365//365: Day 031 – God of War Collection (PS3) [Quickie]

The God of War series helped to set a whole new standard for the action genre, as well as helped to bring that lovely Quick Time Event (QTE) that I wished would have died with Shenmue, to so many games after it, as well as define Kratos as one of the most bad ass characters ever. The series its self is nothing short of a masterpiece, blending wonderfully detailed graphics, a moody soundtrack, a fun combat system, and tons of memorable and challenging moments throughout. Recently, Sony re-released the first two titles onto the PlayStation 3 in a package called God of War Collection. With the visuals taking a jump to 720p and a bump to 60fps, as well as the addition of dedicated Trophies for each game, is it really worth purchasing again? If you’ve never owned either God of War title, this is a definite must have, but for those that do own it, there’s no need to rush out and buy it right away.

The untouched music and controls are still as smooth and satisfying as they were on the PS2.  The soundtrack fits ever situation perfectly with the blend of vocal and instrumental pieces. The sound effects have a similar booming power, with clarity and distinction between each sound. Moving Kratos around is exactly the same as the PS2 incarnations, with some brutal and bloody combos you can unleash, platform jumping segments here and there, all with precision and grace.

IGN's visual comparison between the PS2 version and the PS3 version.

The main change has to do with the games visuals. Both God War and God of War 2 have been boosted to 60fps and 720p high resolution visuals. While the game does look better, especially Kratos and his enemies, it’s not so substantial that you HAVE to replace your PS2 discs with this PS3 collection version. Granted, a lot of detail is now apparent, a lot of shading and lighting is pulled off much better on this PS3 collection, but some of the more simplistic scenery, stick out like a sore thumb, lacking any detail, and look pretty poor when being around enemies and bosses. On top of that, the cut scenes were not given any sort of boost, making them look out of place. The first God of War in particular, has some pretty anemic cut scenes compared to the action going on, really hurting the presentation all around for those that were unfortunate enough to have never played these gems previously.

Long story short – if you have the PlayStation 2 versions and have beaten them numerous times already, unless you want to build your PS3 library up, add to your Trophy collection, or NEED to have an HD version of the first two games, there’s no real rush to purchase this one. If you’ve never played God of War before, and you own a PlayStation 3, buy the God of War Collection. You get two magnificent games for the price of one, and a perfect way to hype you up for God of War 3 later in the year.

Rating: 8.9