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God of War PS4: Crystal Dynamics said no to Cory Barlog's One-Shot camera for Tomb Raider
One of the most distinctive features of the new God of War game, is the camera. One take, no cuts, no fades, a single, uninterrupted shot that begins with the menu screen and presumably ends with every PS4 owner weeping for more at the conclusion of the 30-35 hour game.
It's an incredibly impressive feat, and, as you might imagine, it was probably a nightmare to create for the game, undeniably very challenging.
Interestingly in a new PlayStation video released earlier this week which offered insight into the new camera technique, Dori Arazi, God of War Director of Cinematography said:
"Executing a no-cut camera, I thought it was impossible when I read the script, I thought it was impossible when it looked our equipment, I thought it was impossible when I looked at the reality of our production pipelines."
EXTRA READING: God of War PS4 Photo Mode CONFIRMED
However, it was possible and despite the challenges it presented, it will probably go down as one of the most remarkable feats in gaming this year. Arguably for many years.
Interestingly though, the origins of this camera technique, goes back further than we initially thought. And as Cory Barlog explained to us, it probably wouldn't have been achieved without the unwavering support of Sony PlayStation.
God of War – Sony PS4 Exclusive Screenshots from Santa Monica Studios
God of War is an action-adventure video game series loosely based on Greek mythology, originally created by David Jaffe at Sony's Santa Monica Studio.
"I was sticking to my guns well before I even got back to Sony," Barlog told us during an interview at a God of War preview event in London.
"I wanted to do this [the one-shot camera technique] and I had pitched it to Crystal Dynamics when I was there working on Tomb Raider and everyone was like, 'that’s crazy, we don't want to do that'."
"And, my reaction was like, 'yeah, you know, I don't know if this is the best place for me anyway'.
"I was already starting to talk to people about new roles at Sony and then I think I realised this [God of War] is the one I can do it on."
"I guess, for me, there was just a lot more creative support and faith with Sony. Like they’d say, you’ve got a crazy idea, we’re going to support you, regardless of how much of a leap off of a cliff it is."
Even with that incredible support from Sony though, implementing the one-shot camera was still no cakewalk for Cory.
As he went on to explain, it's only more recently that the rest of the Santa Monica team has been able to see how it all fits into place as we approach the games release in April.
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"I've had a bee in my bonnet about the one-shot camera for quite a long time and you know, I got a lot of resistance," Barlog added.
"In the beginning, I had to fight the fight with everybody on the development team. And eventually, one by one, you win them over, you show them something, you explain how it’s going to be.
"But, honestly, I think even then, they weren’t convinced.
"But in this last month, everybody’s had a lot of free time. Bugs have to be reproduced and as most people are creating content, they are playing the game more.
"And I’m getting leads from various departments and animators and artists from the Studio coming into my office and saying, okay, I get it. Seeing the game as a whole makes sense, I see why you wanted this thing."
GOD OF WAR PREVIEW
You can read our full God of War preview on the link, but below you'll find a small conclusion that'll give you a flavour of what we thought.
We've only really scratched the surface of what Cory Barlog and the Sony Santa Monica team have been building this last five years and really we want to see how much further the game grows when we're 15-20 hours in.
But what the opening two hours did show us is that the team behind the game have seemingly managed to more than meet the daunting challenge laid before them to drag Kratos and whats become an aged God of War series kicking and screaming into a new PS4 era.
Visually, the game looks incredible, probably, the best PS4 Pro game we've seen. Which after Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy and Horizon Zero Dawn, feels like quite a feat to achieve, but somehow Sony's first-party studio's just keeping knocking it out the park – this time seemingly into the overflow car park just for good measure.
Story-wise we're hooked two hours in. Actually, in truth, the boss fight one hour in had us hooked. And yet, we're still utterly clueless to the bigger picture, but dear lord we can't wait to unravel the Norse mythology surrounding this new adventure.
Then there's the combat, which was our biggest worry as a lifelong God of War fan – but it just works, seamlessly, with zero fuss and a book of further opportunities just waiting to be unlocked and exploited.
Has Cory Barlog created a potential game of the year contender? That's as safe as houses.
The better question is, has Cory Barlog created the best game of the PS4 generation so far? We're starting to think so.
God of War is released for PS4 on 20 April 2018
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