The God of War franchise is well known for pushing the capabilities of whichever console it’s on. PS2, PS3 and even the PSP have groaned under the weight of the angry Spartan. The latest PSP outing – ‘Ghost of Sparta’ – isn’t about to change that habit.
This game definitely sets the benchmark for PSP visuals, and I’m wondering if anymore can be wrung from the little gizmo. Multiple enemies, weather effects and moving scenery – the PSP is flinging it about like nobody’s business.  The game even faired well when displayed on a twenty inch LCD screen.
From the get go it’s clear that this game is in no way tinkering with the classic God of War gameplay mechanics. Light attacks, heavy attacks, grabs and aerial combos are all present and correct, as is the slightly finger bending ‘evade’ manoeuvre last seen in ‘Chains of Olympus.’ Within seconds of the level starting I am carving up enemies like a pro. There is also a body slam type move, where Kratos picks up an enemy, slams them on their back and punches several shades of the brown stuff out of them. It’s as brutal as ever.
I’m assuming the level I played was from very early on in the game, which bodes well for fans of bosses that are ever increasing in size. The beast I faced was a sizable chap who promptly kicked my arse – mostly because it kept spamming its most powerful, difficult to avoid move on me. It’s like the bugger didn’t want me to kill it!
All of this leads me to a troubling question though. The graphics are great; the gameplay is good – so why aren’t I excited? Is the God of War shine starting to lose its lustre? I think it was down to the fact that – once again – I’m playing a God of War level which is set on a sinking ship, fighting off a massive sea creature – deja vu.
That said, I’m sure later levels will be showing much more variety – so colour me interested!
Peter Rushton
colour me interested aswell!
Gaztee
The screen shot looks like the opening shot from the first game! Still looking forward to it though!
Charmed_Fanatic
Exactly what i thought!
ii3illy
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JKL6939
God of War keeps on getting better and better
KeRaSh
Really? And here I thought they were running out of ideas. You can only kill so many gods before you run out of them. What does CoO bring to the table that we haven’t played before? If it’s just new combos/weapon skins/enemies and slightly different maps they could have just released a map/skin pack dlc… I’m kind of getting bored by the lack of innovation from this franchise.
MiguelX69
Freakin’ Awesome!
simplebob
I’m guessing theres only so many new areas they can come up with for ancient greece. Theyve done cities, temples, fields, desserts, mountainsides, inside mountains, under the sea, over the sea, flying, and a few visits to Hades along with all the beasties that may inhabit them. Theres got to be some repetition going on and a visit to an orbitting space station may spoil things….oh hold on, Kratos in Space…hhmmmm
MXZ
Looking great, even better then Chains
though that said i have to disagree with your comment, there is little the God of War franchise can add that would be able to make it feel fresh.
the game is set in past and based around greek mytholgy, which of course has already been covered FULLY, there is not much you can add to GoW without making it seem unrealistic. (like mechanical dinosaurs)
to me every new GoW game is just a test to push whatever system its on to its limits (it pushed the PS3 to half) so though it may be a fun test, it will never be more then a test (just hack slash, collect and hack slah again)