Sony: No CG cutscenes in God of War III

It’s likely that you’ve already gawked at the latest trailer of God of War III. We understood when it was released that the trailer was trickery free, with no CG in sight. However, there has been no official comment as to whether there would be CGI in the final game. Until now.

Thankfully, the word from Sony Santa Monica is that there will be no CG in God of War III.

Both God of War I and God of War II featured CG cinematics, where the majority of its narrative exposition was presented. However, God of War III will feature no such trickery, with Sony Santa Monica finding that their in-game PlayStation 3 engine is more than up to the task. Remember when you asked last generation whether PS3 games could possibly feature real-time graphics up to the standard of last generation’s CG cutscenes? God of War III seems to answer that question with a resounding “Yes”.

Bruno Velazquez of Sony Santa Monica writes on his blog, following the début of the game’s newest trailer:

“Here it is finally, the trailer that you guys have been waiting for. Everything you see is 100% in-game. All camera features, including motion blur, run real-time in the cinematics and in-game. For this game we decided to try and blend in the cinematic sequences with the in-game sequences, so all models and assets are used for cinematics and for in-game.

“The Kratos that you will control will be the same you see in extreme close ups, no smoke and mirrors, no model switching. There is no CG cutscenes like the ones in previous GOW games. What you see in cinematics is what you get in-game, no difference. We didn’t want to have any jarring changes in detail between gameplay and story.”

That’s certainly good to hear. Oh, and those wondering whether the same voice actors will return from previous games in the series, never fear:

“Both Gaia and Kratos are voiced by the same actors as the previous GOW games so please don’t worry about that. We would never change Kratos voice,” Velazquez adds.

By the way, if you haven’t actually watched the latest God of War III trailer, do yourself a favour and give it a gander. Also, enjoy our God of War III screenshot gallery; it’s fierce bruv.

Readers Comments (31)

  1. wow this is pretty amazing. so its like 15 hours of actually playing the game. 😀

  2. @megatopak

    just cuz it has no cg doesnt mean theres no cut scenes lol it just means when there is cut scenes there using the in game engine instead of cg

  3. Xero135 – correct.

  4. TheRighteousFascist February 16, 2010 @ 18:12

    That’s really impressive. It will make for a much more streamlined experience.

  5. Cool! Just like Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2! I love being a Ps3 owner!

  6. Black Hole Minge (tm) February 16, 2010 @ 18:50

    This will be my first GOW game.

  7. In-game engine was the reason that MGS4 was so good

  8. @xero135

    yeah i see where i was wrong but it is pretty cool that there are no cg cut scenes meaning that there is less cut scenes and more play time? yes?? 😀 w/e it looks like an awesome game that’s all that matters.

  9. it would be cool though if they had a CG scene like from god of war 1-2. imagine how it would look, but the game already looks really good( both graphically and game-wise)

  10. nice, it will be very interesting to see this, just another technical feat from one of the best developers out there

  11. @ megatopak: There could be more cut-scenes or there could be less, we won’t know till we play the game. what they’re saying is that there are no pre-rendered cut-scenes like in gow 1 and 2. All cut-scenes are done in real time using the ps3’s graphics processor

  12. 30NIGHTCRAWLER30 February 16, 2010 @ 21:53

    A must have for PlayStation 3 owners.

  13. gatormatt – correct…almost. The cutscenes could still be pre-rendered, but in-engine (recorded and then played back as movies)

  14. yeah I think Uncharted 2 did that

  15. It did, but I’d like to see the player’s chosen Kratos costume in the cutscenes – so here’s hoping for real-time.

  16. so from what i understand in game cutscenes are still cutscenes theire just produced by the game engine(like in mgs4 and uncharted2 where there was no difrence betwen cutscenes and gameplay)
    while cg are pre made cutscenes, that are independdent of the sistems procesing power
    right?

  17. CG refers to cutscenes not made by the system that is running it…usually meticulously crafted frame-by-frame (ie. can’t be run in real-time)

  18. This is pretty cool. I think it’s really misleading when games do trailers of “gameplay” that are way better than the actual graphics in the game. [I’m looking at you Dante’s Inferno!]

  19. I can’t wait for this game – it’s one of the biggest releases this entire generation.

  20. am so glad i ordered the ultimate edition!! this is the game i’ve waited 4ever for!! at one point the hopes of ever even playing it were very slim

  21. @ Prof. Paddy: I was referring to the gow 1 and 2 cut-scenes. I know not all cut-scenes are cg.

  22. @ Prof. Paddy: “The cutscenes could still be pre-rendered, but in-engine (recorded and then played back as movies)” Thats what the gow 1 and 2 series had. They said that gow 3 wont have those pre-rendered movies like what you’re saying.

  23. No, gatormatt, GOW 1 and 2 had pre-rendered CGI cutscenes. Uncharted 1 and 2 has pre-rendered in-engine cutscenes. GOWIII could still have these…using the GOWIII game engine, but recorded and played back as FMVs.

  24. Though his first paragraph does suggest they will all be real-time.

  25. I didn’t really think of it until now, but this was to be expected really. When I saw the game for the first time I didn’t think it would have CG cutscenes at all.

  26. yeah, im quite sure this real-time thing will be AWESOME!!! now the RTS events will be more random and whatnot! itll have the gamers always on their toes!

    GoW3 is looking so good that I’m now interested in getting it :D.

    ive only play GoW1 (only got past hydras lol) and CoO (beaten) so i am indeed prepared for the massive amount of flamming to ensue

    really tho, the GoW series is only >>pretty good<< in my opinion

  27. Yay, more mgs4 love. Kinda hated the cg cutscenes (except for the LEGENDARY cutscenes in the classical ps1 final fantasy games, those were awesome!) in general games. Most of it because of the black screen before every cutscene with “Now Loading”. I guess this just shows how powerful the ps3 is. Good job Sony for thinking of the future 🙂 while Microsoft tried to make there game console the cheapest possible with shitty chips…

  28. 26 days

  29. I think it is good that the game developers are taking a different approach to God of War 3 with no CG. The animation scenes will be real-time and it will be great to see it without having to wait for the loading time.

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