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picross, my beloved
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This review contains spoilers
Man I really wish this one was longer. I think it's technically longer than Chains of Olympus, but it flew by so much faster, and that sucks because I find it quite a bit more fun.
Strangely enough, it seems like this game might have inspired the Norse games more than the rest of the Greek games did. An emphasis on Kratos's family, the ability to strengthen the blades by charging them with fire, and the final boss fight has Kratos fighting alongside his brother who will attack on his own, but will also use projectiles on your command. Maybe that's a stretch, but it was noticeable to me, I wonder if there was some inspiration here?
The gameplay is quite a bit improved in this installment compared to Chains of Olympus. Fighting with the blades is relatively the same, but you can charge them with fire at will now, which will heat up enemies and cause them to burst after a few seconds. Although I still didn't use magical abilities very often, I found they were way, way more useful; the Eye of Atlantis is great for blasting an enemy with a shit ton of lightning, the Scourge of Erinys corrals enemies to wherever your control pad is pointed at (I think? It was a bit hard to tell) which makes hitting them a breeze - this was the magic I used the most -, and the Horn of Boreas can freeze nearby enemies. I didn't use the Horn outside of its tutorial (which I got a 200+ combo in lol), but it seems more useful than all the magic abilities in CoO. Finally, there's the second weapon of the game - which you thankfully get around halfway through the adventure rather than the witching hour - the Arms of Sparta, a Spartan spear and shield that I... didn't love using. It's got a strong projectile by throwing the spear (another than the Norse game later do) without using magic, but I found the range too limiting, a little too slow, and it felt like I was more exposed. I know a lot of people love this weapon, so perhaps I'm just missing something, but I preferred the blades when I didn't need a projectile.
I also gotta say that this game is kinda pretty. I didn't have a PSP growing up (and still don't, this is an emulator), so I'm not sure how good the games looked on hardware, but this game and CoO look great here - Chains of Olympus already looked good, but this one ups the value just a bit more.
As for the story, I think it's kind of a downgrade. Yes, Chains of Olympus had kind of a scattered mess of a story, but it was a pretty grandiose one, and the ending to it was great. Ghost of Sparta, meanwhile, is rather straightforward. Kratos learns his brother is still alive, so he goes off to find him. And then he does. And then they fight. And then they work together to kill Thanatos, but at the expense of Deimos's life. That's pretty much it. Deimos himself was boring, too. I thought he was going to have a more involved role, but you have a boss fight against him, and then fight with him, and that's it. He's characterized by being angry at Kratos for "letting him get taken," and then pretty immediately forgives him when Kratos saves him, then he dies. There's nothing there. Athena isn't in this game much either, and she has more depth (though I guess she is an established character, so maybe that's unfair). It's much less of an epic tale (epic in the unironic sense) than Chains of Olympus. It's more personable, but not interesting enough for me to care. Deimos wasn't a known character before this, afaik, and he's pretty much only mentioned once after this in an optional conversation in one of the Norse games.
All of that is to say, this game is better on the stuff I care more about, but floundered a bit on the rest. As I started out this review by saying, I wish this game was longer. Let us learn more about Deimos and his relationship with Kratos, especially as adults, let us fight with the two of them side by side more, and let us just experience the improved combat more. Yeah, I can replay the game obviously, but I still just wish there was more to it.
Anyway, I please ask that all of you refer to me the same way the narrator does Erinys: "Pain given form, evil given life."
Strangely enough, it seems like this game might have inspired the Norse games more than the rest of the Greek games did. An emphasis on Kratos's family, the ability to strengthen the blades by charging them with fire, and the final boss fight has Kratos fighting alongside his brother who will attack on his own, but will also use projectiles on your command. Maybe that's a stretch, but it was noticeable to me, I wonder if there was some inspiration here?
The gameplay is quite a bit improved in this installment compared to Chains of Olympus. Fighting with the blades is relatively the same, but you can charge them with fire at will now, which will heat up enemies and cause them to burst after a few seconds. Although I still didn't use magical abilities very often, I found they were way, way more useful; the Eye of Atlantis is great for blasting an enemy with a shit ton of lightning, the Scourge of Erinys corrals enemies to wherever your control pad is pointed at (I think? It was a bit hard to tell) which makes hitting them a breeze - this was the magic I used the most -, and the Horn of Boreas can freeze nearby enemies. I didn't use the Horn outside of its tutorial (which I got a 200+ combo in lol), but it seems more useful than all the magic abilities in CoO. Finally, there's the second weapon of the game - which you thankfully get around halfway through the adventure rather than the witching hour - the Arms of Sparta, a Spartan spear and shield that I... didn't love using. It's got a strong projectile by throwing the spear (another than the Norse game later do) without using magic, but I found the range too limiting, a little too slow, and it felt like I was more exposed. I know a lot of people love this weapon, so perhaps I'm just missing something, but I preferred the blades when I didn't need a projectile.
I also gotta say that this game is kinda pretty. I didn't have a PSP growing up (and still don't, this is an emulator), so I'm not sure how good the games looked on hardware, but this game and CoO look great here - Chains of Olympus already looked good, but this one ups the value just a bit more.
As for the story, I think it's kind of a downgrade. Yes, Chains of Olympus had kind of a scattered mess of a story, but it was a pretty grandiose one, and the ending to it was great. Ghost of Sparta, meanwhile, is rather straightforward. Kratos learns his brother is still alive, so he goes off to find him. And then he does. And then they fight. And then they work together to kill Thanatos, but at the expense of Deimos's life. That's pretty much it. Deimos himself was boring, too. I thought he was going to have a more involved role, but you have a boss fight against him, and then fight with him, and that's it. He's characterized by being angry at Kratos for "letting him get taken," and then pretty immediately forgives him when Kratos saves him, then he dies. There's nothing there. Athena isn't in this game much either, and she has more depth (though I guess she is an established character, so maybe that's unfair). It's much less of an epic tale (epic in the unironic sense) than Chains of Olympus. It's more personable, but not interesting enough for me to care. Deimos wasn't a known character before this, afaik, and he's pretty much only mentioned once after this in an optional conversation in one of the Norse games.
All of that is to say, this game is better on the stuff I care more about, but floundered a bit on the rest. As I started out this review by saying, I wish this game was longer. Let us learn more about Deimos and his relationship with Kratos, especially as adults, let us fight with the two of them side by side more, and let us just experience the improved combat more. Yeah, I can replay the game obviously, but I still just wish there was more to it.
Anyway, I please ask that all of you refer to me the same way the narrator does Erinys: "Pain given form, evil given life."
I played this for about an hour and a half last night, eyes glazed over, podcast in the background, up way too late, feeling nothing. I understand iPad babies, I get the hype. This is not a good game, but it brings a kind of sweet numbness that I can fall into. A void of nothingness to placate my mind. No more thoughts bearing down on me. It all leads to, just like The Elder Scrolls
oblivion.
oblivion.
I loved the part when Morpheus showed up and said "It's Morphin' time!"
wait
I know it's kind of blasphemy to play a series outside of release order, but frankly, having played III, the Norse games, and being filled in on a large amount of the story of the series otherwise, I feel like it doesn't ultimately matter that I went ahead and played Chains of Olympus before others in the series. And it was a pretty fun time.
Frankly, I don't feel like there's too much to say about the Greek God of War games. It's fun hack and slash action that defined the mid-2000s through late 2010s enough that you don't even see these kinds of games very often now. Kratos's blades are snappy and satisfying to use, though aren't very deep, and you can mostly get away with just spamming, throwing in some dodges or parries every once and a while. Puzzles are pretty simple, and exploration is encouraged - I quite easily got all items and upgraded all my weapons.
Late into the game you finally get a second weapon and man, I kind of think the Gauntlet of Zeus just blows the blades out of the water. At the expense of coverage, you smash enemies to bits with much more momentum which acts as its own sort of defense. On top of the two weapons are some magic attacks that I just simply didn't use. I used Efreet sometimes in the early game before I could parry things, as you're invincible while using it. I thought I was going to use the projectile attack more but I think a mix of me thinking I should conserve magic, lack of usefulness, and parries being stronger made me not use it past its introduction. The final magic attack I just didn't really know how to use effectively and also you just really don't need it.
This is a very by the books God of War in pretty much every way. If you already like God of War, you'll enjoy this one (and finally get to see that famous QTE scene in action), but if you don't like these games, it won't change your mind. Though its brevity might make you like it more, maybe.
I liked the story, too. It had a nice moment of things coming full circle at the end, a famous Greek mythical figure does the thing they're famous for, and there's a decent twist at the end. Basically all at the end so I'm being vague lol.
Weirdly though, there's a lot of stuff here that's mentioned a lot and just... doesn't come up. Morpheus is pretty much the one that brings about the main conflict of the game, but he never physically appears or comes into direct conflict with Kratos. Helios is consistently brought up as someone Kratos needs to save, but you don't see him at all. You meet Helios's sister, Eos, one time, and get talked to by Athena a total of one time. They feel like such random blips. Did they run out of time for Morpheus and Helios? Did they really need both Eos and Athena considering they pretty much accomplish the same thing here? How come you get an upgrade to swim in this game but you never use it after its introduction? Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
The final boss design was sick.
wait
I know it's kind of blasphemy to play a series outside of release order, but frankly, having played III, the Norse games, and being filled in on a large amount of the story of the series otherwise, I feel like it doesn't ultimately matter that I went ahead and played Chains of Olympus before others in the series. And it was a pretty fun time.
Frankly, I don't feel like there's too much to say about the Greek God of War games. It's fun hack and slash action that defined the mid-2000s through late 2010s enough that you don't even see these kinds of games very often now. Kratos's blades are snappy and satisfying to use, though aren't very deep, and you can mostly get away with just spamming, throwing in some dodges or parries every once and a while. Puzzles are pretty simple, and exploration is encouraged - I quite easily got all items and upgraded all my weapons.
Late into the game you finally get a second weapon and man, I kind of think the Gauntlet of Zeus just blows the blades out of the water. At the expense of coverage, you smash enemies to bits with much more momentum which acts as its own sort of defense. On top of the two weapons are some magic attacks that I just simply didn't use. I used Efreet sometimes in the early game before I could parry things, as you're invincible while using it. I thought I was going to use the projectile attack more but I think a mix of me thinking I should conserve magic, lack of usefulness, and parries being stronger made me not use it past its introduction. The final magic attack I just didn't really know how to use effectively and also you just really don't need it.
This is a very by the books God of War in pretty much every way. If you already like God of War, you'll enjoy this one (and finally get to see that famous QTE scene in action), but if you don't like these games, it won't change your mind. Though its brevity might make you like it more, maybe.
I liked the story, too. It had a nice moment of things coming full circle at the end, a famous Greek mythical figure does the thing they're famous for, and there's a decent twist at the end. Basically all at the end so I'm being vague lol.
Weirdly though, there's a lot of stuff here that's mentioned a lot and just... doesn't come up. Morpheus is pretty much the one that brings about the main conflict of the game, but he never physically appears or comes into direct conflict with Kratos. Helios is consistently brought up as someone Kratos needs to save, but you don't see him at all. You meet Helios's sister, Eos, one time, and get talked to by Athena a total of one time. They feel like such random blips. Did they run out of time for Morpheus and Helios? Did they really need both Eos and Athena considering they pretty much accomplish the same thing here? How come you get an upgrade to swim in this game but you never use it after its introduction? Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
The final boss design was sick.