God of War Collection

While everyone’s most awaited game of 2010, God of War III is still a month away, God of War Collection (a compilation of God of War I and II) does a good job of converting the exploits of the world’s favourite deicidal Spartan, Kratos into high-definition action with minimal fuss.

Sure it doesn’t look as good as Sony’s other first party attempts such as Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 or even inFamous, jagged edges have been removed, and every pixel has been lovingly reproduced in stunning HD. The graphics of God of War Collection are a definite improvement over the PS2 versions of God of War I and II and do enough to keep us interested. Though the cut-scenes of God of War I are pixellated beyond belief putting a damper on the experience, God of War II’s cinematics however, remain as stunning as you remember them and the plot is merely an excuse to murder the entire Greek mythological pantheon, from hydras to Medusa to the God of War, Ares, himself.

In terms of gameplay, it’s that same visceral stuff we’ve come to expect and love loaded with the usual quick time events, bone-crushing combos and responsive controls. If you’ve played these games on the PS2 you’d have no problem getting used to this HD remake except that while the PS2 controller had a flat right shoulder
button, the PS3’s Dual Shock 3 (or sixaxis for that matter) has these redesigned as triggers having you spending ludicrous amounts of time pressing R2 in order to open treasure chests or doors as compared to the PS2 version, which ends up being a painful process given the game’s dependency on the right shoulder button.

For those of you who love the PS3’s trophy achievement system, God of War Collection comes with a forgivingly easy list of trophies to acquire. So if you’re the sort who is in need for some trophy boosting look no further as it’s quite simple to max them out here.

The important question: is this game really relevant and worth spending money on for everyone? Well to be honest, if you’ve already played through Kratos’ hellish adventures transforming him from a mere anti-hero to the God of War to the soon-to-be destroyer of Mt Olympus you should only bother if you’re itching to see what last-generation’s favorite two PS2 games look with a generous upgrade of eyecandy. And if you haven’t played these on the PS2 at all, well this is your chance to see what everyone’s been raving about. The downer is that it isn’t available anywhere officially in spite of the US and Asia release so you’d have to track it down at your gray market outlet of choice where you should be able to get it for around Rs 2500 but it is expected to be available in most stores soon. God of War Collection is a good enough filler while you wait for the most anticipated iteration in the franchise and it’s a good primer for those who want to get up to speed on the series fast.