The scale and speed of technological progression in that remarkable era was best summed up when we compared God of War 3's 2011 E3 demo with the final game. In that magical, jaw-dropping first half-hour, it was almost as though Sony Santa Monica had somehow software-injected a next-generation PlayStation into the current hardware. The first 30 minutes was game-changing stuff - a technical and artistic achievement that reset our expectations for what current-gen hardware was capable of. It remains a riotous celebration of an era where the true potential of the PS3's hardware was finally tapped. In the post-Uncharted 2 era, 2010's God of War 3 cemented Sony first-party's reputation for the most technologically advanced, visually breathtaking platform exclusives available on any home console. The thing is, breaking new technological barriers is a really tough call this time around.
For PlayStation 3 in 2013, Sony - much more than its major rival - is looking to continue that tradition with Quantic Dream and Naughty Dog busy devising their own virtual swan-songs for the platform, and Sony Santa Monica taking point with a brand new God of War outing. Historically, the twilight years of a console are often the most prolific for bringing out the technical big guns, and God of War 2 stands tall alongside the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Donkey Kong Country, Perfect Dark and Vagrant Story as latter-day titles which pushed the host hardware beyond its perceived limits. After all, that's exactly what it did on PlayStation 2.
With the next generation of consoles looming large, have we actually seen all there is to see on current-gen hardware? Are any further technological advances subject to the law of diminishing returns? Will further innovations be hamstrung by depressed performance, as we've seen recently in titles like Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3? Whatever else we see, if there's one team out there that can buck the trend, it's Sony Santa Monica.
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