Surprised there isn't already a first play thread for this (unless there is and it's staring me in the face). I got this as soon as it hit our PSN and have been playing bits of it ever since. I do love me some God of War and loved the last PSP outing, though I found it incredibly abrupt and that left me just a little bit unsatisfied.
I don't yet know if this will be the same.
But what I do know is that this looks absolutely amazing. On a screen this size, it's hard to see graphics getting all that much better to be honest. Seems more detailed than the last, smoother and with better rendering effects. It is, so far, a little monochrome with the opening having dull 'next-gen' grey-browns with bloom lighting and sections after being almost completely red. And, in parts, the look is very high-contrast, with the dark sections not really being all that suited to the small screen - there are places that are not all that easy to make out.
Still, it does look amazing. A thing of beauty. The effects in particular are worth mention - with loads of fire and changes in the scenery happening in real time.
I have noticed screen tearing, mostly in the cut scenes.
And the sound is fantastic too. You know what you're getting if you've played any previous God of War and this is much the same, with some great rousing background tracks.
So on to the game itself. It is more God of War. Set seemingly somewhere between the first and the second game, you are the God of War. An invincible killing machine? Not quite. Kratos never seems all that different, whether plain ol' Kratos or God. And I find myself wishing they had given him a cool god costume but they seem very unwilling to stray from his little skirt and tats. But he has his kick-ass blades and is as good as ever with them.
It really is more of the same but incredibly polished. Familiar and yet challenging fights - the game seems to punish mistakes more than the previous one. Some great looking enemies, with some visual differences but, again, feeling familiar.
Where the gameplay really works well and seems to be a bit more adventurous is in the climbing/leaping sections. Like God of War 3, there are sections where things are moving, whole rock faces sinking, while you have to leap, swing, climb. They're pretty exciting and work really well.
As for the story, well, it's early days yet for me but I feel they're struggling. Opening with a vision, the story sends Kratos off on what seems to be little more than a wander. He keeps saying that he's looking for something (
) but where, why, who, what, when is not really clear. It's something I'm pretty intolerant of in games lately and it's all too apparent here - I don't know why Kratos is going where he's going. I don't know where he's going. I'm only going forward because that's where the levels are taking me. I really have no sense of any motivation beyond that.
For me, that's a problem.
But, overall, an extremely polished, if familiar, God of War outing. Looks absolutely amazing - easily the best looking game on the PSP, pushing the handheld beyond the previous GoW game. Plays really well, put together really well and just generally oozes quality.
I don't yet know if this will be the same.
But what I do know is that this looks absolutely amazing. On a screen this size, it's hard to see graphics getting all that much better to be honest. Seems more detailed than the last, smoother and with better rendering effects. It is, so far, a little monochrome with the opening having dull 'next-gen' grey-browns with bloom lighting and sections after being almost completely red. And, in parts, the look is very high-contrast, with the dark sections not really being all that suited to the small screen - there are places that are not all that easy to make out.
Still, it does look amazing. A thing of beauty. The effects in particular are worth mention - with loads of fire and changes in the scenery happening in real time.
I have noticed screen tearing, mostly in the cut scenes.
And the sound is fantastic too. You know what you're getting if you've played any previous God of War and this is much the same, with some great rousing background tracks.
So on to the game itself. It is more God of War. Set seemingly somewhere between the first and the second game, you are the God of War. An invincible killing machine? Not quite. Kratos never seems all that different, whether plain ol' Kratos or God. And I find myself wishing they had given him a cool god costume but they seem very unwilling to stray from his little skirt and tats. But he has his kick-ass blades and is as good as ever with them.
It really is more of the same but incredibly polished. Familiar and yet challenging fights - the game seems to punish mistakes more than the previous one. Some great looking enemies, with some visual differences but, again, feeling familiar.
Where the gameplay really works well and seems to be a bit more adventurous is in the climbing/leaping sections. Like God of War 3, there are sections where things are moving, whole rock faces sinking, while you have to leap, swing, climb. They're pretty exciting and work really well.
As for the story, well, it's early days yet for me but I feel they're struggling. Opening with a vision, the story sends Kratos off on what seems to be little more than a wander. He keeps saying that he's looking for something (
) but where, why, who, what, when is not really clear. It's something I'm pretty intolerant of in games lately and it's all too apparent here - I don't know why Kratos is going where he's going. I don't know where he's going. I'm only going forward because that's where the levels are taking me. I really have no sense of any motivation beyond that.
For me, that's a problem.
But, overall, an extremely polished, if familiar, God of War outing. Looks absolutely amazing - easily the best looking game on the PSP, pushing the handheld beyond the previous GoW game. Plays really well, put together really well and just generally oozes quality.
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