I recently finished the story modes for the God of War Origins Collection, Two games that originally came out for the Sony PSP. I played the first of the two games -- Chains of Olympus -- on my PSP and enjoyed it immensely, even though the controls were a bit wonky for dodging attacks. There was nothing like having a GOW game I could take with me wherever I went. It looked great, had great control response time, and the story was just as epic as all the preceding GOW titles.
I hadn't purchased Ghost of Sparta on my PSP, so when the Origins Collection came out I was excited that I could play this title and also play it in HD on my PS3. The game did not disappoint. The story had the same rage-fueled highs and lows the franchise is well known for, and just like Chains of Olympus, is a satisfying length. This collection is a great value for fans of the action genre including 2 games with about 15-20 hours of content.
Chains of Olympus-Story
This game precedes the original God of War title that came out on the PS2, and comes after the upcoming God of War:Ascension title coming in March of 2013. It follows Kratos during his 10 years of service to the Greek gods. During his task to kill a basilisk that is destroying the city of Attica, the sun falls from the sky. Morpheus, the god of Dreams uses this as an opportunity to send the gods into a deep slumber and sends a black fog over the earth, controlling it with his dark minions. Athena sends Kratos to rescue Helios so that his light can be returned and the gods can wake up and banish Morpheus. On his quest, Kratos learns that Helios has been abducted by the titan Atlas in a plan for revenge by Persephone.
She tricks Kratos into giving up his powers to spend his life with his daughter Calliope in Elysium. Once Persephone sees that Kratos has weakened himself, she reveals her plan to destroy the earth by commanding Atlas to destroy the pillar that holds it in place. Kratos must then leave his daughter forever and get his powers back to save the world as his duty to the gods. In the final battle, Kratos chains Atlas to the top of the Underworld. Once he kills Persephone the explosion caused by her demise cracks the great pillar, leaving Atlas to hold up the earth forever.
Game Play
I originally played this game on the PSP. While it was enjoyable, I suffered quite a bit because there is no second analog stick. The evade controls are mapped in a way that makes you hold both shoulder buttons and then nudge the analog stick in the direction of the evade. This works, but is not comfortable. The traditional controls return for the PS3 version, and I was extremely thankful for that. I played the game on the hard setting, and I blew through it save for a few spots where I got stuck dying over and over again because I saved with low health and no green orb chests around. I also noticed an annoyingly large collision box around Kratos and the enemies. This was a blessing and a curse. Some things that shouldn't have hit Kratos were able to damage him causing me to SWEAR and flail (i.e. have a kicking the air fit) when I was low on health but one enemy away from moving past a hard fight only to die from a suspect hit. Fortunately the big hit box made it really easy to grab lesser enemies and open chests. I would say that was an even trade, especially when considering the joy I felt when Kratos would slide halfway across the screen into place to open a chest. However those moments when I swore and flailed were NOT happy ones. That being said I enjoyed the challenge. It was just hard enough to get me thinking about how to beat certain arena parts. I even had to employ my husband's coaching abilities to help me past the gauntlet room with the 3 minotaurs and satyrs. I also really enjoyed the game and the story. The scene with Calliope is heart wrenching.
Graphics
The graphics looked great. I think that is considerable when you think about the game being ported from the PSP's 4 inch display. I did also notice that the animations, while fluid, didn't seem to be as detailed as the other games, but that was a minor annoyance.
Overall I highly recommend this game if you are GOW fan. I really thought that I would be tired of Kratos's unending rage and the quick time events, but I noticed a consistant feeling of relief when that big orange "O" pops up over the last enemy.
Ghost of Sparta--Story
This game takes place between God of War and God of War 2
Prologue: A family affair. As children, Kratos and his brother Deimos are interrupted one day while training in Sparta. Ares and Athena abduct Deimos and send him to the underworld to be tortured by Thanatos, the god of death. Ares and Athena believe Deimos' strange birthmarks identify him as the "marked" warrior what will bring the destruction of Olympus as foretold by an oracle.
Now that Kratos has taken the place of Ares as the God of War, he decides to investigate his past to find out why he is still plagued by nightmares of his past as a mortal. He travels to the Temple of Atlantis and finds his mother, who is transformed into a horrible beast. She attacks him and he ends up killing her. Before she dies, she tells him to find his brother back in Sparta. There are a bunch of flashbacks and fighting and Kratos eventually finds out that he must go back to Atlantis to free Deimos from Thanatos. Once Kratos locates Deimos and frees him, Deimos attacks him, angry that Kratos didn't save him earlier. Thanatos interrupts their fight and almost throws Deimos off a cliff, but not before Kratos saves him. The two fight together to kill Thanatos, however in the battle, Thanatos manages to kill Deimos, causing Kratos to get REALLY REALLY mad. He demolishes Thanatos and carries Deimos' body up to a burial point. Kratos sees the Grave Digger from the first God of War who tells him that he's become "death, bringer of chaos". Kratos then sees Athena who begs forgiveness for not being truthful about her involvement in Deimos's abduction. He ignores her, and goes to his throne where he begins to plot his revenge against all the gods. God of War 2 begins shortly after this point.
Game Play
This game had a lot more mechanics involved than GOW:COO. There are commands mapped all over the place and even an extra weapon set. In a twist, magic is mapped to the directional buttons, you only need to press them to activate your magic. In other games you would select the magic with the directional buttons, then use a shoulder/face button combo to activate. I have to say I like this set up better. There is a noticeable delay for the magic to activate though, and this was frustrating for me because I decided again to play through this game on the hard difficulty. In some of the very intense battles, that delay led to Kratos getting his ass handed to him...and more swear/flails from me. All in all this was a satisfying game to play through. the battles were truly epic and satisfying. All the different options and moves Kratos has made the fighting a ton of fun. Even the maddening wraith woman enemies were not so horrible once I learned how to beat them. I got stuck a few times, and again had to ask for coaching help from my hubby. Its amazing how much he helps, too bad he likes sleeping more than watching me play games late into the night.
Graphics
Pretty much the same notes as above. I do wish I had a 3D display as I've heard that the 3D in this game is unbelievable. I did notice that this game was a bit more polished and Kratos and the enemies looked bigger and more detailed on screen than in COO.
So that's it. I highly recommend these games if you are a fan of the series. You get an unbelievable amount of content for a great price (retail was $29, but I'm sure you can find it cheaper online now new or used via brick & mortar stores). My concern that I would get tired of the quick time events was unfounded, especially since I decided to play through on the hard level. Doing that made me look forward to seeing the final prompt appear over an enemy's head, and finishing a particularly hard battle was that much more satisfying because of the mostly responsive controls (hit box issues notwithstanding). I've played through the story modes of both games, and I plan to revisit to play through the challenge modes and arena modes as well. Once GOW:Ascension comes out I do plan to play through all six titles again to revisit the story in chronological order.
Check out the incredible God of War Wiki HERE
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