God of War: Origins Collection Review

[Curb]

God of War: Origins Collection
by Curb


Basic Information:
Developer: Ready At Dawn/SCE Santa Monica Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
North American Release Date: September 13th, 2011
European Release Date: September 16th, 2011
Trophies: God of War: Chains of Olympus 1 || 5 || 10 || 20
God of War: Ghost of Sparta 1 || 5 || 10 || 20


Overview
God of War: Origins Collection is a re-release of Kratos' two PSP adventures in HD format with trophies, in the same vein as the original God of War Collection. Included in the release, whether purchase on Blu-ray or downloaded from PSN are God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta, both of which aim to provide backstory for Kratos and hint more at some of the motivations of certain characters in later installments.


Gameplay
Gameplay in the Origins Collection is much the same as in other God of War games - a good mix of hack 'n' slash and puzzle elements. The addition of new weapons and new magic in each game offer a standard God of War experience in that there is no standard God of War experience. While some of these new offerings may feel similar to those in other titles, there are just enough innovations or unique aspects to these tools to keep things interesting.

Both games offer new weapons and magic for Kratos to use.

The difficulty levels, however, could use some work. Far from the balanced and arguably cunningly-crafted difficulty levels of the main trilogy, the higher difficulty levels in both Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta feel rough and unpolished. There are enormous stretches where one can go without dying at all, even on their first playthrough, and then there are portion where you feel like you've hit a brick wall and need to take a break. Speaking as an extremely veteran God of War player, that's not a good feeling.


Singleplayer
Both games in this collection were created to introduce more backstory into the series. Chains of Olympus is set before the first game, while Ghost of Sparta takes place between the first and second.

Chains of Olympus, while providing an interesting story, doesn't seem to fit all that well into the storyline of the saga. While savvy players will notice connections in God of War III, they are fleeting at best, and certainly don't make up for the lack of connections between Chains of Olympus' story and that of the later two games in the series. With Atlas being a fairly central character in each game, it's disturbing that there's not more effort to integrate these appearance and make them flush with each other. That being said, for a rather contained and seemingly unconnected story, the story that Chains of Olympus does offer is a good one, and offers a little insight into the nature of Kratos' humanity.

Both games offer new insight into Kratos' backstory, and each has its own enjoyable plot.

Ghost of Sparta, however, offers plenty of such insight and an enormous number of these connections to other games in the series. Wrapping up plenty of loose ends concerning Kratos' family and conflicts with the gods, this game is fun throughout and ranks as one of the best of the series so far - which is definitely saying something, given God of War's reception as a saga.


Technical
While the graphics in these titles won't be winning any major contests, that's an excusable offense because they're PSP titles, and the graphics are tight despite not being flashy. There are no framerate issues to speak of, and the HD makeover is clean and crisp. While the graphics themselves are on the fuzzy side, they're nicely done in 720p. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try out the 3D capabilities, but I've heard good things.

While the graphics are great for PSP titles, they're not top of the line for the PS3. Luckily, the HD skinning is fabulously done.

As for the audio, God of War once again hits it out of the park. Mixing some of the best tracks of the series with new material, the score for these two games is phenomenal. Nothing to complain about here.


Trophies
The trophies for these two titles are fairly typical of God of War games, including trophies for finding all Phoenix Feathers, Gorgon Eyes, and the like, as well as plenty of story trophies. Additionally, they include the requisite Challenge of the Gods/Hades trophies, as well as ones for beating each game on Hard. Even compared to God of War III, that's no mean feat, and should offer up the platinum only to those who really want it. Neither one is an excruciating plat, but neither is all that easy either.


Closing Thoughts
Going for the typical $40 selling price of all Classics HD and remastered collections, the Origins Collection is a must-buy for absolutely any God of War fan. While Chains of Olympus isn't phenomenal, it's far from awful, and Ghost of Sparta offers arguably one of the best gameplay experiences of the series so far. Again, all God of War fans will want to buy this as even after the platinum you'll probably want to go through again. And even if you're not a super huge follower of Kratos, it's still worth a dabble if you're at all interested. You can't go wrong.


Gameplay: 9/10
It's God of War. You know what you're getting here, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Singleplayer: 8/10 (Chains of Olympus) + 9/10 (Ghost of Sparta)
Chains of Olympus has a decent story, and Ghost of Sparta's is stellar. Both games are integral to Kratos' story, and you'll want to play them both.

Technical: 8/10
Solid graphics, especially for PSP titles, and crisp, fabulous audio. Sound games technically.

Overall: 8.5/10 Superb

[MatCauthon]

Nice review. I felt that Ghost of Sparta had the best story and the most interesting/challenging combat in the series. I was amazed that a handheld title could win that much affection with me in a series that I love.

[Digitalman123]

Nice review, sums it up nicely.

[YnO]

nice review.

but the platinums are very easy.

i can get both plats in a day .

[Johnny_Sparx]

great review. i plan on getting the game anyway but nice review none the less

[Kengriff]

I think il be getting this in the new year.

[NOFORPAIN]

Funny your review almost matches what I said in my mini breakdown in my checklist. Awesome game that GoS was huh?!

[Schism]

Great review, making me want the games even more

[The Secret Society]

beat both games on the psp second time around i wasnt all that into it

[Meil06]

I'll be getting this after mw3

[AizawaYuuichi]

Very nice review on this. I agree on practically every point.
My only comments on the games themselves is that, while they are remastered PSP games, I personally felt the remasters looked better than the original God of War Collection. And the Gauntlet of Zeus in CoO has to be one of the most fun weapons in the entire franchise. There's something about charging up and blasting through a group of enemies, or doing a semi-charge combo against a single foe, pounding it into oblivion, that just feels so right.
And it was nice to see that the 3D aspect was mentioned, even if you didn't get a chance to check it out. While it wasn't nearly as good as the 3D in the Ico/SotC Collection, it's still pretty darned good here. It almost feels like they spent more effort on the 3D in Ghost of Sparta as well, as it was extra crispy in many places. Made the platforming a lot easier.
And I have to say, playing these two games back to back, as opposed to a few years apart on the PSP, I could really see how much more effort was put into the story and characters in Ghost of Sparta. It truly is one of the greatest games from the PSP library.

[abhinandhan22]

Brilliant review completely agree with you especially about the difficulty part.

[goldberg_malta]

nice review

[CashNPrizes5]

look forward to gamin this

[AngeldeLeo]

Reading this review may change my mind to buy them on psn when i have $$

[Chaotically-Epic]

Pretty short review but I guess you can't say much about this game anyways without spoiling anything. I love the well presented layout. Well done.

IMO for others, the purchase is worth it. Mostly if your a huge GOW fanatic. Combat is spot on & within Ghost. I love all the power abilities.

[_RiCaRdO_]

Great review.
I can fill you in on the 3D graphics:
they're awesome!

[FFXOcifferCop]

Awesome. I was skeptical but Ill for sure buy it now. I could I have expected any less!?

[TerminalPhoenix]

Great work on the review - Ghost of Sparta blew my mind in terms of graphics, knowing it came from the a PSP title. I've never been a fan of the PSP, I think it never got the gaming collection it needed to be consistently good, but man did they pack a good punch with GoS.

Easy, potentially challenging at times, but overall loads of fun - worth every penny.

[john3007]

great review.i loved playing these games,they were a great conversion from psp to ps3