DEVELOPER: Ready At Dawn
Played on: PSP
Initial impression: Hack & Slash & Gods (& Sexy Ladies)!
Liked:
- Environments
- Storyline
Disliked:
- Quick Time Events
- Some Camera Angles
On The Fence:
- Challenge Modes
- Length vs Price
Despite having never played any of the previous installments of GoW, I found this PSP version to be quite an amazing adventure. Thankfully I already knew some backstory, or else certain segments would have made little sense. Kratos, the big, tough, god-hating slave of the Greek pantheon of deities makes another attempt to gain his freedom and seek his revenge. Long story short, Kratos needs to rescue the sun from the underworld and beat the piss out of Persephone for a number of reasons, mostly having to do with the fact that she's an asshole.
You're helped along the way by Athena (and some Persian slave girls early on) and become this very well armed, unstoppable killing machine only to give it all up to see your daughter again. Persephone decides to be a bitch and torment you into doing what she wants. Turns out that's not such a hot idea, but it's your only choice, and the only way to fix the mistake you've just made is to beat down Persephone's alter-demonic form. Yeah - no real spoiler alert needed there. You've played any of these types of games, you know what to expect. The big boss will always have another 'form' to beat down.
On to the meat of the article:
Environments
Man, this game is pretty. The places you end up look awesome, and at times I just couldn't believe the PSP was showing the stuff it was. Hades looks great, with fire and lava all over. The water temple really shows the power of the processor nicely.
Storyline
I may sound like I hate some of it, but really the story is top notch. Knowing little to nothing about the previous games didn't seem to phase me in the least with enjoying how it played out. Yeah, I hate Persephone, but you're SUPPOSED to (by the end at least). The fact that she was a bloody whore through most of it was fitting and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Quick Time Events
These are moments in the action where the game pauses for a second and flashes a button you need to press to perform a finishing move. Imagine you're beating down a large Basilisk and as you're carefully thrashing away the game stops and a large X appears. You have about 1-2 seconds to hit X before it has you fail and you need to essentially start that segment over. It's a pain in the ass because it's never the same key twice (X O [] square /\ triangle) and I'm not SO familiar with the button placement that I can instinctively hit those. I have to take a moment and glance right to see where the O key is (I know where X and /\ are, it's the other two I mix up). I'm a PC gamer first, so PS controls are somewhat alien.
Some camera angles made jumps or knowing where to go next difficult. Overall it was fine, but I found that the only time I was ever lost it was because of bad camera angles.
Challenge Mode
You can unlock alternate costumes by going through Challenge mode. I tried playing the Stage 1 Challenge and failed it probably about a dozen times before I gave up. Despite having a really good grasp of what I was doing and what needed to be done, I kept failing. Most 'challenge' modes will start the difficulty low and build up. This one seems to start somewhere around 60%.... and for what? Costumes? Bleh.
Value
Had I not paid $20 for this I would be crying from the rooftops how it wasn't worth the price versus the content. That said, $20 might still be a tad steep in the Quality v. Quantity fight. Yeah, I got a few days (at about 3-4h a day) worth of entertainment out of it, but had I paid more I'd be pissed.
Final Thoughts
This is a great game that really earns the Mature label for its use of gore and softcore porn. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that, did I? There's only two things you need to really hear in regards to that aspect: Tits and Off-Screen Sex laced with a visual inuendo that may stay with you longer than you want. For part one: This is a Greek Mythology inspired game, so it's expected to see some perfectly sculpted goddesses with their bare torsos waggling in your face. Well ok, maybe not waggling, but there she is - Athena - and her large (yet oddly firm) breasts taking up half the screen. Granted it's supposed to be a statue come to life, but whatever. The artist in me can appreciate the level of detail they decided to attain by staying true to this artform. The giggly teenager in me says 'heh heh... boobies' like Beavis and Butthead, which I'm sure they planned on.
As for the second thing, after pummeling a Persian King, Kratos is pretty uptight. Cue the two slave girls (actually you can skip them altogether if you don't explore a bit). They're both topless, one on her back, the other on all fours (on top of the first one... did I walk in on them making out?) and they want to please you. No, really. I can't make this shit up.
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| Someone say "tits"? |
All in all, decent game. Replay value? Very little. I beat it, and don't see a point in doing the challenge missions for some goofy costumes. 7/10
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