DVDfever.co.uk - God of War: Ghost of Sparta on Sony PSP reviewDVDfever.co.uk - Charts, News and Reviews of Blu-rays, DVDs, Games, CDs, Hardware, Laserdiscs, Cinema Films & more
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
is a new PSP game which, I understand, is is set after the events of the original PlayStation 2 game. Well, I haven't
played that but I did play the previous PSP title and absolutely loved that.
For those interested in some kind of story, Kratos is back to kick the collective asses of the Olympus deities,
with the end goal of being the one true God, if you get the meaning. In other words, it's another wonderful
hack-and-slash through the levels, dodging and jumping out of the way of baddies and then going in, sneakily,
for the kill.
Okay, in a way, the gameplay could be seen as being a bit linear because you can effectively only take one
path and you're guided with indicators about what you need to do next, but this is not to detract from the
game in any way because it feels like you're playing a movie and far more often than not the camera angles are
worked out nicely so hardly ever does something get in your way, leading to a very cinematic feel throughout.
When it comes to killing the baddies, it's cool to hold down 'O' which throws them about, but a lot of the time
it's easier to beat the conventional baddies by jumping up with 'X' and then slashing at them with the triangle
to maim them bit by bit. There's also some who'll catch hold of you, and you'll have to press L and R together
and toggle to shake them off.
Also, some baddies, when they're heading for death, they will have an 'O' appear above
their heads. Going up to them and pressing 'O' then gives you either an X, triangle, square or circle to
press before finishing them off. This sometimes needs to be pressed far more quickly than any human can react.
However, if you get them at the right time, the enemy will eventually go down, for good.
There's a good selection of automatic checkpoints, as well as manual save points, plus you get to try out new
weapons such as the Spear and Shield, plus magical powers for more lethal attacks.
This game also claims to have larger bosses and double the number of enemies onscreen. Well, I like the sound of
the former, but in terms of the latter it does get a little long in the tooth when you're constantly slashing
at the same type of minions who come at you and you need to do them in before you can progress.
It also states that it has "Stunning visuals that have never been seen before on the PSP system". Well, in a way,
we did - the previous
God of War game,
and that's what makes this new one a must-play because it's basically more of the same. And more of 'excellent' is
a great thing!
Overall, God of War: Ghost of Sparta may not feel 100% as fresh as the previous PSP game, but
it's still an essential purchase.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
When it comes to killing the baddies, it's cool to hold down 'O' which throws them about, but a lot of the time
it's easier to beat the conventional baddies by jumping up with 'X' and then slashing at them with the triangle
to maim them bit by bit. There's also some who'll catch hold of you, and you'll have to press L and R together
and toggle to shake them off.
