A worthy rerelease
God of War was one of the greatest games on the PS2, garnering much praise for its cinematic style and smooth gameplay. Its sequel, God of War II, was praised in the same areas, and for pushing the PS2 to its absolute limit. The God of War Collection combines these two great games into one cheap package and promises a few graphical upgrades. The question is: Is the God of War Collection worth it? Yes, provided you haven’t played these games before.
Starting up the God of War Collection on your PS3, you are presented with a pretty basic menu that simply asks which of the two games you’d like to play. Once chosen, you’re brought to the same exact main menu presented in the original PS2 versions. Starting a new game presents the same opening cinematics and all. To put it bluntly: these are the same exact games as in the original PS2 editions.
The graphics in the God of War games were always top-notch, and they still generally hold up in the Collection. One of the most touted features of this collection is that the games run at 720p and 60 frames per second. This generally makes the games look better, but it also tends to show off the low polygon counts therein. Still, it is a nice upgrade that newcomers and returning players should appreciate. However, some of the pre-rendered CGI scenes stick out like a sore thumb. These pre-rendered scenes were not originally rendered in 720p, which is what the rest of the game renders at, so they tend to be a bit grainy and pixelated compared to the in-game scenes.
Another exclusive feature to these versions is the added trophy support. I consider myself to be a goal-oriented game player, so these were a welcome addition to these new, updated versions. They vary from defeating certain bosses, collecting power-ups, and beating the games at different difficulties.
The aforementioned are the only things that are new in the God of War Collection, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With the upgrade to 60 FPS and 720p, the games look as beautiful as ever. On the one hand, for newcomers to the series, this is the best way to experience these games, so they are highly recommend to anyone playing them for the first time. On the other, for those coming back for a second taste, it’s difficult to recommend because there is nothing new to draw you in, except the updated graphics.
However, this collection retails for only $40 and includes the God of War 3 demo along with trophy support, so picking this up still wouldn’t be a bad idea for those looking to play through them again. Plus, this collection shows just how great the God of War games were and still are, and the God of War 3 demo gives a nice taste of what is still to come for the series.
