My backlog has been troubling me lately. On top of the games I'm currently working my way through - "Metroid Fusion", "Pushmo", "MGS4", and most recently "RE:Revelations" - there's this nagging itch waiting to be scratched in the form of 3D content for my new TV. There are some excellent 3D games I want to check out, but I'm trying to be a disciplined gamer who beats his backlog before bleeding cash on new 3D games. After 2 months, I finally broke down a couple weeks ago when I placed my preorder purchase of RE:R and picked up the "Origins" collection.
I've generally avoided Sony hardware over the years. Yes, I've owned all three Playstations at one point or another, but I waited a few years in each generation before buying one mainly because I buy Nintendo first, then catch up with the rest later after a price drop. It is for this reason that I'm late to the God of War party. I played my first GoW less than a year ago, and the franchise immediately became one of my favorites, ranking right up there with Mario, Zelda, and other great IP's that I adore. Since then, culminating with "Origins", I've played and beaten every "God of War" game, and I couldn't be more satisfied.
What made playing through "Origins" so great is that they're not just stellar upgraded translations of their PSP counterparts, but they're also now rendered in 3D, and it looks beautiful! I simply can't get enough of 3D visuals right now, and I scoff every time I see a new release that's not rendered so.
The gameplay itself is respectful of the console GoW's. Graphically, they're not quite as detailed as 3, but could easily pass as PS2 clones, which, compared to 1 or 2, is still pretty darned good.
The first origins game, "Chains of Olympus", is good, but never quite felt challenging to me, even when starting on hard mode. A couple bosses were challenging, but there was never that epic battle against regular enemies that forced me to strategize after numerous deaths.
"Ghost of Sparta", the second game, upped the ante. It was way more challenging, features some great boss battle set pieces, and has more detailed environments.
In both games, the plot became lost on me. The stories eventually fleshed out (CoO:Kratos seeks to rescue his daughter, GoS:Kratos seeks to save his brother), but I just knew Kratos was pissed and had to seek vengeance on all fleshbags (and some bonebags) in his path. In Ghosts of Sparta, even after I beat the game, I was left wondering just why Kratos' brother was kidnapped to begin with.
Thankfully, the games rest not on thier story, but on the magnificant combat and solid controls. I simply can't get enough of swinging chaos blades around and defending myself during intense battles. It's all well balanced, and looks amazing in 3D.
The last bit of praise I have for "Origins", as well as the other GoW's, is their obtainable trophies. There are a couple hidden ones in each game that will probably require a player to hit the web to figure out, but all trophies can be realistically obtained through less than 2 playthroughs and a few dozen tries at the Challenge of the Gods. This is refreshing to me after playing so many other games that have ridiculously mundane, repetitive, time consuming requirements for the platinum trophy.
Well, back to the backlog I go...
What I liked:
Looks amazing in 3D.
Games hold their weight against their console brethren.
2 great games for less than the price of 1.
What I didn't like:
Aside from a couple boss battles, "Chains of Olympus" was kinda easy,
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