons is that they can still be upgraded just like the previous games and they have a magic associated with each one of them. Like The Blades of Chaos will unveil a number of spears from the sky and Claws of Hades will release a little ghost army.

Battle With Cronos

You will also be picking or rather chopping items from the various bosses that you will encounter. One of them is the Helios head which will guide you through the darker sections of the game and will also help reveal secret paths. You will also be equipped with the Apollo’s Bow, which is not really helpful in combat; its major focus was on certain platforming sections. Boots of Hermes, once again, another item you obtain by chopping a leg of Zeus’s brother, helps you to run faster, and get to inaccessible places. But all in all, my real favorite was Nemean Cestus. Man those things are just amazing! You earn from that boss battle with Hercules and it can literally take down anything. The most amazing thing about all these accessories is that besides combat they have an important usage in the platforming sections as well. That brings me to the good old platforming sections in the game. God of War III is pretty much similar to the previous two games as far as platforming is concerned. You will be scaling walls, swing from one pole to the other and zip down a wall. You will be facing a ton of puzzles throughout the game which is actually a bit surprising since the two games before, did not had numerous puzzles in them. The puzzles are pretty interesting and it will take a while before you actually work them out. Much of the puzzle sections actually take place in the Labyrinth section where you have to order these huge square boxes.

Violence in the game is disturbing but at the same time a lot of fun

Combat is God of War 3 is based on quick time button events and this time the button prompts actually appear on the side of the screens rather than in the middle, making the brutal action much clearer to the end player. The combat is intensely brutal and satisfying. Remember that Kratos is damn pissed this time around, he is angry and he will blow away anything in his path, which obviously makes his moves oh’ so devastating.  Kratos will be facing a huge variety of enemies, from the soldiers of Olympus to Mortars. The death that Kratos brings to these creatures is hair raising. Imagine ripping through a gut of a 600 feet monster or popping the eye of one of the creatures, the violence is just too high at sometimes, but is actually is pretty satisfying. In one of the sections you will actually be ripping off heads and cutting off legs, which give Kratos the items that I explained in the review before.  The boss fights are immensely satisfying, especially the battle against Hades which took me around two hours to beat. And what about scaling a 600 feet guy who actually carries a huge mountain on his back? In all the boss battle are a treat to watch and the wrath that Kratos eventually brings upon them is a sight to behold.

First 10 minutes

Quite easily one of the highest points in the game is the visuals. It seems that with every exclusive game that comes out on the PlayStation 3, it raises the bar higher and higher and this time with God of War 3 the scale has been set very high. The sense of scale is absolutely stunning. The number of characters on the screen, in one of instances has been raised to almost a hundred with not a single drop in frame rate. Kratos himself is wonderfully implemented with his armor glowing. The art direction of the game is simply superb. Santa Monica has once again proved that they are a talented bunch of game developers and designers. The enemies and the bosses, from Cronos to Zeus are immaculately detailed. The motion capture team has done a great job to capture Kratos’s fury and an environment to actually support the game’s theme. Sound has always been at its very best in the series.  The orchestral sound is of the highest quality and easily rivals HollyWood. However I do have a bit of complain about the voice acting. A feel of emotional touch is missing this time around, more specifically from Kratos which actually I thought formed an integral part of the story in the last two games.

God of War 3 is well worth the wait. Almost three years in to development, Santa Monica’s hard work has paid off big time. The amount of violence that the player will get to see in the game is sometimes disturbing and hence I won’t advise this game to kids. However for people who have the heart and have been fans of the series, it’s no brainer that they have to pick up this game. Even when you are done through the single player campaign, there are tons of extras.  Various challenge modes and movies are made available to the player. The videos specifically give a very good insight on how the game was developed.  God of War 3 is easily one the finest hack n slash game that we have played in the last ten years and will be a prime candidate for GamingBolt’s game of the year 2010 event.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

The Interview also reveals more information consisting the God of War storyline, including news on DLC, a possible God of War movie, and more on Kratos’ adventures.

God of War 3 is just a few days away from release!

Note: Click the images to see them in HD.

December 2008:

This was one of the first screenshots released for God of War III. Even though the details are immaculate right from day one, it clearly has the rusty look of a game in pre-production. The texture of the skin looks bland and so is the color combination of red and purple does not really shine through. However considering the fact the screen shot is almost 14 months old, it still looks amazing.

GamingBolt rating: 3/5

February 2009:

February 2009 shows a number of improvements as compared to the screen shot released in December 2008. The really ‘mean’ of Kratos was clearly visible and so was his overall physical structure coming in shape, with his muscles ripping off from his body. But still the overall skin texture was pretty much bland. So this period saw Kratos getting a more detailed look but the overall texture was still the same.

GamingBolt rating: 3.5/5

June 2009:

Four to five months of more development effort from Santa Monica studios really paid off. Kratos in this screen shot looks really amazing. The skin texture no longer looked bland and the color combination of Kratos’s body marks and his skin tone just matched perfectly. One thing to be noticed here is Kratos’s armor looks amazingly detailed having a combination of blood stains and that tested ‘n’ rusted look.

GamingBolt rating: 3.8/5

October 2009:

October, last year was an amazing month with some big guns like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves being released. It would have been tough for God of War to give us great graphics, if Uncharted 2 would not have been released, since these days developers constantly compete with each other. But this screenshot really does tell the story. The details in this screen shot are downright amazing, stunning or whatever praise you want to heap on this image. Kratos is angry and is hungry for vengeance and blood shedding and this screen shot sends the shivers in to our hearts. It’s easy to avoid the beautiful background when you have Kratos shining in full glory. Click the image to see it in HD.

GamingBolt rating: 4.2/5

Before Launch:

This screen shot gives us a proper view on how Kratos will look in final game, although there is always a possibility that he might actually look much better than this, since retail version are normally better looking than pre-release screen shots. Not a lot of changes as compared to the last screen shot but attention to smaller details like the chain wrapped around his wrists, the veins which are clearly visible in those ‘huge’ biceps and his overall structuring of his armor and clothing go a long way in making Kratos look deadly. This is a stunning example on how a product evolves right from the prototype stage to the Gold version.

GamingBolt rating: 4.8/5

God of War 3 is looking it’s going to be the most amazing game ever to hit the PlayStation 3 and considering how the team at Santa Monica are hard at work in making this game as amazing as they can, we can only say that PlayStation 3 owners are in for a treat this March.

That’s right. Several minutes of uninterrupted, awesomely awesome gameplay.

God of War III is due out March 16th in the US, and is expected to land in the UK March 19th.

According to VG247, “Details of how to access the early demo will be emailed to you on 19th February.” That’s today. So if you pre-ordered GoW III, check your email inbox!

However, “The GOW3 demo being given away with Game is only active until the 24th. Pre-orders after this date will not receive it. There will be a demo on the PSN but the date is still TBC.” We now believe this to be the 25th of February.

It has also been confirmed that it is the same demo released last October.

God of War III is due for a US release on March 16th, and is predicted to land in the UK on March 19th.

The PS3 exclusive is coming out March 16th.

It looks like the same, incredible, epic, bloody, possibly orgasmic hack and slash gameplay we have come to know and love from Kratos. It shows some pretty-for lack of a better word- TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME boss battles too.

Stay tuned to GB for more.

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