God of War is well known for being a lot better in terms of story line, platforming and puzzling than most hacky slashy fun genre titles, and it's not often you'll find many PS2 games adapted and lovingly buffed up for a jaunt on the PS3, but all hail God of War, for Sony hath deemed it worthy of HD resolution and a bucket of trophies... and wether you admit it or not, you love collecting trophies, i know i do.

The package comes with God of War and God of War 2 and the two changes i mentioned above (high resolution and trophies) are just about the only real changes, but i have to say i was taken back by how great these little gems are looking now, and they run as smooth as milk I can tell you, it's really very noticeable and so they get their dues there.
If you haven't played the series but own a PS3 then this is the place to start, there's no doubt there, we'll start by taking a look at God of War, the original.
First released in 2005 you take the role of Kratos, once a captain of the spartan army and a feared warrior of great prowess, in a battle with the barbarians kratos is on the verge of defeat and at the mercy of the barbarian leader, calling upon Ares for aid, the god of war leads Kratos to victory and now Kratos has become a servant of Ares. During a campaign Ares tricks Kratos into killing his family in an effort to make Kratos the perfect warrior, but Kratos renounces his service to Ares choosing to serve the other gods instead. For ten years he is plagued by visions of the family he killed and the Goddess Athena promises Kratos that should he murder Ares, the gods will lift the curse of visions from him, Athena needs Kratos to kill Ares because Zeus has forbidden the gods from fighting with one another on Olympus.

God of War is based around Greek mythology (albeit loosely) and from the first moments in the game you start to get the epic feel, most of the sets in god of war are huge, imposing and utterly fantastic, even for a PS2 title, the scenery and game areas are beautifully rendered and just smack of effort by the development team, when fighting your way through Athens you can see the giant form of Ares aiding his army in sacking the city and the huge buildings loom over you. In fact huge monsters loom over you as well, but that's never been much of a problem for Kratos.
Your chief weapons are the blades of chaos, chains of servitude burned into Kratos's wrist by Ares, at the end of which are the blades themselves. You acquire another weapon later on in the game, the Blade of Artemis, you'll also be aided by the gods as they each impart upon Kratos a magic spell or two, you are also gifted with the "Rage of Gods" an ability which makes Kratos invulnerable for a short while.

As you progress you can begin to upgrade your weapons and other goodies with red orbs, obtained by slaughtering enemies of course, you can also grab green orbs for health and blue for magic, recharging the rage rage of the gods meter comes from slaughtering enemies... (of course). You can also upgrade the health bar and magic bar with suitably themed items, Gorgon eyes for your health and pheonix feathers for the magic bar. I think i mentioned in another god of war review (3 i think) that the upgrade paths are a minor bug bear for me, you tend to focus on your weapons because they're the most important thing to upgrade, so your magic seems to become a little derelict and later on in the game when you really feel you need it, it seems weak and useless against your enemies, but it's a minor thing, and it's just a lesson in using your experience points wisely (never been easy for me!).
Most of the time in both games will be spent swinging those blades like a death whirlygig, but should you get bored, some minor enemies can be dispatched and literally ripped apart with a wee tap of the circle button, he can then swing them round on the end of his chains and launch them into the air! Endless fun!

The stiffness from the PS2 version is there but it's an awful lot better than it was, and as iv'e said in other GOW reviews swinging those blades just never ever gets old! It's so satisfying and it fits the character so well, the fighting style seems so angry and fiery like Kratos himself, it's a real nice touch, i really enjoyed playing the updated version of the original, and now with as few spoilers as possible we'll take a gander at God of War 2.
Starting where the first game left off, Kratos is the new god of war, still haunted by visions of his family he joins his beloved spartan army and attempts to destroy the city of Rhodes, Zeus intervenes and tricks kratos into imbuing his power into the blade of Olympus, he offers Kratos a final chance to be a servant of the gods once again, But Kratos refuses and Zeus kills him.
As Kratos is being dragged into the underworld, the Titan Gaia saves him, she Informs Kratos that he must find the sisters of fate and go back in time to prevent Zeus from killing him.

The same God of War style action is back in the second installment, also the same upgrade system, there's some new toys for Kratos to play with to.
In the previous game Kratos had the blades of chaos, he's got the blades of Athena for this one which offers some new combos and magic, and Rage of the Gods is replaced with Rage of the Titans.
As far as graphics go, it's a nice leap from the first title and you start the game fighting the Collosus of Rhodes! Not only is he huge but he looks great too! In fact there are a lot more bosses in this game, and there all great offering Kratos some fun new ways to kill huge creatures! The game runs incredibly smoothly in this updated version, to be fair the PS2 version was very smooth but this is a lot better, it really felt like an early PS3 title when it came out and now it plays even more like one, for a PS2 title it was incredibly well put together.
Whereas the first game seemed to be a lot more story driven, this game seems more action and puzzle based, but they pull it off nicely, one particular moment, (horrifyingly violent of course) involves protecting a scholar so you can force him to read an ancient text... by smashing his face into it of course, it seems that with every puzzle Kratos's ability to solve it by smashing something or killing something always comes in handy! It's no secret that i'm a big fan of the God of war series in general, but I genuinely feel, that they are excellent games and every gamer should have them in their library. You should like Greek mythology if you decide to play these games, but i think even if you don't, there's not so much Ancient Greek style shoved down your gullet to make it unpalatable for any gamer really.

A little note on the soundtrack, both games have a fantastic soundtrack, the thing we most remember in music, especially game music is a damn good melody, and among'st the fantastic orchestration you'll be surprised how much you remember, it got caught in my head one morning i remember, making toast has never been so epic, and now whenever i think of toast that Kratos theme just gets in my head!
I have a great love for any game that can drive a story with it's soundtrack and God of War is no exception, every moment has a sound tailored for it and that really shows the effort of the designers, everything in the games blends so nicely, and it's getting rarer and rarer to see that kind of thing in newer titles.
Overall both of the games have been really nicely retouched and if you've never played the series then this is the way to go, and if you loved the series before then why the hell not eh? it'll sit nicely in your game library. You can't fault it on price either, for the cost of one reasonably good game, you get two amazing classics! watcha waitin fer?

©peckinpigeon