SCE Studios Santa didn't waste any time on improving one of Sony's most prized platform-exclusive franchises. God of War III is currently one of the most highly anticipated games for the PS3 and we were glad to finally catch a glimpse of it at the show.

Let's do this.

Okay, let's not do this.

The major graphical changes are apparent right from the start. This is quite different from what we remember on the PS2's God of War 2. The environment looks impressive and is crammed with highly detailed character models. The animation is superb and visual effects were perked up to make the whole game appear and feel a lot more realistic.

The E3 demo begins as the God of the Sun, Helios, rides in his flaming chariot near the head of a colossal titan. Kratos finds himself heading through the city which is in complete chaos. Kratos marches into battle using his familiar chain blades. He also used additional weapons such as a deadly bow for accurate ranged attacks. Besides that, he wields a pair of huge gauntlets for heavy damage during melee combat. Things quickly get kicked into gear as our hero engages enemies with a range of cool-looking combos, which (as in the previous game) are executed with ease. Quick time events are, of course, back and are always a fun part during fights with more serious foes. The boss fight shown during the event, saw Kratos defeating a giant cyclops, but not before performing a series of combos. After these moves a circle appears on the screen indicating a quick time event and an additional selection of deadly moves. For a brief moment, the player can actually conquer, mount and use the beast to mow down and destroy other heavily armored enemies. The clash with the boss ends when Kratos lops the cyclops' head off. Not bad at all...

When it comes to enemies, it was cool to see how differently they can react, according to the damage you caused when fighting against them. The chimera, for one, alters its combat techniques after you've chopped its tail off, which the creature uses for most of its initial attacks. Gradually, it changes its approach to combat, trying to assail Kratos with ranged attacks. The controls for this game are quite basic and easy to master, which was one of the main advantages of its predecessor. So, compliments to the devs for that one. Also, there are plenty of new moves to enjoy and you can use them to fight individual or multiple foes.

Okay, in all fairness, God of War III does strike me as an amazing improvement in terms of presentation and overall visual quality. They seemed to have pushed the PS3 hardware to its limits. On the gameplay front though, there's nothing particularly innovative to highlight. Nonetheless, playing it is huge fun and I do emphasize that this is only a segment of what's to come. At any rate, this is on our most-wanted list for next year.