God of War Collection Vol 2 (Origins) Review

Can two PSP God of War games remastered in HD really compete with its big brother console counterparts?

Format(s): PS3 (Version tested), Xbox 360

God of War Collection Volume 2 (or Origins, as it is called in the US) is a bundle of the prequel God of War games that were originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld system.  The collection includes Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, both titles have been given a high Definition makeover, trophy support has been added and 3D has been implemented for all three of those people that own a 3D TV.  Ready at Dawn Studios were handed the task of developing games, in the God of War franchise, for the handheld PSP system and they have achieved an incredible job of matching the epic scale that is normally associated with the Sony Santa Monica developed God of War titles.

God of War: Chains of Olympus is a prequel to the very first God of War and involves the main protagonist, Kratos, serving the gods of Olympus.  The game begins with Kratos fighting an invading Persian army, but things seem to really take a turn for the worse when the sun somehow disappears.  Much of the story of Chains of Olympus is cloaked in mystery, which should act as motivation to play the game until its climax.  God of War: Ghost of Sparta takes place after the events of God of War I and before any of the events of God of War II have occurred.  The story begins with Kratos experiencing a vision and much of the title involves him searching for his, much to be believed, long deceased brother (fans of the first God of War game may remember an unlockable video, which eluded to the fact that Kratos indeed did have a brother).

Both games included in the bundle begin with an epic boss battle, a tradition that has been in every God of War since the very first game was released back in 2005 (who could forget when they first started God of War I and were welcomed into the game's world with an epic Aegean sea battle involving the mythical Hydra creature).  Similar to God Of War I through III, the gameplay will see Kratos embark on an epic journey visiting various locations and battling creatures that are synonymous with Greek mythology.

The Sony Santa Monica God of War games like to throw in many different Gods and events from Greek mythology into it games and the Ready at Dawn versions do not differ in this aspect.  During his journey in both games, Kratos will visit locations such as, The Temple of Helios, Atlantis and face ancient Greek Gods, Morpheus and Thanatos among others.

Not much has been changed in the gameplay department from the titles that have come before, it is the usual God of War affair, use your chains for visceral combat and attempt a high combo score, collect a bountiful number of red orbs to upgrade weapons, and find hidden feathers and Gorgon eyes to increase magic and health respectably.  Combat has not been vastly changed, but in Ghost of Sparta, Kratos will gain an ability that will imbue his blades with fire for a limited amount of time, which is required to be used in combat against enemies, which protect themselves in armour, and also used to destroy objects that may be blocking the path.  Combat is broken up by some soft puzzle solving and platforming sections, again, all very familiar to the previous God of War games.  New magical abilities have been added, which are unique to each title.  For instance, Kratos will gain the power of lightening and ice, which can be used in combat situations.

Love em or hate em, it would not be a God of War game without Quick Time Events (QTEs) and oh boy, Ready at Dawn Studios sure like to include QTEs.  During combat with non boss enemies, QTEs can be used as a finishing move to defeat enemies, but they are not mandatory as a few extra hits can  defeat an enemy without having to go through any button prompts.  Boss battles, however, do require QTEs to be correctly inputted in time and not doing so will result in failure. Players that loath QTEs should not be put off by this, as the games are rather forgivingly checkpointed during QTEs, failure to input the correct button prompts will mean the player will only have to retry from the point of failure and they will not have to go through the same sequence again and again.  A minor gripe I had with the QTEs was during times that the game would prompt L1 and R1 to be pressed in a quick alternating manner, as most times I had to adjust my grip on the controller to press the buttons properly with my thumbs rather than my fingers.  This was rather irritating during times that Kratos would be frozen by a Medsua or an ice enemy, if I did not adjust my grip in time I would be destroyed in one hit and have to start over from the last checkpoint.

Playing Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta back to back really shows how much Ready at Dawn Studios put into its second God Of War title.  Ghost of Sparta is much of a graphical improvement over Chains of Olympus and looks nice remastered for the High Definition era.  Graphically, combat is a colourful visual feast to the eyes.  The swirling blades attached to the chains Kratos yields light up in a bright neon orange as he slices demon enemies in half, it is all a rather dazzling display of pretty lighting effects, within contrast to the horror and bloodshed of brutal combat.   As I was used to playing the Sony Santa Monica titles, I found it rather strange that I could not quickly slide down the climbable walls, but happily the slide feature was included in Ready at Dawn Studio's later title.  Both titles have spectacular locations, especially considering they were initially conceived for a handheld device, which seem to match Sony Santa Monica's vision for massive temples, highly decorative intimidating statues and larger than life boss creatures.

Both God of War titles took me around 4 - 5 hours to complete, individually they are rather short, so in total they should take on average around 10 hours to complete on first playthrough.  Despite the short length, each title offers a good amount of replayability.  As well as the 3 main difficultly settings, God Mode can be unlocked for those that desire the toughest challenge they can find.  A new game mode plus is available, allowing the player to start the game again with everything that they have collected from the previous playthrough.  God of War: Chains of Olympus offers a number of different challenges in The Challenge of Hades mode and a number of different artworks and videos can be unlocked for fulfilling certain criteria.  God of War: Ghost of Sparta offers slightly more replayability with the inclusion of The Temple of Zeus, which is an interactive area where a high number of red orbs collected throughout the game are sacrificed to unlock various different artworks, videos, costumes and extra challenges.

Conclusion

God of War Collection Volume 2 is an easy recommendation for fans of the previous God of War games and the hack en slash genre in general.  It is a great value package for those that have never had the opportunity to experience both titles and also adds new features such as, HD visuals and full trophy support for those that may want a reason to revisit the games.  Despite the short length, there seems to have a good amount of replayabity and extras to unlock across both games, which should keep those that want to complete absolutely everything occupied for quite a while.

8/10