God of War : Collection (PS3) (US IMPORT)

When I converted from XBox to Playstation a few years back, God of War was one of the first games I bought that was exclusive to the PS2. I've always loved Greek mythology, so I suppose that may be part of the reason why I quickly fell in love with the tragic story of Kratos. After finishing GoW1, I eagerly awaited the release of God of War 2. It was truly amazing that the PS2 was capable of producing such beautiful graphics. The story was even better than the original, and it left me hanging for part three in this wonderful franchise.

I've been patiently waiting for God of War 3 to hit the shelves, so I was quite surprised when I found out that the original two titles in the series were being remastered in high-definition for play on the PS3. I got my copy home, opened it, and loaded it onto my PS3. I'll just tell you right now that ALL of the content from the first two games is on one Blu-ray disc, including all of the extra features from disc 2 of GoW2.

So, is this worth an upgrade????? The answer is a resounding YES!!!! If you are a fan of the series, then you owe it to yourself to get this title and enjoy all of the improvements that have been made to both games. First of all, they have both had an overhaul in the graphics department. While GoW1 still doesn't quite measure up to the latest PS3 graphics standards, it is a big improvement over the old PS2 version. The game now fills the screen on a widescreen TV, and there is a noticable difference in the details of the graphics. The sound has also been improved and adds to the overall enjoyment of playing back through one of the greatest games ever created. You will also notice that the rumble feature is present, and there is quite a nice trophy collection for each game. Some of the trophies are quite funny. For instance, in GoW1, you can earn a trophy by dying so many times that the game offers you the ability to move to an easier setting. It was fun dying over and over just to earn this trophy. It's been a long time since I played GoW1, but it was amazing how much of the game I could remember.

The storyline for both games is completely the same, but the improvement in the graphics and sound is well worth the cheap purchase price for both games. This set should keep you busy trying to earn all of the trophies while you wait to get you paws on GoW3 in March 2010. And just to make things a little better, the demo that was available at E3 for God of War 3 is now available to anyone who purchases this collection. And let me tell you, the demo will leave you waiting in anticipation for the arrival of what will surely be the best game of 2010. In my humble opinion, God of War is one of the most enjoyable game series I've ever played. OK, ok, before I close out, I'll come clean. It's just so much more enjoyable ramming your blade down the throat of a minotaur and watching the blood gush out in high definition. Or maybe grabbing one of the bad guys and pulling their body in half with a mighty torrent of HD blood going everywhere. Yes, it does bring a smile to one's face to relive such great gaming moments in the clarity that only HD can provide. Whether you are a longtime fan of the franchise as I am, or if you are new to the God of War trilogy, you MUST get this new collection. I guarantee that you will NOT be disappointed.

I loved the God of War series and have always thought that the franchise is a major staple in the history of gaming and may single handily define Sony and their consoles. The fairly new anti-hero has established himself as a greatly unique character in the video game world. With his painfully deep back-story, to his constant deception by the gods of Olympus, Kratos is a character that fans can truly appreciate. Within the few years Kratos has existed, he has truly become something remarkable. From the PS2 to the PSP, Kratos has always been one of the most interesting lead characters in a game franchise. However, several years into the PS3 life cycle, Kratos has been absent from the new hardware. Sony has revitalized God of War with this collection so that even those who have purchased newer, non-backwards compatible PlayStation 3 hardware may be able to revisit the games that helped set a new standard for action games.

God of War Collection is just that, a collection of the first two games in the trilogy. The two games tell the story of Kratos' initial deception at the hands of the gods, all the way to his epic confrontation with Zeus himself. The disc features all of the original content from the first two games, but all stored conveniently on one disc. Running in native 720p, as compared to upscaling to 720p via backward compatible units playing the PS2 versions, the games run much smoother than their last generation counterparts. With great anti-aliasing being utilized, the game looks like a new game all on its own. It's almost impossible to think that these were once PS2 games. The one thing that Sony did overlook when producing this game was enhancing the cut-scenes of the game that utilize the in-game engine. These still appear to have the same resolution of the original games since when the game gets to these moments a drastically noticeable drop in resolution occurs. This is just a minor flaw and I can completely overlook it since I still think they look fairly good, just not as good as the rest of the game.

If anyone has not played the first two games of this franchise, then I highly recommend this game. If someone owns the original two games, I also highly recommend this purchase since you will be missing out on trophies and native 720p resolution. The game also comes packaged with a voucher for the demo version of God of War III. So there is really no reason why someone who owns a PS3 should not pick this game up, even if you've played the originals they fail in comparison to this version. If you've ever been interested or intrigued by the series, now is your chance to get the first two parts of the trilogy for the same price it would cost to purchase the two PS2 versions.

So what does Sony do when the new PS3's are NOT backwards compatible? They bring back two of some of the best selling games made for PS2, and upscaled to 1080p! I just bought my PS3 a few weeks ago and got this game last week because I did not play them on PS2. And I was truly satisfied with this terrific game.

If you're new to the historic fiction-action/adventure/puzzle genre, think of titles like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Lord of the Rings II & III. This game blew any other game in its genre out of the water.

Pros:

+Great adventure and story for both games - Incredible scope. Can't say enough about that.
+25-plus combined hours of just playing the games straight through on normal difficulty with medium exploring
+Extras challenges, unlocked features, and hidden power-ups when exploring in both GoW I & II
+Challenging and fun puzzles along with incredible action
+Awesome action sequences that require quick reflexes
+Two games for one, and for a cheap price
+Almost everything looks better in HD and great frame rates
+High replay value (5/5)

Cons:

-Certain cut scenes looked low quality after upscaling, but did not take too much away from the experience

Not too many negatives. I'm glad I got this game and I know I'll be revisiting this to play in the tougher challenges and tougher settings (as I only played through the normal settings the first time).

For the casual gamer who wants to check out this highly addicting game, rent first then buy if you want to try the challenges. But for the fan eagerly awaiting God of War III, this is a must have, just to play through and get prepared for the end of the trilogy.

Other games I enjoyed are Bioshock and Dead Space.