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God of War: Ghost of Sparta is a new PSP game which, I understand, is set after the events of the original PlayStation 2 game. Well, I haven’t played that but I did play the previous PSP title and absolutely loved that.
For those interested in some kind of story, Kratos is back to kick the collective asses of the Olympus deities, with the end goal of being the one true God, if you get the meaning. In other words, it’s another wonderful hack-and-slash through the levels, dodging and jumping out of the way of baddies and then going in, sneakily, for the kill.
Okay, in a way, the gameplay could be seen as being a bit linear because you can effectively only take one path and you’re guided with indicators about what you need to do next, but this is not to detract from the game in any way because it feels like you’re playing a movie and far more often than not the camera angles are worked out nicely so hardly ever does something get in your way, leading to a very cinematic feel throughout.
When it comes to killing the baddies, it’s cool to hold down ‘O’ which throws them about, but a lot of the time it’s easier to beat the conventional baddies by jumping up with ‘X’ and then slashing at them with the triangle to maim them bit by bit. There’s also some who’ll catch hold of you, and you’ll have to press L and R together and toggle to shake them off.
Also, some baddies, when they’re heading for death, they will have an ‘O’ appear above their heads. Going up to them and pressing ‘O’ then gives you either an X, triangle, square or circle to press before finishing them off. This sometimes needs to be pressed far more quickly than any human can react. However, if you get them at the right time, the enemy will eventually go down, for good.
There’s a good selection of automatic checkpoints, as well as manual save points, plus you get to try out new weapons such as the Spear and Shield, plus magical powers for more lethal attacks. This game also claims to have larger bosses and double the number of enemies onscreen. Well, I like the sound of the former, but in terms of the latter it does get a little long in the tooth when you’re constantly slashing at the same type of minions who come at you and you need to do them in before you can progress.
It also states that it has “Stunning visuals that have never been seen before on the PSP system”. Well, in a way, we did – the previous God of War game, and that’s what makes this new one a must-play because it’s basically more of the same. And more of ‘excellent’ is a great thing!
Overall, God of War: Ghost of Sparta may not feel 100% as fresh as the previous PSP game, but it’s still an essential purchase.
Important info:
- Publisher: Sony
- Price: £24.99
- Players: 1
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
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| OVERALL | 9 |
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.