God of War: Ghost of Sparta

God of War: Ghost of Sparta is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Ready at Dawn and Santa Monica Studio, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released for the PlayStation Portable on November 2, 2010. The game is the sixth installment in the God of War series and the fourth chronologically.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A good story where Kratos rescues his missing brother, Deimos. This was something that was teased all the way back in the first game. Additionally, we get a backstory into Kratos' childhood, his love for Sparta, and disregard for the gods since it was revealed that the gods are the ones who took kidnapped Deimos.
 * 2) Lots of new weapons, magic, and relics.
 * 3) *Weapons
 * 4) **Arms of Sparta: A spear with a long scarlet and gold strip of cloth that was wrapped around it and a battered bronze shield and red, with the Greek lambda symbol (Λ) on it.
 * 5) **Thera's Bane: It has the ability to engulf the Blades of Athena in fire, greatly increased the power of the blades, and allows Kratos to implant searing cores into his enemies which explode after a few seconds. It also destroys the shields and armor of various creatures.
 * 6) *Magic
 * 7) **Eye of Atlantis: A lightning based weapon that was similar to Cronos' Rage and Poseidon's Rage, however, it focused greatly on singular targets as opposed to multiple enemies in an area.
 * 8) **Scourge of Erinys: These allow Kratos to unleash dark voids. These voids sought out enemies, draw them in like a vortex, damage them, and prevent smaller creatures from attacking altogether, or simply suck them in the void. In addition to harming Kratos' foes, that power can drain their life force and release it in the form of Green Orbs.
 * 9) **Horn of Boreas: The horn is capable of summoning an icy tempest by swinging it around, which damage and freeze all nearby enemies. That weapon can also destroy the shields and armor that various creatures utilized in addition to freezing them.
 * 10) *Relics of the Gods
 * 11) **Callisto's Armlet: Automatically win context sensitive mini games.
 * 12) **Athena's Owl: Helps find treasures.
 * 13) **Aphrodite's Ambrosia: Gain a brutal kick attack. (Might of Sparta)
 * 14) **The King's Ring: Collect 10 times the amount of red orbs.
 * 15) **The Bonds of Ares: Grants infinite magic.
 * 16) **Grave Digger's Shovel: Unlocks the Grave Digger costume in the Arena Combat Mode.
 * 17) Great graphics that are a big improvement over the first PSP game and looks closer to a PS2 game.
 * 18) Good soundtrack.
 * 19) Great voice acting.
 * 20) Much improved and overall better controls than its predecessor.
 * 21) There are 6 costumes to unlock.
 * 22) *Kratos' Legionnaire: Loosely based on the armor worn by a Spartan Soldier. Grants Kratos the ability to collect double Orbs of all types and using magic cost half the amount of Blue Orbs. On top of that, the Legionnaire resist enemy damage four times as much as normal and dealt double damage with the Arms of Sparta.
 * 23) *Ghost of Sparta: Everything and everyone in these visions/flashbacks has a vapor-like effect emitting from them. Taking almost all of the color out of the imagery, making it fairly monochromatic. Kratos takes twice the damage from enemies, but offers a reward by inflicting quadruple fire damage with Thera’s Bane. The Ghost costume is also able to regenerate the fire meter four times as fast than the default Kratos costume.
 * 24) *God Armor: The God armor from God of War II. Decreases the amount of damage Kratos receives from enemies, doubles the damage he deals with Blades of Athena, Thera's Bane and the Arms of Sparta and also double the fire meter regeneration time. Although the Combo Time increases by x2. Finally, it also causes enemies to drop Red Orbs as Kratos hits them with attacks.
 * 25) *Robotos: A robot costume made from cardboard boxes, ventilation hoses, and duct tape. Has the ability to generate massive combos by increasing the amount of time allowed between hits to increment the combo meter. Also, damage dealt with the Blades of Athena and Arms of Sparta have been decreased along with magic costing him twice as many Blue Orbs to use. Finally, All enemies drop Blue Orbs when they have been hit.
 * 26) *Deimos: Kratos' brother. Damage given if wielding the Arms of Sparta increases, whereas damage given by the Blades of Athena decreases, along with reduced armor values, thus giving the player a more challenging experience.
 * 27) *Grave Digger: Only available in Combat Arena and revealed to be Zeus. He uses the Blade of Olympus and the Gauntlet of Zeus. Zeus' abilities cannot be upgraded by red orbs. Additionally, Zeus only has basic Square, Triangle, and Circle button attacks, as well as a dodge technique and a long-range lightning bolt attack. He cannot guard, or use any magic, and he cannot initiate QTEs either. If any of the directional buttons are pressed, Zeus will taunt his enemies. After losing all of his health, he will perform a powerful attack that will greatly damage enemies in the arena and will resurrect after this event.
 * 28) Extremely sad ending. After fighting so hard, Kratos ended up losing Deimos during the fight against Thanatos, causing Kratos to sink into an angry depression which eventually gets the gears rolling for the events of God of War II.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) There is only one sub-weapon - Arms of Sparta - which can't be used in the end (since Kratos gives it to Deimos); there's no other sub-weapons in the game.
 * 2) The new magic you get aren't as strong as other magic in previous games. This is due to most of the magic items being worse version of pre-existing magic items. The Eye of Atlantis is a worse version of Cronos' Rage and Poseidon's Rage since you can only focus on one enemy as opposed to a circle of electricity that can damage multiple enemies at once, and the Scourge of Erinys is a slower version of the Army of Hades, but with voids instead of souls.

Reception
God of War: Ghost of Sparta has received generally positive acclaim from various media outlets.

IGN gave it a 9.5/10, and stated the graphics are "better than a big chunk of PS2 games" and that it is the "best-looking game on the PSP thus far." In terms of gameplay, "there's nothing unique here, but that's not a bad thing."

PlayStation: The Official Magazine gave it a 10/10, saying "Ghost of Sparta offers an immersive experience on par with many of the best PS3 games."

1UP gave it an A-, claiming the game is "a more personal story than the other GOW games, but one that still features the series' signature trademarks," also calling the sex mini-game "arguably the most over-the-top of the bunch."

Eurogamer awarded the game a 7/10, saying the "game's primary problem...is in its in-built focus. The God of War series... is principally concerned with endlessly upping the ante. The battle system is strong, but nothing without the world and set-pieces it drives. There is a sense that Ghost of Sparta is a step back for the series if you've played the PlayStation 3 game. The set-pieces, while incredible within the context of this handheld platform, seem tired when set against, for example, the opening scenes of God of War III. And when you take away the sense of wonder in a God of War game, the remaining components struggle to carry the experience." Eurogamer also states the game is "best enjoyed by newcomers" or "those yet to play" God of War III.

Game Informer gave the game a 9.5, staying that in terms of gameplay, "the other core fighting mechanics are familiar, but the tweaks go a long way toward improving gameplay." They also said that "Ghost of Sparta doesn’t have any mind-blowing moments" but "this isn’t an optional side-story; Ghost of Sparta is a must-play for God of War fans."

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