For those that missed out on the game when it first came out, let me recap the story.

Plagued by haunting memories of his past, Kratos (the protagonist) hurls himself from the tallest mountain in the land. As he falls to his end, he relives the events that lead to this untimely demise. Which include all of his prior deads that made him known as the Ghost of Sparta as well as the events that lead him to giving up and taking his own life. Events such as gaining access to Pandora's Box and completing some of the tests and tribulations the other gods require before they aid him with magic and power. Aid he needs to complete his final goal, killing the god of war, Ares.

Controls:

Unlike other remakes to older titles, God of War keeps the same configuration as the original title did. So vetrans of the game will be able to hop right in and be able to start ripping the wings off of harpies with out delay. If you have never touched the games before, don't fret at all. They are as basic as you can expect them to be. Button presses for attacks and moving around and selecting with the left stick and D-Pad, respectfully. The only control that has a little bit of getting use to is that there is a fixed camera angle at all times and flicking the right stick will make Kratos do a dive/dodge in that direction. Something that can lead to a fatal fall when just trying to peak around a corner.

Graphics:

Now this is one of the sections of the game that was altered to get fans a bit less die hard than your's truly here to pick the game up again. A thing that does not let any one down for the most part. The textures and character models pop off the screen even more so than before now that it displays in more than the basic 480 display with the limitations of the PS2 and rendering options back when it first came to market. While not on par with the upcoming God of War III title, it is huge leaps and bounds ahead of where the original title was.

Unfortunately, there is a reason I said "for the most part" above. It does shine for about 90% of the game, but when the cut scenes that originally used the in game graphics for the first title play, it seems that in this version they just snagged video clips from the original and plugged that in instead of using the new improved graphics. Something I find kind of odd. Odd because you would think that it would have been easy to force the new upgrades to do what the old stuff did. But it doesn't look that way at all.

That stated though, the improvements to the overall game graphics and FMV clips make up for these few scenes of the game that are plagued that way. They are so few that they are minor detourants from getting the game for the new graphics upgrades.

If those improvements to graphics are not enough for you original fans, there have been a few other model updates to keep an eye out for as well. Like the fact that Kratos visually shoves his blades through enemies instead of being obscured by the models and blood, leaving to only the imagination the blade went in. Also if you are in for a few good laughs and sighs, creatures have been made a bit more anatomically correct. Yea, I'm talking ogre junk and harpy boobs here. No just the coloring to make you think you saw something.

Audio:

It might be just me, or the fact that I played the first title using only the built in TV speakers, but the audio for the game seems to be much crisper and a lot more, well, epic for lack of a better term. The music, the effects, and even the dialog all seem to be more inspiring and immersive. It feels like you can hear ever last drop of blood actually hit the ground, or that the agents of Ares are lurking around your real corner.

But like I said, this could all be my perceptions as SCEA has never stated they upgraded the audio all that much. But it did make for another great play through.

Gameplay:

Much like the controls, there has been little to no upgrades to the gameplay, outside of adding in the ability to show off how much like Kratos you are by adding in Trophy support. Yes, I know it isn't a huge gameplay addition, you may also think it isn't a gameplay function, but it does add a new dynamic to the way one plays the game. In this case one that adds something that felt missing from the PS2 games as there are things people brag about but could never prove they had done it unless they took video or had people present to show off to.

For instance, the Hitman trophies for doing large combos during the game or the Trophy for beating the game in under five hours. Yes you could say you did it before, but there was no solid proof. Now you can do these actions again and truly show you have done this and not just blowing smoke out your ass. It also forces you to try and truly save the High Priestess with ten seconds to spare or collect all of the Gorgan Eyes or even to climb the spiked wall of Hades without getting hurt. Things that could turn a rush through hack n' slash into a slow and steady hack, slash, n' explore. Just another dynamic to take in with this new iteration.

Final Words:

This new version of the game is what fans of the franchise have been wanting just as much as a remake to FFVII. Just the graphical upgrades and trophies alone should be enough for any fan to be able to justify $50 for two games. It is also a great upgrade to bring in new players for the franchise as now there will only be a short wait between the end of the second game and when the last game comes out. A wait that we fans before had years in between games to harsh out.

You might be asking yourself by now, wasn't this collection both God of War and God of War II? Short answer, yes it is. Long answer, it is truly two game and does require two full reviews. So look for part two to the God of War Collection review when I bring you my thoughts on the upgrades and changes to God of War II.

As stated, I am a huge God of War fan and recieved this title from SCEA and spent 8 hours on my main play through just to find all the nooks and crannies again.