God of War III demo performance analysis

By Richard Leadbetter Published 1 November, 2009

Digital Foundry tears it limb from limb.

At around 2.6GB in size, the God of War III E3 demo is one of the meatiest sampler downloads we've yet experienced, but the lengthy wait is worth it bearing in mind the length and breadth of the content on offer. Indeed, there's so much to show that we've cut the video analysis into two parts with only minor edits.

The first effectively covers what was shown in the Sony press conference at E3, the second shows what comes afterwards, and it's here that the demo really comes into its own - becoming that much more of a technical showcase. If you've already eagerly consumed the E3 press materials, skipping ahead to the second vid is probably worthwile.

This video essentially replicates the God of War III playthrough as seen in Sony's E3 conference. Skip ahead if you want to see new stuff, hit the play button to check out the frame-rate analysis.

So, part one then. Our initial technical analysis of the E3 demo remains relevant (it is the same code after all), but what is noteworthy is just how clean God of War III is. It's not really so self-evident on compressed internet video assets.

The texture work is of an outstanding quality throughout, special effects are used in a subtle and reserved manner, lighting is exemplary. The code appears to be using 2x multisamping anti-aliasing, but similar to Killzone 2, the choice of colour palette helps in adding to the edge-smoothing effect.

The second part of the E3 demo playthrough. This is where things begin to get seriously impressive. March 2010 can't come quick enough.

Into part two and the Sony Santa Monica studio's range of effects comes to the fore a touch more prominently. The per-pixel lighting in combination with the high-quality texture work produces some uncanny effects (for example, on the marble). The depth-of-field effect isn't "in your face", it just works and looks superb. The texture filtering employed is of an excellent quality. The only downers are a few low-poly edges and the reduced alpha buffers, but the impact on overall image quality isn't really a problem at all.

So, the frame-rate. Yes, it's E3 code. Yes, there's obviously a better-than-usual chance that the final code will improve over what we see in the demo. However, the performance level in the sampler is intriguing. This rendition of God of War III is v-synced (so no tearing), and based on our playthrough across the two videos, we have an average of 36.81FPS, a low of 24FPS and a high of 56FPS.

Average frame rates aren't usually that much of a useful stat, but here it's a pretty decent indication of overall performance throughout - which is curious. Locking the game at 30FPS would have produced a more visually consistent look, as well as a more predictable, "reliable" feel from the controls - plus less judder on-screen in panning shots and the like.

Overall though, small quibbles aside, this demo is great stuff, and the timing of its release just weeks before the US demo is released as part of the God of War Collection is curious. Will this self-same E3 demo be the same sampler included as a PSN redeem code within the package? Has Europe actually had the "exclusive" here?

Picture of Richard.

About Richard Leadbetter

Rich has been a games journalist since the days of 16-bit and specialises in technical analysis. Commonly known around Eurogamer as the Blacksmith of the Future.

Read more articles from Richard by visiting the Richard Leadbetter archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Digital_Forge #1 2 years ago

    Played this at the Eurogamer Expo and was probably my favourite game of the show. It's not overly complex, it's not mass loads of text, it's just pure and simple mutilating anyone that stands in your way with the occasional gory finisher.

    Nothing like ripping an eye out of a Cyclops to ease your blood thirst.

    Has the potential to be a very huge title for the PS3 I think, very tasty indeed.

  • davisorle #2 2 years ago

    The same ingame demo was uploaded a few days back from the website GT for those aware of it. So in answer to your question Richard, this isnt a first no exclusive for Europe. Game looks good.

  • Darren #3 2 years ago

    After watching those videos, all I can say is wow, just WOW!

    The art design is stunning throughout, the lighting is amazing as are the textures and the game's framerate remains stable and tear free despite all the carnage and special effects going on. I saw some minor texture seaming (white lines on dark edges) but otherwise the graphics are definitely up to scratch. The gore is certainly eye opening too. An impressive looking game that I'm really looking forward to playing in 2010.

    Purists will no doubt voice disappointment that the game doesn't maintain a constant 60 fps but I'd rather have the eye candy and spectacle personally.

  • Chufty #4 2 years ago

    This too was one of my favourite games of the show, loved it. Not sure if I can sustain a full game's worth of button mashing, but it looked incredible and was great fun.

    Best played in small sessions though.

  • ParanoidZombie #5 2 years ago

    Looks like it plays exactly like GOW1 and 2 though, square - square - triangle with the blades until the magic QTE prompt appears. Sorry, sorry, who cares about gameplay anyway, the graphics are fantastic and it has 12% more blood and gore than the competition.

  • flanker22 #6 2 years ago

    Might have been better to have just locked it at 30fps.

  • rotmm #7 2 years ago

    @Digital_Forge,

    I played the game at the expo too and think it was the best looking title there bar none. Absolutely stunning, with a couple of caveats. The blood splatters and environmental "damage" only hang around for a few seconds and then disappear right in front of your eyes. Also, while the lighting from weapons, fireballs, etc light the environment and characters beautifully, the same hard shadows are not affected at all, making them very unrealistic.

    For me, the main problem was that the gameplay itself just felt dull. Now admittedly, the hack'n'slasher isn't exactly my favourite gametype, but I didn't expect to be bored playing a demo.

  • EvilBob_leeds #8 2 years ago

    Each to their own, but this, IMO, is looking very tasty. GOW isn't a complicated game, it's a metric assload of fun.

    Quite intruiged by the end of the second video where Kratos takes a swing at the Titan.

  • SeesThroughAll #9 2 years ago

    The blood splatters and environmental "damage" only hang around for a few seconds and then disappear right in front of your eyes. Also, while the lighting from weapons, fireballs, etc light the environment and characters beautifully, the same hard shadows are not affected at all, making them very unrealistic.

    The short-lived environmental damage was never a problem with GOW or GOW2, I don't imagine that being a real nuisance in GOW3.

  • rotmm #10 2 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll,

    You know, this is a 2010 game that's going to be played on 50" TV's in High Definition.

    When it fades out right in front of your eyes, it's much more apparent. Imho of course.

  • zisssou #11 2 years ago

    To me this could of been on PS2 graphics still and I would of enjoyed it. The gameplay is sublime! I mean take for example picking up an enemy and just running through other enemies and then smashing them into a wall and repeatively smacking their head against it GIVE ME MOREEE. To me it felt so intense and brtual...which is technically what GOW should be about.

  • FabriciusRex #12 2 years ago

    This looks like GoW 1&2 on roids. Awesome. Must play for fans.

    Didn't get to see any magic attacks. They'll probably be as destructive to your foes as before.

  • cianchristopher #13 2 years ago

    Sony were kind enough to send me a demo code yesterday, so I gratefully downloaded it!

    Wow, what a game, I'm keeping the demo on my hard drive until March - and I can envisage a good few playthroughs between now and then....

    The only qualm I have is the fluctuating framerate, I did notice it! At the start of the demo you're in a close-up of Kratos' face which pans back when you push start (like the first two games) - but you'll notice judder and framerate fluctuations in this camera pan-back movement.

    Hope this gets sorted by release, a locked 30fps would be sweet (60fps would be better, though)....

  • muscleblade #14 2 years ago

    I bet Bayonetta is even better than this. Roll on January 5th. 40/40 in Famitsu.

    God of war 3 will be very good too though.
    Edited by 1 at 01/11/09 @ 17:14

  • Stomp224 #15 2 years ago

    I also played this at the EG expo, and so I say thanks for showing me what happens after the bit where you shoot helios down. I was stuck on that part for about 5 mins, then a member of staff came over and told me when to fire. As I still missed then, i gave up out of embarrassment. >_>

    Definitely my fave game of the show, and graphically I felt second only to Heavy Rain, which appeared to trigger a series of expletives preceded by ' Holy!' from everybody who passed it!

  • Zaiz #16 2 years ago

    Hmm, I'm not too impressed with how the game looks, honestly. The lighting is lovely, but the rest is kinda meh. Reminds me overall of the first Prince of Persia, except entirely gray . So very gray. They could at least have the decency to splash in other colors than things related to fire and gore. Or do something like Prince of Persia and light other areas differently, use that lovely lighting engine on something other than shiny weapon effects! Maybe it's just a fault of the demo pick?

    Also, motion blur? Would have been amazing here. I'd rather have that than depth of field in a game like this, and it'd also vastly improve the look of Kratos's chain blade effects.
    Edited by 1 at 01/11/09 @ 18:27

  • El-Dev #17 2 years ago

    More predictions from muscleblade, at least he keeps trying.

    I didn't get a demo code for this which is a shame as I've been quite lucky so far in that respect. This is looking like good old mindless fun, think I'll pick it up at some point.

  • SeesThroughAll #18 2 years ago

    When it fades out right in front of your eyes, it's much more apparent. Imho of course.

    Fair enough, I understand if some people don't like it. Personally, it doesn't bother me.

  • alphadogg123 #19 2 years ago

    i want to see god of war performance and god of war 2

  • Badassbab #20 2 years ago

    It looked mostly 30fps when I played it. Dantes Inferno was 60fps with superior texture filtering. Still played fantastically and if you like brutal (very) gory action, well this game is definately for you.

  • tnt_2008smum #21 2 years ago

    at around 9:30 on fri morning my PS3 died while I was playing Uncharted 2, trapping the disc inside (6 week wait and a £128 repair bill that I'm refusing to pay) and then at just before 8:00 in the evening Sony kindly emailed me a download code for this demo!!!!!!!!

  • zztopp #22 2 years ago

    Looks like an HD version of GOW2. The textures are good but far from 'exemplary' and lighting is decent. On the plus side the programmers seem to have implemented some rarely seen 2X-AA on the PS3 so things do look clean. Overall from a graphics point of view GOW3 will rely mostly on art work to impress.
    Edited by 1 at 02/11/09 @ 02:07

  • womble #23 2 years ago

    Semitope wrote:

    "Is the lack of frame cap to indicate that they are going for 60fps on the final game?"

    There is zero chance of this. Typically, there is almost no difference, frame-rate wise, between demo code and final build code.

    By the time a game gets to a public release, 99% of performance engineering has been done. Sure, developers then tinker with post-processing, effects, cleaning up of polys and textures, etc. but don't expect more than 1 or 2 frames difference from a demo build.

  • sargulesh #24 2 years ago

    Just looks like God of War.

  • Trejser #25 2 years ago

    womble: LOL, this is not typical demo. It will have almost a year when the final build came to shops. Turn 10 changed 30fps to 60 in just few months (cockpit).

    Sorry for bad english ^^

  • Scimarad #26 2 years ago

    People really like to put the boot in when it comes to GoW. I really cannot see why...

  • Moonprince #27 2 years ago

    womble - lol... smh

  • Zebula77 #28 2 years ago

    Demo is very, very nice. It's still GoW tho. No real improvements or innovations gameplay-wise (at least not in the demo), but it plays just as well, and the number of enemies on screen has increased - plowing through a whole hord of enemies at once was a real delight. Also, the finishing moves on the bigger enemies is just as in-your-face brutal as always. Love it.

    Gonna be a great, if typical GoW.

  • Mooglepies #29 2 years ago

    I too played this at the expo. It's God of War 1 and 2 with vastly improved graphics, more enemies onscreen and much more gore. I think that those that enjoyed the prequels will enjoy this too; those militantly against the others however should probably avoid it.

    I'm mostly positive about it, but I hope the full game has some more emphasis on puzzles. The thing I loved about the first game was how the paced it with action, puzzle bit for a quiet, contemplative moment, more action, etc.

  • fuzzyfelt #30 2 years ago

    This is the same demo I played yesterday courtesy of a redeem code that was randomly e-mailed to me from SCEE. I agree that locking the frame-rate would have made it slightly easier to control (never played GOW before).

  • Pasco #31 2 years ago

    I too hope the framerate gets fixed. If it is less than 60 fps with a couple of drops here and there, then it is an instant no-buy as with every other brawler/beat-em-up.

  • rogueJT #32 2 years ago


    Anyway for regular common men like me to download the demo?

    i have a US PSn accoutn but ti doesn't seem to be showing up there.

  • des #33 2 years ago

    Hmm,only few fps better that Bayonetta PS3.
    It will be funny if "remastered" PS2 GOW1,2 turns to be 60pfs and GOW3 stays like this.

  • womble #34 2 years ago

    "If it is less than 60 fps with a couple of drops here and there, then it is an instant no-buy as with every other brawler/beat-em-up."

    Your loss. Basing a purchasing decision on a frame-rate of 30 vs 60fps is quite silly, especially for a game such as this one.

  • womble #35 2 years ago

    "GoW 1 and 2 were 60 fps with some drops to around 40 so i think we can expect that to be their aim. "

    Umm, no.

    The aim is clearly 30fps. Did you even bother to look at DF's video?

    There is a huge difference between a PS2 game, and a 720p game. Where on earth do you think they are going to be able to literally double the frame-rate between now and release? What magic code are they going to be able to add that they haven't added already?



  • kwesleyb #36 2 years ago

    Well those videos look bloody amazing dont they.
    I was happy to just sit here and just watch that, let alone play it...
    Edited by 1 at 03/11/09 @ 18:40

  • Gay-Lord-Perry #37 2 years ago

    meh

    last gen fixed camera angles

    not even 60 fps which is a standard for action games

    shallow button masher gameplay