God Of War: Ghost of Sparta

A couple of years ago, while on holiday, I played a game that raised my expectations of the Playstation Portable. This game was God of War: Chains of Olympus, and two years later, I find myself in a similar situation; on holiday with a fantastic PSP game. It’s only fitting that the game should be yet another entry into the God of War series.

STORY
With the story of Kratos at an end via the PS3’s magnificent God of War 3, this PSP title takes us back to the days between the first and second games. Kratos has just defeated Ares and claimed his throne, but is still haunted by the visions that the gods had promised to relieve him of.
However, these aren’t the usual visions of his murdered wife and child that he normally sees. These visions concern his long thought dead brother, Deimos. The game follows Kratos’ attempts to learn the truth behind his brother’s fate and his subsequent efforts to save him.

With the God of War series already concluded, I doubted whether or not Ghost of Sparta could be fit into the established canon. My doubts were unfounded, however, when I found that the game often nods to the final game of the series, while being a truly entertaining tale all on its own. I found Kratos to be at his most relatable in this story (although that may not be saying much about Mr. Murder himself).

PRESENTATION
The presentation of Ghost of Sparta can be summed up in one sentence, which is “I couldn’t believe the PSP could handle such slick, fluid graphics and animations, as well as provide the same epic soundtrack and voice acting as in the console games.
While the areas and puzzles provide some variety, the enemies in this game leave something to be desired. More often than not, each area consists of the same 5 types of enemies, but all with a different colour or something.
God of War 3 got my GOTY award for best soundtrack, and that same work shines on the PSP, assuming you have some good headphones to listen to it with. The PSP’s speakers just don’t seem to cut it.

GAMEPLAY
God of War: Ghost of Sparta brings the same hack and slash gameplay from the consoles to the compact screen of the PSP, with very little lost in translation. Combo’s are as fluid as ever, and seem like some kind of fiery ballet of doom, whereas Kratos also acquires some cool magic, ranging from the Eye of Atlantis’ lightning strike, to the Horn of Boreas’ freezing attacks.
Add to this a very cool weapon combo known as the Arms of Sparta, as well as an always present “Fire meter” for adding an extra spice to your usual attacks, and you have one of the most varied combat systems in the God of War Series to date.

Quick time events make a return, but as with GOW3, the symbols appear on the corresponding sides of the screen, meaning that the action takes centre stage ALWAYS. I’ve never really disliked the God of War QTE’s, simply because they never really catch you off guard. As an always present feature of the series, they’re expected, and lead to some really awesome parts of the games.

Gameplay problems are minor, but sometimes keep popping up, each time becoming more and more annoying. For instance, the choice to map the dodge control to the two shoulder buttons often makes the game feel awkward to play effectively. On top of this, some of the larger enemies (cyclops’ in particular) sometimes block the screen, obstructing the view of Kratos and occasionally of some smaller enemies.

REPLAYABILITY
The replay value of Ghost of Sparta is quite similar to every other God of War game. The original playthrough unlocks the hardest difficulty, and subsequent playthroughs can unlock extra media. The challenge of the gods returns and is as tough as ever whereas a new feature, The Temple of Zeus, is the users way of buying bonus content with XP Points.
Aside from that, the replay value is limited. There’s very little to find through exploration, aside from the various skill augmenting items, or experience orb chests. The sole replayability of GOW:GOS comes mainly from the Challenge of the Gods.

OVERVIEW
While not the longest game out at the moment, it’s challenging and entertaining enough to rival many popular games, some of the handheld variety, but many found on consoles. Its certainly a strange day when I choose to play a PSP game over a console game, but Ghost of Sparta may be good enough to do that.
The interesting story, and familiar, yet streamlined gameplay overshadow the minor problems, and the game continues with the usual God of War style, which is well and truly EPIC. It’s just epic on a smaller screen.


I'd like to apologize to any readers out there who have missed me (coz theres soooo many of you...) and I'll be back in full force after next Sunday. Next Sunday will hopefully be my Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review, which will give me a week with LittleBigPlanet 2. Hopefully followed by Mass Effect 2 (PS3). See you next time!