14 DAY TRIAL // The God of War series is set to be continued tomorrow, when Sony, together with its Santa Monica studio and Ready at Dawn, will release the God of War: Origins Collection, containing the two previously released God of War titles for the PSP, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta.
A demo is now available for all PlayStation Network users, which allows them to check out the remastered in HD collection before tomorrow's release.
So, is the arrival of the two PSP God of War games to the PlayStation 3 a gift from the gods or should they be banished into the pits of Tartarus? Let's have a quick look.
The God of War: Origins Collection demo contains only the beginning portion of God of War: Ghost of Sparta, presumably because it's much newer and its high definition remastering resulted in higher quality visuals.
While you can truly tell it was a PSP game at its origin from the cinematics that zoom in on the character models, once you start the actual gameplay, controlling Kratos as he's once again killing his way through legions of enemies, quality takes a backseat to the great mechanics and controls, so you'll soon find yourself pulling out all the combos that are second nature to any God of War fan.
Gameplay is pretty much unchanged, and that's not a bad thing, as the God of War series impressed through its tight combat and the variety of weapons wielded by Kratos in his never-ending conflicts. While it's not the visual delight that was God of War III, this new collection stays on par with the level of quality we saw in the previously released God of War Collection, that included the first two titles launched initially for the PlayStation 2.
For gamers who went through the first three full pledged games in the series and think they've seen it all, God of War: Origins offers much more, as Ready at Dawn's take on the franchise created by the Sony Santa Monica studio explores other facets of Kratos and his eternal conflict with various characters from Greek mythology.
In God of War: Chains of Olympus, he once again goes to the underworld, just like in any other game in the series, this time trying to reconcile with his long lost family. In Ghost of Sparta, Kratos' relationship with his long lost brother is explored and is pretty much a must-play for any fan.
Now, with God of War: Origins, PlayStation 3 owners have no excuse, and, from the demo available on the PlayStation Store, we can certainly advise you to pick it up tomorrow, when it's released in North America or on September 15, when it's out in Europe.
Until then, check out our video playthrough of the God of War: Origins demo below.