Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2010
Honestly, I am not sure how to review this game. I'd like to review it upon its own merit, but its a prequel, so comparisons to the other games in the series (most notably Chains of Olympus) are inevitable. We are all PSP owners who most likely have played every game in the excellent series. I scoured the internet and looked up every written review of this game known to man as I desperately waited for my preordered copy to arrive. I was VERY surprised to see that some websites gave this game a 7 out of ten, and I dismissed these sites as the ones who just said "its the same blades again." After finishing the game a mere 4 hours ago, I'll tell you why those scores are justified.
To begin, the environments in this game suffer from the same problems as God of War 3 and Killzone 2. They are dull, grey, and dark for the most part. I played through the game just hoping, just waiting for a new environment to dazzle me, but it never really happened. Rocky cliffsides, deserted temples, and firey hell (hades has made an appearance in every game) are everything the environment has to offer. While I don't mind the dullness, its the cramped feel of the entire game that bothers me. I felt like instead of playing through different environments, I was playing from path to path. The problem is, this game was directed by a former lead level designer. I'd expect the level design to be the highlight of the game, but its one of the main problems. The game feels small, cramped and lifeless. There is no "building in the distance you'll get to later." Its a myraid of pathways.
As for the magic abilities and weapons, sadly I didn't like any of the new additions. Some if it has to do with the fact that you must press the d-pad to initiate an attack, which may be hard for a split second decision. All of the abilities seem underpowered and lack creativity. I found myself NEVER using magic. I was left with the blades. The same good old blades.....the same blades. In addition, you get a spear and shield combination, which is actually kinda cool. You can block while moving like a true Spartan warrior and throw your spear. Its fun to use against one or two enemies, but against 5 or 6, the blades are much more reliable. One again, I found myself never using the ability unless I was forced to throw my spear at an unreachable enemy or obstruction. The shield was only used in 2 instances against the natural environment. Long story short, this game has the worst magic abilities of any God of War, and the spear was used about as much by me as the spear in God of War 2 was. Almost never.
Reguarding the enemies and boss battles, there was some creativity. A new ability giving you the power to ignite your blades is essential against some enemies and obstacles, thus offering a new level of strategy to the fight. Boss battles are few and far between. Of the few, the final battle is the most memorable (obviously), but mainly by default. The final 20 mins of the game are great, and since I was only at the 6 hour mark (10 hours were promised) I was beginning to feel like the story, as well as Kratos' emotions were about to show something completely new, but it all ended 15 minutes later. I won't spoil it, but the final battle brings something new to the series we have never seen, although it was oddly executed. If you know the original, intended ending to God of War 3 (Stig's ending).....then you get the idea. The battle itself was underwhelming as a FINAL battle, but the emotional changes Kratos revealed overshadowed it completely. The other boss battles were completely forgettable.
While the series' story is no Metal Gear Solid, Kratos is an angry man on a quest to find his brother. After finding out why he is so angry, you see why he's so angry. Chains of Olympus really helped with that more than the console versions. This game, although it has been renowned for its great story in the reviews, is not much different from the console versions. Its simple and to the point. The bad thing about Ghost of Sparta is that there is little motivation to continue onward, besides knowing that Deimos is still alive. The story is almost too concise and to the point like God of War 2, but as opposed to God of War 2, there aren't tons of environments, boss fights, and cool abilities and magic to discover.
The God of War series is absolutely legendary in the gaming world. Its practically synonymous with the Sony PlayStation as a company and is the leader of its genre. This title is a lukewarm effort by Ready At Dawn in my opinion, given their impressive track record. I finished the game in 6 hrs, 20 mins; roughly the same play time as Chains of Olympus for me. Part of me believes that this game was made to fill in a few quick plot holes before ending the series, and another part of me feels like its a final effort to revive the dying PSP. I have no doubt in my mind when I say that this is THE WORST in the series. Chains of Olympus is superior in almost EVERY conceivable way. Ru Weerasuriya should have remained the director after his flawless work on Chains of Olympus.
This game is to God of War what Portable Ops was to Metal Gear Solid.
I will not just drop 3 stars and leave. I want to be as honest and as helpful as possible. Yes, I see that the 5 other reviewers have 100% helpful reviews and realize that I'm sacrificing my 90% helpful score by going against the norm. I'm here to answer any questions you may have about the game. ANYTHING. Thank you for reading with an open mind and hearing me out.
PSN: I-Am-theIRONMAN
UPDATE NOVEMBER 20th, 2010
I finished the game in 3 days, 2 weeks ago. All the challenges, unlocked the vids, costume, EVERYTHING. There are NO incentives to playing the challenges or playing on a harder difficulty because you win nothing for either. If you are a fan like me, you'll play them for the entertainment. Unfortunately, the challenges are so easy its insulting. No need to look at youtube walkthroughs this time around lol, but WARNING: for some reason, whatever setting you have the difficulty on in the combat arena, it will be the difficulty of the challenges. Set combat arena to normal if you wanna breeze through them. The only difficult challenge is the one where you can't get hit once. Those spider things spray green goo at you and kill you instantly!
Another disappointment is the lack of any type of Making of featurette. As a matter of fact, there is no videos of Ready At Dawn at all. The game directors live (with preorder) more than makes up for it though. Also, the videos that you purchase with the orbs in the temple of Zeus add NOTHING to the game. In fact, 2 of the 3 reiterate things that were already in the story! In short, those extra videos sucked.
For the cheaters, if you want to get a million orbs in 15 minutes, go to the combat arena, select infinite magic and life, and choose 2 minotaurs and a cyclops to fight. Set their attack to off, and MAKE SURE YOU ALLOW THEM TO HAVE INFINITE LIFE AS WELL. When you get to the arena spam the attack you get from Thanatos' daughter. In 15 mins, if you continually hit the left directional button, you'll have a million orbs.
