God of War Collection Volume II

Most Playstation users are very familiar with Kratos.  The relentless anti-hero has been ubiquitous of late having starred in the truly epic God of War 3 as well as its predecessors, 1 and 2 which had HD versions released on PS3 around the same time.  God of War Collection 2 comprises the two PSP games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta to make for a hefty five games for PS3 in a year and a half.

The first of the two, Chains of Olympus sees Kratos, at the behest of Athena on a quest to rescue the Sun God Helios from the clutches of Atlas to bring light back to the world and remove Morpheus’ dark fog that plagues the land.  In Ghost of Sparta Kratos’ motivation is simple: to find out if his brother Deimos is alive and if so, to catch up with him and see how he’s doing.  They show a deeper side to Kratos and are centred around the theme of love; familial love, which acts as a much welcome respite from the relentless rage of a one note character. However they do so very fleetingly, no sooner has Kratos shown a glimpse of a more interesting persona than he regresses into seething mode again.

It’s clear that God of War is all about combat and here it’s as satisfyingly brutal as ever. You can be creative with your attacks by mixing in air combos for example but for the majority of the time you will be executing simple combinations of Square and Triangle (Spirit of Hercules is one of the most satisfying moves in any game, press Square five times and then Triangle, YES) while keeping an eye on the enemies and choosing which enemies to attack and when.  Some enemies can get frustrating with off screen attacks with no audio cues games like Bayonetta adopt to allow you to react to an unseen attack. That said they aren’t many and the forgiving parry timing and invulnerable moments when using magic go some way to mitigating any annoyance allowing you to focus on the joys of onslaught.

In Chains you have the iconic Blades of Chaos as well as the Gauntlets of Zeus (boxing gloves of the Gods) as well as three different magic abilities including a much needed wide area attack. For those familiar with the console games this stripped down arsenal may cause concern but battles seldom get hectic or complex enough to necessitate more weapons, however, the lack of variety and choice is apparent.  It’s in Ghost though where the biggest difference is introduced. Although the shield and spear (Arms of Sparta) is decidedly lacking and offers little to no advantage over the Blades of Athena, the introduction of “Thera’s Bane”, which adds fire attributes to your normal attacks adds a new level of complexity by attaching a time delayed explosive to an enemy during a combo. This is the game’s biggest triumph: a simple concept which adds new layers to a tried and tested formula and more importantly it marks a confident and necessary divergence from the main games by playing to the system’s strength.  That system, though, is the PSP but thankfully that aspect transitions well to the PS3.

It’s not the only thing that makes the transition well as both games (especially Ghost) look surprisingly good on the bigger screen. While they may not have the fidelity God of War fans are now accustomed to they do stick to the God of War 2 aesthetic, opting for more stylised visuals over realism, which is inkeeping with the fantastical feel of Classical Greece.  Throughout both adventures you will be taken to a variety of suitably epic environs; from cities like Marathon and Sparta to the Underworld for the best boss fight with Charon (the Ferryman) on the River Styx. The highlight has to be travelling through the spectacular Atlantis in Ghost of Sparta whereby you travel through caverns, swim through huge passages and explore around the central area with gargantuan statues in a well of chaotic seas.

There are some really enjoyable battles throughout as you take on the enemies now synonymous with the series and disposing of them is as enjoyable and challenging as ever. The repetition is kept from getting old by some decent puzzles and platforming but these aren’t anywhere near as clever as some of the ones from the main series and serve mainly to break up moments of killing things rather than provide a thought-provoking mind bender.  This isn’t a bad thing: sure there may be some missed opportunities but an overly obtuse puzzle is far worse.

Both Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta are two fantastic games that compliment the series very well.  The very fact Ready at Dawn managed to do so much with a handheld system is actually staggering. On the transition to the PS3, though, the PSP’s inherent limitations don’t apply and the games suffer slightly from these restrictions such as few enemies on screen at once, simplistic boss battles and little in the way of dialogue/cutscenes during the story.  On the PSP this works very well but on PS3 it feels like a trade-off, one that fans will happily oversee but it’s hard to see the appeal for those not already affiliated with the Ghost of Sparta. Although two fantastically enjoyable games with many Gold and Silver Trophies and Two Platinums might be enough to sway a few.