God of War: Ghost of Sparta

God of War: Ghost of Sparta has got a lot to live up to. It’s a very big game for a very small console. As the first PSP God Of War game, the earlier Chains of Olympus set a very high standard, managing to squeeze a very real God of War experience on to the PSP. As a result, it was universally praised for everything but its length.

The main trilogy famously also squeezed almost every drop of juice out of both Playstation 2 and 3 consoles respectively, producing some of the most epic moments seen on the Playstation. Can God of War: Ghost of Sparta really achieve the same feat for the PS3’s little brother, the PSP?

It would appear so. Like all God of War games, from the first time you start the game, Ghost of Sparta is polished to such a high shine that you can almost see your face in it. Everything has been thought about, and there are simply no rough edges to snag you and pull you out of the game. Everything flows – the level design, the combat, and impressively for a PSP title, the loading. I played Ghost of Sparta on an older UMD based PSP and the only time I ever saw a loading screen after starting a game was when I deliberately backtracked, as the game seamlessly loaded everything behind the scenes.

The game itself is pure God of War. Taking on the role of po-faced Kratos, the God of War and before-model for cough medicine, you must fight and platform your way through scores of gorgeous backdrops. Naturally, being Kratos, you will be killing anything and everything that gets in your way, and as a bonus, in as messy a method as possible. The classic God of War quicktime kills are all present, correct and as gory as ever. Stomping a sword into a cyclops eye never gets old, and tearing the heads off of those pesky gorgons is always a joy.

The music and sound effects are fantastic, and the only negative I can say about them is that they make the PSPs built in speakers seem a bit puny. I ended up playing half the game with my surround sound system plugged into the PSP, and the other half with headphones to fully appreciate the soundtrack.

As you can tell, I really liked this game, and even the story was surprisingly interesting and involving. The developers here have set the bar so high it’s hard to imagine another PSP title will be able to pip it. In fact, I’ve played far worse games this year on the much higher-powered PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

As for negative points? Well, it’s God of War. If you don’t like God of War then you simply won’t like this. It may also be a bit too involving for a portable console, and I can imagine people getting caught up in a battle and missing their bus stop or train station.