I am a late-comer to the God of War series as a whole, just really getting into it with watching a friend of mine play it back when God of War 3 came out on the PS3. I decided to get the original God of War collection with the HD Remakes of God of War 1 and 2 near the time it came out, as well as God of War 3. Needless to say, I was completely enthralled by the collection and overwhelmingly amazed by the third and all its wonderful graphical eye-candy (tessellation… how I love you). That aside, I decided to follow my God of War fan-ness and invest in the God of War Origins Collection which features the two PSP titles in the franchise; Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta.
I saw both of the games played on the PSP itself and even then I wondered how they could squeeze such graphical quality out of the system. In short, you’re hard pressed to find many other games that look as good on the system as the two God of War titles (save for perhaps Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, FF Dissidia1 and 2, and FF VII Crisis Core). Boasting real horsepower behind the graphics and the overarching story of Kratos, both PSP games proved that you could make a great-looking, great-playing, and wonderfully told story for a game on the handheld.
Chains of Olympus
This is the prequel to the whole series. This game comes before the main God of War game where Kratos is in service to the Gods on Mount Olympus. This is, however, after he has already slain his own daughter and wife after being blinded by the god of war, Ares. Since this is before his rise to power, Kratos has to learn a few things along the way, earning his usual plethora of powers and weapons in order to progress and become powerful enough to destroy a god, more like “gods” in this game though. Either way, you follow Kratos down his bloody path which ends in him actually finding his dead daughter in (guess where fans of the series?) Hades (of course).
Gameplay hasn’t changed much from the series as a whole, nor from the PSP games themselves. They have, however, added using the second analog stick as the dodge button in the port (which is a God of War staple), since on the PSP it was a combination of the left/right buttons and the PSP stick. It has kept the basic moveset from the console versions of the games as well, adding in R1 + one of the action buttons for spells. In short, it’s slightly reworked gameplay mechanics with other buttons serving functions not usually on the console versions. It still plays very well though, especially with more open to you by adding the second analog stick. One thing I’m actually glad for is the ease in which you can find the treasures like Gorgons Eyes and Phoenix Feathers. It makes that whole bit of the game less frustrating and you can delve into the core game as opposed to “how do I get this chest over here?”.
Moving on from the storyline and gameplay, we go onto what most people want to know, how does it look on PS3. First of all, it’s not even on par with God of War 3, which is a graphical marvel, but at 60 frames per second you’d be amazed at how good it looks. The one line I kept thinking, and saying out loud at times, was “How did they do this on the PSP?”. It’s a graphical marvel, if you realize just where it came from. The development team did an amazing job in porting and upgrading the graphics to this game. Much like the original God of War Collection, they prove that they can make older games look practically new again. Mind you, it does kind of show its age (especially being the first PSP game by the game studio), but no less than their original port of God of War 1.
The music of the game is fairly good, but that is because a lot of it was recycled from the earlier games. There are, obviously, a few new tracks, but they are used rarely and for short periods of time. God of War has always had amazing music though, and even re-hearing a bit of it in this game made me smile.
My one gripe with the game is that it’s very short, even in the realm of God of War. I was able to finish it within a few hours and while it was a fun ride, I’m used to something a bit more immersive when it comes to these games.
Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Music: 7/10 (simply for reusing many tracks)
Graphics: 8.5/10
Overall: 9/10
Ghost of Sparta
This game happens between the events of God of War 1 and God of War 2. Kratos goes on a journey to find his brother Deimos, who he thought was dead. Since he is now the actual God of War, Kratos has a few more tricks up his sleeve, mind you he JUST became the God of War so he’s not all the way there to being epic-win incarnate. He gains more and more powerful skills (which you have fun with in the beginning of God of War 2) until at the end, he actually reaches full God of War status. In short, he meets up with his long lost brother at some point, but the journey to get there is rather lengthy. Might I add that the game starts out in Atlantis… so: “What happened to Atlantis?” “Kratos happened.”
Gameplay is a bit more refined for this game since it was the second game in the series on the PSP. Now you have the addition of adding fire to your Blades of Athena which adds not only more power, but also ignites enemies and places an explosive charge on them. It’s a nice little addition, even if it has a time limit and has to recharge. You also get a spear/shield weapon later on in the game that serves as both long range, short range, and defense. Of course, there are times you HAVE to use said weapons, which is another staple in the god of War Franchise, but you’ll be relying on your Blades of Athena with Fire the majority of the time.
The graphical quality of this game outshines it’s PSP brother. Seeing as it is the second PSP game in the series (as well as the latest game in the series) they had plenty of time to fine-tune the graphics of the game to run on the PSP, and now really bring them out on the PS3. It, dare I say, looks better than its God of War 1 collection counterpart, and possibly even better than God of War 2 on the HD collection (it’s been a while since I’ve played that collection, so I can’t be sure). Basically, it looks amazing. It looks amazing on the PSP and the PS3 has only helped to bring out the quality of the game.
They actually made a soundtrack for this game as opposed to reusing music from the other games. Each track really fits the various areas and battles within the game. Be it while traveling, fighting, or a cut-scene, the music shines brightly in the game as one of the best aspects of it.
While the story in this game definitely feels longer and more like a God of War game, the ending section when you meet Deimos feels really rushed. That would be my only real issue with the game itself. Outside of that it’s excellent.
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Music: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Both games are stunning in their presentation and a testament to the ability of the game studio to put out a great product. With both games running at 1080p resolution and locked in at 60 frames per second, you won't find a better port on the PS3 to-date.
