The first full week of September was full of high-profile new releases, with Resistance 3, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Driver: San Francisco, Dead Island, and Star Fox 3DS. The second week introduces a new compilation of Kratos’ portable conquests on the PlayStation 3. God of War: Origins Collection brings together the two PSP instalments in Sony’s popular mythic god-bashing action series: 2008’s God of War: Chains of Olympus and 2010’s God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Both games will be remastered in high definition with support for 3D displays, as well as PlayStation Network trophies.
Since the original God of War was released in 2005, Kratos’ epic has expanded to five games and three systems, including the PSP. Those handheld entries from Ready At Dawn accomplish a rare feat, providing portable God of War experiences that earn their place beside the console instalments. This fact is more clear than ever now that they’re bundled together in this collection.
Because of the quality of the originals, the transition to the PS3 goes pretty well for both titles. The games have a new HD coat of paint, giving you impressive visuals for both the gameplay and cinematics, and the action flows smoothly as well. The graphics aren’t as OMFG as God of War III, but we seriously doubt that anyone was expecting that to happen anyway.
Both games also support stereoscopic 3D, but having that feature doesn’t make the games any better or more immersive; it’s a neat trick, but you’re not missing anything without it. Implementing trophies is a much bigger deal, adding goals to shoot for, like the beam-walking trophy in Chains of Olympus. Both games have a lot of replay value, but trophies give hardcore fans more reason to revisit these chapters, well after they’ve finished the game.
As far as our main badass is concerned, Kratos still feels as powerful and maniacally brutal as he ever did. He takes down humongous beasties with ease, and the gameplay feels just like it always has. The evasive roll was a small problem on the handheld, but that’s been fixed, so you can enjoy the stylish combat and involving storyline without missing a beat.
Without any plot spoilers, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta both have more than a few of the series’ coolest moments. They also have the best secondary weapons in any of the games (the spear/shield combo in Ghost of Sparta is one of our favourites), which gives you a reason to finally put down the trademark chain blades and try something new.
By themselves, both Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta were two that helped make a name for publisher Ready At Dawn. When you put them together in the God Of War: Origins Collection, you get two amazingly upgraded adventures in one $40 package that absolutely no fan of this ever-awesome series should miss.
