➤ Kratos on the attack 🎮

The God of War series has long been one of the most loved ever in the world videogame scene. Over the course of seven years it has met with incredible success with audiences and critics, quickly climbing the ranking of the best action-games of all time. This is thanks to a series of elements that combined together have allowed the saga to establish new quality standards for the genre, both from a playful and technical point of view. Compelling storyline, a charismatic character and extraordinary gameplay, these are by and large the ingredients of the success of God of War. The aforementioned playability is the flagship of the Sony production, with its perfect balance that offers in each episode an always adequate level of challenge, combined with a spectacular game progression, the absence of uploads between one section and another. and quicktime timed sequences, used in abundant numbers, but without abusing them, to finish off the toughest enemies and bosses.

The incredible thing is that while passing from hand to hand in terms of management from David Jaffe to Cory Barlog to finally get to Stig Asmussen (each episode saw its Game Director capitulate for causes that were never completely clarified. The team, on the other hand, has always remained the same. same for the main series, Santa Monica Studio), but also from console to console, strictly however Sony, the series was not affected in the least, to the point that even the PSP chapters turned out to be two real gems. Rely for the occasion on Ready at Dawn, another group of developers, who have succeeded in the difficult task of remaining faithful to the atmosphere and feeling of the chapters for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, Chains of Olympus and The Ghost of Sparta, these i PSP product titles, in fact, proved to be two of the best games ever released on the old Sony "laptop", even able to walk quietly with their heads held high alongside the two major episodes.

Chains of Olympus

It is therefore no wonder that, exactly as happened with the two episodes for PlayStation 2, Sony decided to collect them both with all the extra content they already had, including a documentary with a lot of behind the scenes and interviews, to remaster them. in high definition and repurpose them in a full-bodied Blu-ray for PlayStation 3 titled God of War Collection II (God of War Origins Collection in USA).

Before delving into the general technical aspects introduced by the developers specifically for this special edition, including graphic improvements, which we will analyze in a separate paragraph, let's start by analyzing the two games individually, retracing their plot and gameplay. Let's start with Chains of Olympus which from the point of view of the narrated story is ideally positioned just before the original chapter for PlayStation 2, and after Kratos had been saved by Ares, the god of war. The strong Spartan warrior is now at the forced service of the Olympian gods in order to atone for his sins and get rid of the nightmares that afflict him perennially. His adventure starts from the city of Attica, where he is sent by the Greek gods in order to defend his citizens from the Persian army. Defeat the latter for our hero will open the doors of an adventure that will lead him to the depths of Hades, against powerful enemies such as Charon and Persephone, and in which a decisive role will be played by Morpheus, who will try to affirm the darkness and death taking possession of Elio, god of the sun and conductor of the solar chariot, symbol of the manifestation of life. Speaking from a purely playful point of view, the title is confirmed to be of good workmanship also in this transposition in high definition, with its mixture of action, enhanced by the fluidity of the constant 60 FPS, and resolution of puzzles, with the progress of the events as always characterized from breathtaking combat and interspersed with absolutely spectacular non-interactive sequences.

Nice but a bit short

Kratos, as tradition dictates, has the ability to make jumps, light and heavy physical attacks, bloody holds and parries. These can be enhanced during the adventure by the solar shield and the favors guaranteed by the gods, which enrich among other things the range of spells available to the Spartan with new techniques such as the strength of Efreet, able to create a a fiery shockwave, the Wrath of Charon, which damages and temporarily immobilizes the weakest enemies, and the Light of Dawn which consists of a solar sphere capable of destroying enemies at a distance and with remarkable precision.

There could be some concern about the control system, as the development team had to adapt the original one to the PlayStation 3's DualShock. Well, everything works beautifully, and performing combos, dodges and quick attacks is very intuitive and natural. The experience is therefore completely comparable to the other chapters previously released for home consoles, and even in this case the difficulty level, available in three different variants, is perfectly balanced both for newcomers to the series and for long-time players. The defects of the game, if we can define them that way, remain the same as the original, and it could not be otherwise given that it is only a transposition in high definition of PSP's Chains of Olympus. In detail, even if the title remains fun and well balanced, unfortunately it has a low longevity, few bosses to face and only a handful of puzzles to solve to break the gameplay action. However, it is also true that once the adventure is completed for the first time, a new level of difficulty and numerous extras such as different challenge modes, videos and costumes can be unlocked. These elements, which could make the most avid gamers happy.

PlayStation 3 Trophies

God of War Collection II introduces Trophies for Chain of Olympus and The Phantom of Sparta. The two games have fifteen at their disposal each, plus another twenty or so secrets each. The known awards are divided into 1 Platinum, 5 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze. To get them you must, as always, satisfy some requests of the game with increasing difficulty. So you go from the request to upgrade every weapon to the maximum for the minor Trophies, to the collection of all the eyes of Gorgon, to the execution of at least 1000 combos gradually until the completion of the games in hard mode and the achievement of the maximum objective. to unlock every secret, to get the Platinum scopes.

God of War: The Phantom of Sparta

The other title included in the collection God of War Collection II is God of War: The Phantom of Sparta, the most recent to see the light on PSP. This time the plot is placed, at a temporal level, between the first and the second chapter of the main saga, and is centered around Kratos' search for his brother Deimos, kidnapped by the gods when both were little more than children. As tradition dictates for the series, during the protagonist's journey we find ourselves meeting a whole series of places and characters from Greek mythology, starting from the mythical Atlantis. As for the gameplay, like the other game mentioned in this review, it is practically identical to that of the three chapters developed by Santa Monica Studio: the progression of the adventure is linear and guided, but there is no lack of particular dynamism in the situations offered. In addition, the pace is always high and the combat system and character growth are the same as always. The only real novelty must therefore be sought elsewhere, in our case in one of Kratos' abilities: it is a power that can be gained from the titan Tera, and which consists in the ability to ignite the Blades of Athena. Which is quite useful not only to be able to overcome some specific steps, but also to take down the most difficult enemies.

In this context, it is a pity that there are very few monsters that are particularly difficult to defeat and of large dimensions, something that clashes with the tradition of the saga that has made differences in size between creatures and heroes, with a scale of measures always against. of the protagonist, one of the key and most fascinating elements of the entire gameplay. As for the control of the main character, even in this case the DualShock of PlayStation 3 behaves in an excellent way and certainly confirms the fact that with this pad the title plays better than its counterpart for PSP. While in reference to the overall longevity, the title proves to be more lasting than Chains of Olympus with about six to seven hours necessary for the completion of the story, to which must then be added a whole series of extra challenges for those who want to keep themselves further in the shoes of the Spartan hero.

Remastering, what a passion

All the improvements of God of War Collection II are in any case addressed to the technical sector, which briefly sees three major improvements: the resolution, which thanks to the very skilful work of the graphic designers who have practically increased the number of polygons for the characters and increased the size of the redesigned textures, has now risen at 1080p (but of course you can also play at 720p). Then 60 frames per second constant without any uncertainty and full support for stereoscopic 3D (at 720p). The result is generally surprising, with an even better response to commands and a yield on Full HD TV that turns out to be quite valid, a sign that the resolution is one of the main aspects to enjoy a video game on current televisions, and the excellent work done by the graphs with the two God of War proposed for the occasion.

Going into more detail, let's say that in the first chapter, Chains of Olympus, the shortcomings of the current generation of consoles obviously come to light, with graphics that appear pleasant but simple, yet capable of giving some very nice glimpses to see, supported from the above fluidity and resolution. Things get much more interesting with God of War: The Phantom of Sparta, which already on PSP had thrilled audiences and critics thanks to graphics enhanced by a splendid polygonal modeling both of the characters and of the settings: by virtue of what has just been described, in this case there is a substantial increase in detail, effects and variety which, combined with an artistic sector rich in style and color, return an extremely pleasant impact. Let's be clear, the impression is always that of being in front of a game born on a less powerful console than PlayStation 3, but overall the visual quality satisfies the eye. The only note that can possibly move from this point of view is the lack of that 2x antialiasing present in the previous collection which, especially playing at 720p resolution, would not have hurt. In its place there is a milder antialias distributed here and there in some elements of the scenario or on the characters. But what really surprised us positively is, as already mentioned in the preview, the excellent support for stereoscopic 3D for both titles. Thanks to it it is possible to enjoy a remarkable sense of depth in the various scenarios, able to enhance even more every single action performed by Kratos. Too bad that with 3D active you have to give up the high framerate a bit, returning to the original 30 FPS of the PlayStation Portable versions, but it is a "sacrifice" that is willingly made and that does not affect the general usability of the product in the least. Final note for the sound sector, another strong point of all time of the saga, which also remains here at high levels for both titles, with a soundtrack embellished by Dolby 5.1 and flanked by an excellent dubbing in Spanish.

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God of War Collection II In our opinion, it represents an appropriate commercial choice by Sony, with the re-proposal of two valid titles unchanged in content but benefiting from an enhancement in the technical sector that highlights all its merits. This collection is therefore highly recommended to all Kratos fans without distinction of any kind between those who have already played the two games contained in the aforementioned collection on PlayStation Portable, and those who have never been able to enjoy them. For the former, the new graphics can be a valid incentive to relive the emotions and adrenaline of Kratos' adventures, this time on their home TV, while for the latter, the collection can represent an opportunity to enjoy two excellent games. that while offering nothing new compared to the God of War originally conceived for home systems, they are still able to guarantee hours of absolute fun in the mythological world of the Spartan hero most loved by gamers.