Pay It Again, Sam

There are several things I swore I’d never do in my gaming career, and then went on to do. I swore I wouldn’t buy another 360 rather than wait for the existing one to be repaired.  I swore I wouldn’t pay the extortionate price Microsoft wanted for a 60gb hard drive for the 360. And I swore I wouldn’t buy a game I already own again.

It was going so well until The God Of War Collection for PS3 came along, you see. I loved God of War on PS2, and the sequel also filled me with violent joy. Many a happy hour was spent disembowelling, decapitating, de-winging and otherwise battering seven shades of shit out of copious numbers of mythological monsters. I still have both games sitting merrily on my game shelf. And with God of War III on the horizon, there’s no better way to reacquaint myself with my good (if slightly grumpy) buddy Kratos, than by dusting them off and giving them another play through.

Only one key element was missing – the Playstation 2. As I had a launch day PS3 – you know, the extra shiny monolith complete with card slots and backwards compatibility – I had happily donated my old PS2 to a needy forumer quite some time ago. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake, as I found out when my PS3 failed, and was quickly replaced with a PS3 slim. It’s smaller, lighter, more efficient – and doesn’t play PS2 games. My chances of playing God of War I and II before III were looking slimmer than a book called “Jordan’s Great Wit”.

And then, at my darkest hour, I got wind of The God of War Collection. Both games, graphically tarted up (not the exact words from Sony’s press release), given Trophy support and slapped on to one Blu Ray disc. Perfect. Despite myself, I was ready to do the unthinkable, and invest again. Once again, however, Fate stepped in; the Collection wasn’t coming to Europe, but instead would be bundled in with a special edition of God of War III. This, of course, is as much use as a chocolate teapot for someone like me who wants to play them before the release of III.

This was the moment I did something else I’ve never done, and ordered it on import. A bit of research on the internet confirmed the fact that Playstation 3 consoles, although region locked for DVD and Blu Ray movies, are not so for games. One quick purchase at CD-WOW later, and I am now the proud owner of a US copy of the God of War Collection.

Only one more hurdle stands between me and the epic tales of Kratos now, and it’s the sort of Herculean challenge that even the big white and red man himself would cower in fear at – awaiting delivery from Royal Mail during one of the snowiest periods of the year.

The Gods can be so cruel sometimes.