I love the God of War franchise. The kind of love that can make you biased when reviewing the game. But as is the case with things you love, it also makes me have very high expectations and a very harsh critic. So after going through an exciting unboxing of my PSP Limited Edition “God of War: Ghost of Sparta” Entertainment Pack at 2am, I started up the game with hopes for epic-ness. I was not disappointed! From the beginning soundtrack to the end credits, it was fun. The premise of the story is that you are going to rescue your brother, Deimos, who you thought long dead. He was abducted by Ares and imprisoned in Death’s Domain where he is being tortured by the god of death, Thanatos.
The God of War series has always been known for its great graphics and character designs. Visually, I found the game had covered this area really well. Well drawn buildings, environments and enemies with great detail when performing finishing moves only added to all the eye candy I could take in. My only sense of disappointment was how some parts were not as immersive due to camera panning way back for large scenery causing Kratos to become a speck on the screen. I really cannot blame the game for that considering that this is the PSP we are talking about. The most stellar point of the game has to be it’s sound. The soundtrack, environment, combat, and attack sounds, all of it lend to making this game very exciting to play.
While playing the game, I felt like I had never stopped playing the series and eased into it with no problems. The familiarity with visuals, controls and Kratos lent to a great 8 hours of gameplay. I never found a hitch when performing combos and attack moves as the character was very responsive. The wide variety of weapons is another core aspect of this series. I always find myself inevitably sticking to the blades; they seem to be the most fun to use. Playing in hard mode did require me to use the occasional magic weapon when there were multiple enemies that were hard to take down or difficult boss fights.
If you have not played this series before, the red orbs you collect while playing the game help you upgrade your weapons. Red orbs can be obtained from opening chests, killing enemies and breaking items in the environment. Each weapon upgrade not only increases damage but also provides you new combo moves. Along with red orbs, you also collect Gorgon Eyes, Phoenix Feathers and Minotaur Horns. When you collect a certain number of each item, they increase your health, magic and fire(Thera’s Bane) bar. The fire bar regenerates over time and serves to increase the damage of your weapons as well as plant explosions on your enemies after a certain amount of damage. I found myself constantly using this ability along with the evade, block and counter techniques.
It was so much easier in this game to find the upgrade and red orb chests. There were a few spots that maybe I had to backtrack but for the most part, just by exploring the environment I stumbled across them pretty easily. The puzzles in this series have never been mind boggling but they are fun nonetheless to do. On finishing the game, you have access to access combat arenas, single-room challenges and various campaign-altering items. All of this helps in gently pushing me to pick up the game again and finish all aspects of the game completely.
Being able to get a free copy of the Chains of Olympus game will also keep me busy in the near future. I only wish Ghost of Sparta was on the PlayStation 3 as it would have probably blown me away all the more. I definitely recommend this game as a must pickup if you are looking for a fun action adventure game with plenty of hack-n-slash. The question left unanswered is what else can Sony do to produce another God of War game? One can only hope that there is still some good story about Kratos that can be exploited.
