I'm interested in playing the God of War series, so which game should I start with?  I know Chains of Olympus is a prequel, but are you supposed to play God of War 1 before playing that?  Are there spoilers in Chains of Olympus that might ruin God of War 1 for me?

Just play 1 then 2 then 3. I don't know enough about the God of War PS3 collection to say anything about that. I think the games look a little better or something. Or I could be going crazy.

Go in numerical order. As in the numbers on the titles. As in 1 2 3

If it were me I would play them in the order they came out.

The one where Kratos kills shit.

Well, the only two I would consider worth playing (with the possible exception of the first, which I haven't played) are Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. So... start with Chains of Olympus, I guess?

Go in numerical order. As in the numbers on the titles. As in 1 2 3

Well, the only two I would consider worth playing (with the possible exception of the first, which I haven't played) are Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. So... start with Chains of Olympus, I guess?

The chronological order is:
Chains of Olympus
GOW1
Ghost of Sparta
GOW2
GOW3

However I suggest that you play them in the order of release. 

1 was the only decent entry in the series. Everything after that is just RAAAAAAAAAAGH IM SO ANGRY KILL SHIT IN HALF TO THE DEATHHHHHH

1 was the only decent entry in the series. Everything after that is just RAAAAAAAAAAGH IM SO ANGRY KILL SHIT IN HALF TO THE DEATHHHHHH

For the price I don't think you can go wrong with buying the collection on PS3, you'll get the higher resolution graphics.  Beat those and then get a copy of the 3rd game...  If you still want to play GOW after that buy the PSP games, there good but I think the home console games are wear you want to concentrate first.

Just play 1 then 2 then 3. I don't know enough about the God of War PS3 collection to say anything about that. I think the games look a little better or something. Or I could be going crazy.

1,2,3. Simple ;)

I loved all of them!

Play 1 first definitely. The collection does look really good in HD but that's all your missing if you get the PS2 version. 

Play them in any order. 

Mortal Kombat.

Buy the collection, and play them in the order they came out. 

Stick with the PS3 collection or just get the PS2/PS3 games, doesn't seem like the psp games will have enough in there to really do more on kratos beyond the primary 3 games that came out on the console.