Kratos scales Mount Olympus in PlayStation's 'God of War III'

LOS ANGELES -- Sony's highly anticipated God of War III, the latest installment of the PlayStation series and the first for PS3, plays out like the previous ones: Kratos, seen in a full third-person perspective, slashes and wields magic against such enemies as minotaurs, centaurs, Cyclopes and gods.

But the latest in the God of War series, always considered among the best-looking PlayStation games, leaps into high-definition on PS3, translating into better-looking characters and settings.

"When (Kratos) is chopping an enemy in half, you can see his muscles flexing and his veins bulging," says game director Stig Asmussen. "When he puts his blade back, you can see the veins actually go away. … The fans are going to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the textures and the models and the real fidelity of the animations."

The story thus far: During battle, the Spartan general Kratos calls on Ares, the god of war, to help him win. But Ares transforms Kratos into an ultimate killing machine he can manipulate, even tricking Kratos into murdering his own wife and child. For revenge, Kratos fights his way to Ares and kills him; the gods make Kratos the new god of war.

But Kratos has become strong enough to worry Zeus, who we learn is Kratos' father (that Zeus, what a philanderer). In God of War II, Zeus kills Kratos. Kratos finds a way to cheat death and returns, along with the Titans, who lost the great battle for supremacy with the gods in the past.

"That's where God of War III kicks off. Kratos is bringing these Titans into battle up the side of Mount Olympus," says Asmussen, who recently gave a rare early look at the game at the Sony Santa Monica studio. "We're looking forward to this legendary great war between the gods and Titans."

Though Kratos' tale generally tracks with traditional mythology — "These gods are always toying with mankind," Asmussen says — the story doesn't necessarily jove, er, jibe with Bulfinch's Mythology, Asmussen admits. "Experts and historians will be able to point to us and say, 'You guys are dead wrong.' We weren't aiming to be dead right. We were trying to make something fun."