Demon-Mask
11-06-2010, 03:22 PM
Coming into this game after playing the previous God of War game on the PSP, I must admit I was a bit on the fence.
The first time around, with God of War: Chains of Olympus, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there were very few enemies on screen at a time, and the massive slowdown that appeared during any combat. It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't a great game either.
Ghost of Sparta is not that game. God of War: Ghost of Sparta is an improvement over that in almost every area, and it is the kind of game that you forget you are playing on your PSP.
Let the reviewing begin:
Story: 3
In previous God of War games, all we really knew is that Kratos was pissed off, and we kind of had to go with it. Set somewhere between the first two games, Ghost of Sparta changes this.
Kratos feels much more human this time around. After killing Ares and taking his throne, Kratos is haunted by dreams of a woman suffering, calling out his name. He goes to her, in hopes of ending the visions. It turns out it is his mother, who tells him of the fate of Deimos, his younger brother. Deimos wasn't killed by Ares, like Kratos had believed before, but rather he is being held prisoner by Thanatos, the angel of death. (Though Greek mythology depicts Thanatos as being a rather beautiful man, he is ugly in the game, but he is a pretty accurate rendition in terms of abilities and personality). Kratos' mom then promptly transforms into a monster which Kratos must kill.
Kratos then sets forth to rescue his brother.
The story was interesting to me, and it runs deeper than before.
Every now and then comes a flashback, where you see a young Kratos and a young Deimos sparring or something. This shows how close they really are, and how much it would screw up Kratos if he was taken.
The most important of these flashbacks is when Deimos is actually taken by Ares, and how Kratos tries to save him, but ultimately fails because he is young, and Ares is damn-near unstoppable.
Mythology plays a prominent role in the God of War series, and this is no exception, though it has a lot less to do with the Olympian gods and the most common myths, instead playing on things less prominent.
First off, is obviously Thanatos, the angel of death. He is the primary antagonist here. I find it highly implausible that Kratos would be able to destroy Thanatos, seeing as even the Olympian gods and the Titans themselves feared Thanatos, he is one of the most powerful figures in Greek mythology.
This game covers the sinking of the city of Atlantis. Watching Atlantis sink is pretty cool. Kratos destroys it during his fight with the Scylla.
The Scylla is the monster Odysseus had to give up six of his men to pass in The Odyssey. Yup, he is a big monster that Kratos destroys, along with Atlantis.
King Midas plays a role. We all know the story of Midas, the greedy king who wished to have a golden touch, which, to his dismay, caused him to turn his daughter into gold. Kratos comes across Midas in a volcano. When Kratos first comes across him, Kratos recognizes Midas. Midas has lost his mind, and for some reason thinks the river of lava running through the volcano is actually a river of water, so he sticks his hand in, burning it to a crisp and making a crossing for Kratos. Kratos later realizes that that golden touch would be his only way of passing a waterfall of lava. So, Kratos throws Midas into the lava, killing Midas (Midas was begging to die, but resisted quite a bit), and turning the cascading lava into gold.
There is plenty more, but I don't feel like going on about it any more.
Gameplay: 5
I must admit, while I prefer games with deep and complex gameplay, every now and then, I just want to beat the hell out of horrible monsters with chain blades, and this game certainly helps that urge.
The only gameplay problem I ever had, is my hatred for quick-time events. But, this isn't all that bad, as there aren't as many as I was expecting.
No major changes to the God of War formula, and this is why it works.
You get two weapons, the Blades of Athena, and later the Arms of Sparta.
The Blades of Athena are the same as the Blades of Chaos. They have a good range, and do all kinds of cool combos. They can also be used as a grappling hook to swing from certain objects.
The Arms of Sparta is a shield/spear combo, much like a Spartan warrior would have used in reality. The Arms of Sparta allow you to move and attack while blocking, something used to pass through blizzards and other weather-hazards. The Arms of Sparta have a shorter range with normal attacks, and the combos are much shorter and less fluid. The spear can be thrown, and it automatically regenerates, I don't understand how this is supposed to work, but deal with it. Spear throwing becomes a very, very important part of the light-puzzle solving this game has.
Kratos also learns four spells.
Eye of Atlantis: A lightning beam that kills things good.
Thera's Bane: Lights the Blades of Athena on fire, increasing damage, sometimes causing the enemies to explode, and making sure you get your chicken extra crispy. Used in many puzzles. Has it's own gauge that regenerates at an alarmingly fast rate.
Scourge of Erynis: A ball of dark energy appears, a power no one should wield. All enemies are sucked towards it, and it produces both red and green orbs, it's like a gory Christmas.
Horn of Borealis: You will only use this when the game says "Press the up button on the D-pad to activate the Horn of Borialis. A flashing magic gauge indicates infinite magic." It creates some lame-ass blizzard that does decent damage.
There are epic bosses and such, you know the drill. To finish a boss you have to do a quick time event. Kratos gets to screw somewhere around ten prostitutes in a quick time event. As it goes on, more join him. Now, I am not some biology major, but I think it is pretty much impossible for him to screw ten prostitutes in the duration of a one minute quick time event.
Graphics: 5
One of the best looking PSP games, there is so much detail, and lots of little touches you will not see because of the small screen.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRF5xEcseS1hwFgd5g9XG7aA3e0AebBt lLQbNLT7dkelcKfyCk&t=1&h=145&w=256&usg=__O7pBXO3cvF7QtVNyntvVRka_kpg=
http://gamerinvestments.com/video-game-stocks/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/god-of-war-ghost-of-sparta-psp-e3-screens.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsVhMrTOLE5IuGLaBieJ9PYnyjN-cnV05SU9CFENJx7VXtnsw&t=1&usg=__F34rjLo_BbBgriRntd_VmXAeVd4=
http://www.fromheroestoicons.com/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ghost-of-sparta2.jpg
There is pretty much no slowdown during gameplay, and the cutscenes look really good. It doesn't look like a PSP game at all, it actually looks better than some PS2 games.
Sound: 3
The music is epic, but unmemorable. The voice acting is alright, but I got tired of Kratos' overdone rage. Some of the voice acting is too annoying, Erynis' voice dubs over itself three times, one sounds like a hiss, one sounds like a decrepit old lady, and one sounds like a normal person. I get she should sound scary, but I wasn't frightened by her voice, I just had the desire to rip out her vocal cords.
Replay Value: 3
You can play around in the arena, where you can set which enemies you fight, and you can give yourself infinite health and the likes. You can buy crap with red orbs in the Temple of Zeus.
The game is severely linear and I managed to find all of the life, magic and fire upgrades with no problems.
You have plenty of combat abilities that could make it interesting to play through again, but the linearity of it all sort of kills the desire to play again. There are those stupid relics you have to beat the game to use, but all they do is make things too easy.
Challenge: 3
I managed to beat this game in just short of eight hours, I died less than ten times, and I only failed quick time events a few times. This game is too damned easy for me. The puzzles are less difficult than when they put a rat in a simplistic maze, and have it get out for cheese. There are no dead ends to follow, because the game gives you zero freedom to explore, so you are almost always heading the right way, unless you make a conscious decision to go the wrong way and backtrack.
Overall:
If you have a PSP, and like God of War, this is the way to go. I highly recommend it to any PSP owner who is okay with mindless gore-fests.
The first time around, with God of War: Chains of Olympus, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there were very few enemies on screen at a time, and the massive slowdown that appeared during any combat. It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't a great game either.
Ghost of Sparta is not that game. God of War: Ghost of Sparta is an improvement over that in almost every area, and it is the kind of game that you forget you are playing on your PSP.
Let the reviewing begin:
Story: 3
In previous God of War games, all we really knew is that Kratos was pissed off, and we kind of had to go with it. Set somewhere between the first two games, Ghost of Sparta changes this.
Kratos feels much more human this time around. After killing Ares and taking his throne, Kratos is haunted by dreams of a woman suffering, calling out his name. He goes to her, in hopes of ending the visions. It turns out it is his mother, who tells him of the fate of Deimos, his younger brother. Deimos wasn't killed by Ares, like Kratos had believed before, but rather he is being held prisoner by Thanatos, the angel of death. (Though Greek mythology depicts Thanatos as being a rather beautiful man, he is ugly in the game, but he is a pretty accurate rendition in terms of abilities and personality). Kratos' mom then promptly transforms into a monster which Kratos must kill.
Kratos then sets forth to rescue his brother.
The story was interesting to me, and it runs deeper than before.
Every now and then comes a flashback, where you see a young Kratos and a young Deimos sparring or something. This shows how close they really are, and how much it would screw up Kratos if he was taken.
The most important of these flashbacks is when Deimos is actually taken by Ares, and how Kratos tries to save him, but ultimately fails because he is young, and Ares is damn-near unstoppable.
Mythology plays a prominent role in the God of War series, and this is no exception, though it has a lot less to do with the Olympian gods and the most common myths, instead playing on things less prominent.
First off, is obviously Thanatos, the angel of death. He is the primary antagonist here. I find it highly implausible that Kratos would be able to destroy Thanatos, seeing as even the Olympian gods and the Titans themselves feared Thanatos, he is one of the most powerful figures in Greek mythology.
This game covers the sinking of the city of Atlantis. Watching Atlantis sink is pretty cool. Kratos destroys it during his fight with the Scylla.
The Scylla is the monster Odysseus had to give up six of his men to pass in The Odyssey. Yup, he is a big monster that Kratos destroys, along with Atlantis.
King Midas plays a role. We all know the story of Midas, the greedy king who wished to have a golden touch, which, to his dismay, caused him to turn his daughter into gold. Kratos comes across Midas in a volcano. When Kratos first comes across him, Kratos recognizes Midas. Midas has lost his mind, and for some reason thinks the river of lava running through the volcano is actually a river of water, so he sticks his hand in, burning it to a crisp and making a crossing for Kratos. Kratos later realizes that that golden touch would be his only way of passing a waterfall of lava. So, Kratos throws Midas into the lava, killing Midas (Midas was begging to die, but resisted quite a bit), and turning the cascading lava into gold.
There is plenty more, but I don't feel like going on about it any more.
Gameplay: 5
I must admit, while I prefer games with deep and complex gameplay, every now and then, I just want to beat the hell out of horrible monsters with chain blades, and this game certainly helps that urge.
The only gameplay problem I ever had, is my hatred for quick-time events. But, this isn't all that bad, as there aren't as many as I was expecting.
No major changes to the God of War formula, and this is why it works.
You get two weapons, the Blades of Athena, and later the Arms of Sparta.
The Blades of Athena are the same as the Blades of Chaos. They have a good range, and do all kinds of cool combos. They can also be used as a grappling hook to swing from certain objects.
The Arms of Sparta is a shield/spear combo, much like a Spartan warrior would have used in reality. The Arms of Sparta allow you to move and attack while blocking, something used to pass through blizzards and other weather-hazards. The Arms of Sparta have a shorter range with normal attacks, and the combos are much shorter and less fluid. The spear can be thrown, and it automatically regenerates, I don't understand how this is supposed to work, but deal with it. Spear throwing becomes a very, very important part of the light-puzzle solving this game has.
Kratos also learns four spells.
Eye of Atlantis: A lightning beam that kills things good.
Thera's Bane: Lights the Blades of Athena on fire, increasing damage, sometimes causing the enemies to explode, and making sure you get your chicken extra crispy. Used in many puzzles. Has it's own gauge that regenerates at an alarmingly fast rate.
Scourge of Erynis: A ball of dark energy appears, a power no one should wield. All enemies are sucked towards it, and it produces both red and green orbs, it's like a gory Christmas.
Horn of Borealis: You will only use this when the game says "Press the up button on the D-pad to activate the Horn of Borialis. A flashing magic gauge indicates infinite magic." It creates some lame-ass blizzard that does decent damage.
There are epic bosses and such, you know the drill. To finish a boss you have to do a quick time event. Kratos gets to screw somewhere around ten prostitutes in a quick time event. As it goes on, more join him. Now, I am not some biology major, but I think it is pretty much impossible for him to screw ten prostitutes in the duration of a one minute quick time event.
Graphics: 5
One of the best looking PSP games, there is so much detail, and lots of little touches you will not see because of the small screen.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRF5xEcseS1hwFgd5g9XG7aA3e0AebBt lLQbNLT7dkelcKfyCk&t=1&h=145&w=256&usg=__O7pBXO3cvF7QtVNyntvVRka_kpg=
http://gamerinvestments.com/video-game-stocks/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/god-of-war-ghost-of-sparta-psp-e3-screens.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsVhMrTOLE5IuGLaBieJ9PYnyjN-cnV05SU9CFENJx7VXtnsw&t=1&usg=__F34rjLo_BbBgriRntd_VmXAeVd4=
http://www.fromheroestoicons.com/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ghost-of-sparta2.jpg
There is pretty much no slowdown during gameplay, and the cutscenes look really good. It doesn't look like a PSP game at all, it actually looks better than some PS2 games.
Sound: 3
The music is epic, but unmemorable. The voice acting is alright, but I got tired of Kratos' overdone rage. Some of the voice acting is too annoying, Erynis' voice dubs over itself three times, one sounds like a hiss, one sounds like a decrepit old lady, and one sounds like a normal person. I get she should sound scary, but I wasn't frightened by her voice, I just had the desire to rip out her vocal cords.
Replay Value: 3
You can play around in the arena, where you can set which enemies you fight, and you can give yourself infinite health and the likes. You can buy crap with red orbs in the Temple of Zeus.
The game is severely linear and I managed to find all of the life, magic and fire upgrades with no problems.
You have plenty of combat abilities that could make it interesting to play through again, but the linearity of it all sort of kills the desire to play again. There are those stupid relics you have to beat the game to use, but all they do is make things too easy.
Challenge: 3
I managed to beat this game in just short of eight hours, I died less than ten times, and I only failed quick time events a few times. This game is too damned easy for me. The puzzles are less difficult than when they put a rat in a simplistic maze, and have it get out for cheese. There are no dead ends to follow, because the game gives you zero freedom to explore, so you are almost always heading the right way, unless you make a conscious decision to go the wrong way and backtrack.
Overall:
If you have a PSP, and like God of War, this is the way to go. I highly recommend it to any PSP owner who is okay with mindless gore-fests.