Introduction
When creating a new entry in an established series, it’s incredibly easy to fall into the trap of “just making another one.” Experimenting with the core of a game is risky because you could potentially lose the adoration of fans without creating new ones. This is why games like Madden, Fifa, Call of Duty, and Assassin’s Creed so rarely change things in any significant way and why games like God of War 2018 are so rare. However, that’s not to say these games don’t improve or have stand-out titles. Black Flag, Modern Warfare, and Madden 08 show that even slight improvements can breathe new life into a stale formula.
At its core, the Greek saga of the God of War franchise is pretty formulaic. Despite that, every game I’ve covered thus far has carved out its own unique gameplay identity aside from Chains of Olympus, which had the excuse of being the first portable entry. So imagine you’re tasked with creating a follow up to Chains of Olympus. How do you innovate when that game already pushed the PSP to its absolute limits? How does Ghost of Sparta create its own identity?
This is the question I asked myself before starting- is there any reason to play Ghost of Sparta besides getting more God of War gameplay? For Chains of Olympus the answer turned out to be no, but it was still an enjoyable experience due to its focus on combat. So let’s jump into the second and final portable God of War game to see if it can stand out among the rest.
Development History
I’m not entirely sure a God of War game can exist without a new director to take over. Dana Jan took the helm this time around, with the Ready At Dawn team getting started soon after the release of Chains of Olympus. The main goal was to create a game bigger than its predecessor, with the end product supposedly offering “25% more gameplay,” whatever that means. It was touted to have more enemies on screen, more detail, and push the PSP to its absolute limits.
Promotion for the game was pretty unique. By unlocking the platinum trophy in God of War 3, players were taken to a website with a meter on screen. As more players unlocked the platinum the meter filled up, eventually revealing an image of Kratos and the logo for Ghost of Sparta on May 4th, 2010. From there a cinematic trailer and demo became available at E3 and after a bit of hype was built up the game finally released on November 2nd, 2010 in North America.
The critics lauded its minor improvements, but some noted its similarities to the other games and that players may be getting tired with the series’ tropes. Even so, the general reception was close to the level of Chains of Olympus and it went on to win the award for “best handheld game” at the 2010 Spike Game Awards as well as get nominated for a BAFTA. In my last video, I was critical of Chains of Olympus for sticking too closely to the series roots without making major improvements. Going by the critical reception, this appears to be the case with Ghost of Sparta as well, so let’s boot it up and see if they were right.
Opening Sequence
The game starts as all the others do, with a shot of Kratos staring into the camera. It’s clear that the storm in the background exists to show off the new effects making the rain run down Kratos’s face and it looks nice. The story begins after the events of God of War 1, we see Kratos in his throne as the god of war. Out of nowhere he has a flashback of his past before hearing the cries of a woman begging for his help. He determines that these aren’t simple visions and sets off by boat to the city of Atlantis. Athena warns that his mission is unwise, but he laments her lies about taking away his nightmares and reaffirms his decision to change this particular vision.
Out of nowhere Atlantean warriors board the ship and attack. It’s kind of weird that Poseidon doesn’t warn Kratos to stay away or something beforehand, but I suppose this could be waived off as the Atlantians being fearful of Kratos considering the rampage he’s gone on throughout the rest of Greece (and given the events to come, that would be completely warranted).
We once again go through tutorials for the basic attacks. In the next room we’re introduced to a new ability- the Hyperion Charge. With this, Kratos runs towards an enemy, tackles them to the ground, and begins pummeling them to death. It’s incredibly satisfying, but unlike glory kills it can be interrupted by enemy attacks, meaning it’s pretty much useless outside of finishing off the final enemy in a group.
Outside we’re introduced to the Scylla, a giant tentacle monster attacking the ship. Kratos dodges and blocks the monster’s attacks while pushing forward and taking out its minions before being thrown to the shore and starting the first major fight. Design-wise the scylla is disappointingly similar to the basilisk from Chains of Olympus, just bigger and with tentacles coming out of its chest.
And the gameplay doesn’t change much either. Rather than blocking a bite and dodging fire breath, here the player has to block the tentacles and dodge its hand smashing into the ground. After a few rounds of fighting, Kratos launches a giant hook into the creature’s mouth before it runs away. As a fight it works fine and the scale is undeniably impressive, it’s just far too similar to the basilisk for my liking, with the tentacles attacking the ship being reminiscent of the first game’s hydra.
On the bright side, the game now has the QTE prompts on the sides of the screen, letting the action and spectacle take center stage. They’re still randomized, which kind of misses the point of these sections being about empowerment more than challenge, but it’s a much appreciated step in the right direction.
Now in Atlantis, Kratos slides down a rope, we get some quick swimming, climbing, and grappling tutorials, and eventually reach the first minotaur. The design is great and manages to stand out despite being a staple of the series. Their AI is also well-designed, with it having the ability to block incoming attacks while still being vulnerable most of the time, making for more quick decision making mid-combat when choosing a target. There’s a quick lesson on parrying projectiles with the golden fleece and a block sliding tutorial that utilizes the momentum-based pushing from God of War 2, which does wonders for the pacing.
Kratos fights some more minions before discovering the temple of Thanatos, leading to the domain of death. Which I guess is different from Hades? Maybe it’s just where Thanatos spends his free time? The game doesn’t make it very clear, just stating that the place is so dangerous that no mortal that’s entered has ever left.
There’s a quick fight against the first cyclops before arriving at the temple of Poseidon, which forces those who enter to know themself before they could enter. Kratos enters a vision of Sparta, watching him and his brother in a sparring session before encountering his mother Callisto… Who’s not part of the illusion I guess? She says his brother Deimos is alive, the key to saving him is in the temple of Ares, and whispers his father’s name (which we now know to be Zeus), but this unleashes a curse and transforms her into a horrifying beast, beginning a mini-boss fight.
For the most part the fight is neat, but really just a suped-up cyclops. Callisto mostly just flails around the room, occasionally smashing the ground or shoving Kratos against a wall for a QTE. After a couple minutes, Kratos kills the beast and it transforms into his mother just long enough for her to thank him for freeing her from the curse and tell him to find Deimos. And of course, Kratos is pissed about the matricide.
He grabs the Eye of Atlantis and we get a quick magic lesson, with the power being a directional beam of electricity that stuns and damages enemies. It’s not all that powerful and leaves you exposed from behind, making it a pretty useless spell. Soon after he catches a ride on the Scylla over to a volcano and the opening is concluded.
This intro has its ups and downs for sure. I love how much was able to be crammed into only an hour of gameplay while still being engaging. The improvements from the second console title are also great, an addition that wasn’t necessary, but makes a big difference. And the combat and visuals are much better than the first game, with more natural flow when fighting and more detail on the enemies and environments.
On the other hand, the story is a mess. Vague messages, odd uses of Greek mythology, and the premise for the game is easily the laziest in the series. Kratos randomly having visions and deciding to follow them is ridiculously convenient. Why not instead have him explore the archives of Olympus now that he’s the God of War and realize something’s not right with missing pages or something? Perhaps in an effort to find a loophole that would allow him to be with his wife and daughter again. As is, the game starts out like the writers had 3 minutes before a meeting to determine why the adventure begins.
Still, it gets the job done and sets us up for the adventure to come. With the amount of tiptoeing the writers needed to do to make a compelling story while not contradicting the existing alternate Greek mythos of the series is not to be overlooked. They were in a bind- stuck with making a prequel since the console games were between immediately sequential titles and given what they had to work with I’d say they did an alright job. But can they keep it up?
Story
Well, would you believe me if I said they didn’t really try? At least as far as the story goes. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. See, the majority of this game involves Kratos running through Greece looking for the other temples of the gods in order to access death’s domain. It’s easily the most straightforward plot in the series, which actually feels the most like an authentic Greek myth. As I said earlier, the writing staff was forced into a corner, so making the story light while emphasizing the spectacle, action, and adventure keeps things focused.
While exploring the volcano Kratos encounters the titan Thera and steals her magical fire, freeing her from her bonds and causing the eruption of the Methana Volcano, sending Atlantis into the sea. On the way out, he encounters the Scylla yet again and kills it in a QTE.
Running through the destroyed city, he curses a statue of Athena for lying about Deimos and she replies that she only wanted to protect him, warning that the gods would stop his efforts to save his brother. He then encounters a soldier amongst a blood-covered battlefield who says a female god spared his life so he could warn Kratos that death is coming for him. Then he dies, so I guess “spared” was a loose term.
Later on he encounters the gravedigger who calls him a fool. He warns Kratos that the gods won’t like his meddling and Kratos, predictably, doesn’t care. They go back and forth, with the gravedigger using terms like “my son” and stating that Kratos could be redeemed if he turned back, being coy about the gravedigger’s secret identity as if that wasn’t already obvious.
Climbing higher into the mountains, Kratos sees a Spartan soldier refusing to give a mysterious woman information on him, causing her to land a fatal wound. He finds the dying Spartan who warns him that the servants of death are coming after him. In a rare moment of compassion, Kratos compliments the soldier for his loyalty and congratulates him on being a true Spartan warrior to the end before the man passes away.
At the top of the mountain he finds and fights the woman- Erinys, daughter of Thanatos, and in the process she conveniently flies him close to Sparta. After killing her and entering the city, Kratos is treated like a king. We get a quick look around Sparta and it’s pretty cool seeing his home, even if the rendering capability of the PSP limits the amount of detail and NPCs that can be in the environment, they did their best to create a solid atmosphere.
Upon reaching his childhood home, Kratos has a vision of the past. He remembers the day his brother was stolen and the narration tells us that after the war with the titans, an oracle foretold that a mortal warrior with a mark would cause the demise of Olympus. The silhouettes of Ares and Athena appear on horseback, with Ares grabbing Deimos and shoving Kratos to the side before Athena steps in and prevents his death.
Continuing to the temple, he encounters a dissenter singing the praises of Ares. Kratos chases him down, defeats the Praeus lion the dissenter unleashes, and kills the man. He also finds a group of Spatans tearing down a statue of Ares to be replaced with one of him in front of the temple. Here he has a quick encounter with his younger self, granting him the key to death’s domain, the skull of Keres, meaning it’s now time to head back to Atlantis. A soldier gives Kratos his old spear and shield from when he was a captain of the army before he plunges back to the depths of the earth and finds King Midas. The mad king is lamenting the death of his now-golden daughter and turns some lava to gold before running off.
The ghost of Sparta finds Midas, tosses him into the waterfall of lava to make a climbable surface, and continues to Atlantis, which seems much closer than expected considering how far he and Erinys flew to get to Sparta. He takes a boat to the sinking city and hops inside.
Upon his arrival Poseidon scolds him for the death of his city and further in Athena warns him yet again. Her words prompt Kratos to realize that she was with Ares when he took Deimos. He reprimands her for saving him over his brother and laments his own inability to literally kill a god as a child before continuing on his mission.
Eventually he reaches the domain of death where, after a few simple battles, he finds Deimos strung up in the branches of a tree and holding massive gauntlets. Kratos frees him, which prompts his brother to attack out of spite. The god of war eventually gives up and just before Deimos finishes him off, Thanatos (bafflingly) flies in to hang Deimos off a cliff before jumping off while holding on tight.
Kratos regains his strength and chases after them, arriving just as Thanatos pushes Deimos off the edge of a cliff, then leaves the Spartan hanging on for his life. Kratos reaches his brother, saves him, and the two face off against the god of death. During the fight Deimos is killed, Kratos uses Kaio Ken to finish off the god, and carries his brother to a grave prepared by the gravedigger.
Apparently this leads to the suicide bluffs… without going back through the portal out of death’s domain… And before attempting to jump off again Athena appears and congratulates Kratos for giving up his ties to the mortal world before officially making him a god. Athena apologizes to her brother under her breath, and he makes his way into Olympus, stating that the gods will pay before the credits roll. In a post-credits scene, the gravedigger puts Callisto next to Deimos and remarks that only one remains before the camera cuts to Kratos, sitting at his throne, just like at the end of the first game.
And man, this plot is tough to nail down. The broader strokes are decent enough for a roundabout journey where Kratos finds a door, gets the key, goes back to the door, finds his brother, and kills the god of death. Nothing intricate, no special twists or complications, it’s a simple story in the vein of classic Greek myths. But the very second you go beyond the surface level of the plot, everything falls apart.
There are just so many questions and plot points that make no sense. I’ve already mentioned some in the synopsis, but there are so many more from little nitpicks to major inconsistencies. So here’s a quick rundown: Why does stealing Thera’s Bane free her from her bonds? Why did Ares kidnap Deimos instead of killing him (especially since Zeus’s remark in the post-credits scene implies that Deimos’s death was part of his plan all along)? Why does everyone seem to think Kratos’s inability to stop the fucking God of War as a child is his fault? It makes sense for Kratos to have some misplaced guilt, especially considering what happened with his family, but everyone else should know better.
And once we’re in the domain of death everything goes tits up. If Deimos died here, couldn’t Kratos just head down to Hades to pick him up? Why didn’t Thanatos just let Deimos kill Kratos? Why did the idiot fly off after leaving him hanging? How did they all get out of the domain and up to the bluffs? How did Deimos become so powerful and where did he get weaponry if he was strung up and tortured this entire time? If Kratos was already the god of war, what power did Athena give him at the end? And why would Zeus even allow that if he planned to kill Kratos?
I know this series doesn’t really use its story as a selling point. I know it’s meant to just be a fun, brutal romp through Greece, but when there are this many nonsensical decisions it just feels like the writers gave up. They didn’t even bother to explain how Kratos lost his powers. It’s a shame too. I really like the idea of exploring Kratos’s past and even the individual plot points like him being the reason Atlantis sank, but the laziness in the script from character motivations to the conveniences in progression, to the coincidental nature of the inciting action all serve to make this the weakest story I’ve covered in the series thus far.
Characterization
And when I say it’s a shame I really mean it because this is actually one of the best portrayals of Kratos in the entire series. While the characterization doesn’t go too deep, there are a lot of great little touches here and there that add a ton of humanity to the ghost of Sparta. Over the course of his adventure we get different outside forces that act as reflections onto himself.
His calm praise of the dying Spartan shows that he can be compassionate towards others and possibly that he sees himself as a sort of father figure to the city now that their previous god is dead. On the opposite side of the spectrum, his killing of the dissenter shows that while he may be good to the Spartans as their god, the power is getting to his head and he’s truly becoming one of the Olympians he hates, something emphasized by asking, “What have I become?” at the end of the story.
Not to mention his reception in Sparta is certainly fitting. While it may be a bit too much of a power fantasy, the city stands as a reminder of his accomplishments and failings all in one place. With the death of his mother, the Spartan army is really the closest thing he has to a family and the dissenter serves to show how frail even that relationship is, which further fuels his desire to find Deimos. This also serves to explain why he refused to fight back after fighting his brother, as he would rather die than kill another family member.
Of course the best parallel to Kratos is King Midas. Midas is to wealth as Kratos is to power, with both men being blinded by their desires, resulting in the deaths of their respective families. While Kratos is certainly his typically brutal self towards the king, it’s clear he also pities the man, knowing the pain he’s gone through. It reaffirms that Kratos isn’t just doing this out of a sense of duty or even for his brother, but to make up for all of the past wrongs in his life. He can’t save his family, but he can save his brother.
Speaking of whom, Deimos is an odd duck. Strung up and tortured for most of his life, it’d make sense for him to blame Kratos for his torment. Him attacking Kratos makes sense, but he really does change his mind quickly, doesn’t he? Plus the flashbacks of the two as children don’t really tell us much about them. Maybe if Kratos were the timid one as a child instead of Deimos, we could have inferred that his brother’s capture partially fueled his determination.
Unfortunately, as he’s currently written, Deimos is just a plot device. He exists to tie Kratos to the story and dies at the end to wrap everything up. He’s not in the story long enough to give gravity to his death and his character traits are nearly non-existent. It’s not exactly terrible, just bog standard.
As far as the other branch of his family tree goes, Callisto was… fine. Honestly she kind of appeared and disappeared so quickly that there’s not much to say, which is a shame considering that, as the mother of the god of war and lover of Zeus, she could’ve been a much more interesting character rather than just a plot device, but it seems like that’s all Kratos’s family can really be without a road trip to Scandinavia.
As far as the villains go, we have Thanatos and Zeus, the completely incompetent idiots. I won’t go over that again, but I will say that Thanatos is mostly here to be a big scary final boss, the other gods are only around to give Kratos warnings that he completely ignores, and Zeus is just confusing. His motivations shift back and forth constantly. It’s clear that the writers wanted him to come off as this Moriarty-like character, manipulating the circumstances to his advantage, but none of his actions actually make sense and nothing he set up in this game leads to him being better off than he was at the beginning.
So while the quality of the character writing isn’t all that great, the personality added to Kratos is still interesting. I wish the writers had put more effort into filling plot holes and making characters more consistent, but unfortunately the writing feels like an afterthought.
Presentation
What did work out are those graphics. While not a massive step up in terms of actual fidelity, the level of detail and scale has improved quite a bit. Textures are more intricate, character animations are more fluid, and variety has been improved overall. For example, the enemy designs for the minotaurs in Chains of Olympus were solid, but pretty basic and lacking detail. In Ghost of Sparta, they’re covered in scars and have extra tufts of fur that, while not mind-blowing, do serve to make their designs more distinct.
However, the biggest improvement is to the environments. In Chains of Olympus, many locations felt far too similar and the atmosphere was lacking due to the simplistic environmental design. Ghost of Sparta goes all out, with the camera occasionally pulling back to showcase the beautifully rendered backgrounds, really adding to the epic scope of being in the world of Greek mythology.
The variety is also commendable. Sparta and Atlantis both have their own unique designs, combat arenas vary by location in terms of size and layout, and despite returning to the volcano and Atlantis later in the game, they’re both much different the second time around, being in a state of disrepair. It’s these little changes that show how much effort was put into the visuals, even if they needed to reuse assets to fit the game on a PSP disk. The one exception would be death’s domain feeling a bit empty and lifeless, but I mean… It’s death’s domain.
The music also got a major upgrade. While the soundtrack itself is pretty typical for the series, it’s still great. But what’s more important is the use of the score in key moments. Ghost of Sparta fixed the bugs with music not playing and added the score in moments that would’ve been uncomfortably silent in Chains of Olympus. It feels weird praising a game for not having bugs, but it’s an improvement over its predecessor and gives the wonderful score by Gerard Marino and Mike Reagan the respect it deserves.
Of course on the whole the game is extremely similar to Chains of Olympus, but with the hardest work already done in that title the team had the unique opportunity to go even further in their efforts, pushing the PSP to its absolute limits and it clearly paid off, potentially even rivalling the PS2 games in terms of presentation.
Combat
Of course, God of War is an action game and much like how Chains was nearly identical to the first game, Ghost is on par with the second. The blades are still their typical slashy selves, with all of the tools and powers seen in the other games. It’s a bit odd that the same combos have to be unlocked yet again, but that’s just game balance (and at least the golden fleece returns to make parrying faster and more enjoyable). There is the new tackling maneuver mentioned earlier, but it’s only useful in one-on-one fights against human-sized enemies.
The new weapon introduced is the arms of sparta. The spear and shield make for a solid weapon choice, but they’re also thematically appropriate as the traditional Spartan arms. It’s actually surprising how long it took to add them to the repertoire. The best thing about the arms is the ability to throw spears, something usually relegated to spells in the other games, now making weak, but useful projectiles a permanent staple of the toolkit.
As a weapon, the spear has a shorter range and linear fighting style, making it better for one-on-one fights. Unfortunately, the arms are obtained late enough in the game that their increased power is likely outdone by the upgrades put into the blades. This means that the player is forced to either improve the blades with more upgrades or put everything into the arms and considering the versatility of the blades in most fights and the rarity of one-on-one bouts, it leaves the arms sitting at the wayside. Hell, Kratos even gives them to Deimos during the final fight, so even the developers thought players wouldn’t mind losing access to them.
As far as the spells go, there are three new additions which are certainly more unique than those in its predecessor. However, they’re not all winners. The Eye of Atlantis obtained in the opening is incredibly weak, leaves Kratos vulnerable to attacks, and isn’t a great replacement for an area of effect attack. The horn of Boreas is a cool idea, being able to freeze enemies in place, but the range and freeze duration are far too short to make the weapon truly viable. Either of these may have worked as a last resort, but they’re practically useless when compared to the Scourge of Erinys.
This power fires out a massive projectile with a ton of useful effects. It has a magnetic force that pulls enemies in, staggers even the largest of monsters, deals a decent chunk of damage, and lasts long enough to allow the player to get some hits in. It’s the perfect way to get out of a bind and makes the other two magic items redundant. It’s a shame for them, but this power is both useful in combat and satisfying to use.
However, the most significant addition to the gameplay is Thera’s bane. Unlike the console games, here the player’s third meter isn’t used to activate a rage mode, but instead acts as a rechargeable power that ignites the blades. This not only increases damage, but also allows the player to stick enemies with a time bomb after executing certain moves and combos. This deals a ton of damage and staggers every enemy around. It’s a great addition that keeps combat interesting and unique for the series.
The only downside is that some enemies can only be damaged by fire, which means that if you run out you’re forced to wait for the fire to return before attacking again. It’s not a super common issue, but I think if regular attacks just dealt diminished damage instead the rare moments of waiting for more fire could’ve been removed completely.
The camera has also been improved a bit. It still has the issue of not being able to zoom out as much as needed to show the entire battlefield, but enemies are less inclined to attack from off screen and the arenas are better designed for the game’s limitations. It does also zoom out a bit more, making fights a lot more fair and enjoyable. It’s not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.
So overall the combat is a vast improvement over Chains of Olympus. While much of it is par for the course the tiny tweaks and improvements really shine through and keep each battle engaging. The new additions have a lot more creativity, especially when compared to its predecessor, making it easier to recommend Ghost of Sparta since it really does feel somewhat unique- a surprising trait for the sixth game in the series.
Enemies
That said, not everything can be so unique. The enemies in Ghost of Sparta are, for the most part, carbon copies of those in God of War 2 and Chains of Olympus. The Atlantians are just more common foot soldiers, the elemental variants of certain creatures are just aesthetically different, and even the harpies went back to their old dive bomb attacks instead of the swooping tackles from Chains of Olympus.
However, there are some changes that really work in the game’s favor. For one, armored enemies are now defeated by using Thera’s bane, which may occasionally have issues with waiting for a recharge as mentioned earlier, but it’s still much faster than switching weapons and offers more versatility than requiring a specific combo, meaning combat is interrupted even less than before.
There are also a few new enemies in the roster. The Dredge of Boreas is a cool new take on the cerberus, spawning smaller versions of itself as it’s damaged, encouraging the player to be more tactical in deciding when to attack so as not to get overwhelmed. It has a few unique powers that can make for a really fun fight, so it’s a great addition to the roster. The geryon is also neat, a massive metal statue holding a giant lightning orb. They’re not too threatening, but can make combat more interesting with their lightning attacks and ability to teleport.
The final major additions are the automatons, giant mechanical enemies that use their gears as weapons. Their attacks have a wide range and shorter wind up than anything else in the game, making them a decent challenge. They need to be defeated with Thera’s bane as well, meaning the name of the game is figuring out how to dodge their attacks until the power recharges then looking for an opening to land a combo that plants a time bomb.
The best thing about the combat encounters this time around is the variety. Despite the game being longer than Chains of Olympus, it’s less repetitive since the enemies show up in a bunch of different combinations for each fight. It makes each encounter feel more unique and requires different approaches to come out on top. This is helped by the increased number of enemies per encounter, meaning the battlefields also become more hectic and exciting. It does still get a bit same-y by the end, but for the most part it manages to be entertaining from start to finish.
That said, while Ghost of Sparta is undoubtedly more challenging than Chains of Olympus, it’s not by much. It’s still a pretty easy ride since the typical combat encounters never really go all out and tend to stick to the usual enemies of cyclops, gorgons, soldiers, minotaurs, and the like. It would’ve been great to have a fight involving both an automaton and a geryon or maybe a new monster that could only be taken out by a tackle that could’ve been blocked in a fight with some cyclops. So while the variety is commendable and combat enjoyable, it still lacks creativity in how the fights are set up. Better than Chains of Olympus, but nothing innovative for the series as a whole.
Bosses
And on a related note, the bosses. Let’s be honest, with the core gameplay of God of War being the same for every entry except Betrayal, making new boss fights feel truly unique and special, especially on the PSP, is a big ask. So while originality is always important for a boss fight, it’s understandable that the team would have trouble standing out among the series' history under these limitations. Though that doesn’t mean they phoned it in, not by a long shot.
As mentioned in the opening the Scylla was a bit too similar to other enemies in the series, but a solid tutorial boss. It’s unceremoniously finished off in a QTE in the volcano. Kind of odd to leave the fight on an open note to just finish it later with a scripted sequence, but I guess they wanted something to break up the gameplay during the escape. Callisto is also pretty cool and has a fantastically creepy design, even if her fight is relatively basic.
Then we get to the other bosses. First is Erinys. She’s foreshadowed a bit, but really comes out of nowhere as a typical minion. Her attacks are fast and fluid on the ground and she has the ability to pull Kratos into a void and summon birds to distract from the fight. She can also send out a blast that deals decent damage. It’s a really cool first phase with the player needing to adapt to her wide range of attacks in different ways.
After the player rips off both of her wings, she transforms into a giant bird, beginning a QTE sequence. Kratos hunts her down, jumping from platform to platform and tearing into her any chance he gets. There’s also a really strange ending where the player has to hold X to free fall towards the dive bombing bird before latching on and dealing a series of blows. There’s no health bar and as far as I can tell no way to actually fail this part, and it’s so slow that it’s not really satisfying. Just a weird way to wrap things up.
What’s weirder is the decision to have Kratos land a few yards away from Erinys, forcing the player to dodge her incoming blasts before reaching the prompt for the final QTE. A really pointless endeavor that feels like it was meant to be more at some point (maybe another phase), but trimmed down to save time. Either way, Kratos kills the bird lady and while the ending lacks finesse, the fight itself is really fun.
Unfortunately, the Piraeus lion sent out by the dissenter isn’t quite as well thought out. The fight doesn’t last very long and as far as I can tell the massive beast is just a big kitten with three simple attacks- a claw swipe that can be blocked or parried, a slam that needs to be dodged, and a roar that staggers Kratos for a bit. Maybe it’s because I used the scourge of Erinys to stagger the beast, but this fight was over almost as soon as it started. A decent mini-boss to shake things up, but it would’ve been more intimidating if it were immune to some of the stronger abilities.
Then we have the fight against child Kratos in the temple of Ares. I hesitate to call this a boss fight for one major reason- you cannot lose. I tried, and for a couple minutes I got a decent chuckle watching this child version of our protagonist beat the shit out of his older self. But eventually I got bored, beat the QTE a few times, chucked the kid into the mirror and won the fight. And while the encounter itself isn’t really a fight, but instead a cutscene with intermittent pauses, I do like the theming. It’s so indicative of the series as a whole, with Kratos literally fighting the demons of his past, so while it fails as a gameplay challenge, it works really well as a character moment and a representation of the game’s central theme.
The next fight comes near the end of the game. Deimos challenges Kratos to a one-on-one bout and it’s a cool idea, even if it makes no sense for him to be this strong. He can jump in the air and slam into the ground with a shockwave that breaks Kratos’s block, form a dust cloud that leaves Kratos staggered and open to attack, and throw a haymaker with a big windup, but a pretty strict window for parrying. It’s a unique moveset for the series and could have been a really cool fight… Except...
Alright, so I know the idea of exploiting design flaws is frowned upon by some, but this is a bit too obvious. Turns out that rather than carefully timing attacks and blocks and dodging on cue, Deimos can be more or less neutered by a tackle. 90% of this fight consisted of me running into him and dealing some damage before getting kicked off and repeating. I will acknowledge that the developers tried to fix this by allowing Deimos to reverse the grapple halfway through the fight, but he still takes damage so the strategy doesn’t change. It’s not a terrible fight per se, especially since the tackle is useless for a majority of the game and not likely to be on every player’s mind by the end, but it could’ve been a bit better if he tossed Kratos away mid-tackle rather than tanking the hit and rolling over.
This fight may have been more effective as a 2D brawl, like the flashback sequence. Maybe if that sequence were replaced with a cutscene, a boss fight here could have flashed between the modern fight and the sparring session, adding a bit of emotional weight and some more variety to the fight. Kratos also could’ve been injured when distracted by his memories, explaining how Deimos won. It could’ve been a lot more impactful, but it doesn’t really detract from the game as a whole.
Thankfully, Deimos is just the appetizer preparing players for the main course- Thanatos. The brothers team up in a way that’s actually really similar to God of War 2018, with Deimos being commanded to throw a spear at Thanatos when the player presses down on the D-pad, needing a short cool down period between throws. They don’t do a ton of damage and aren’t necessary to fight outside of QTEs though, so I think it would’ve been better if Thanatos had an attack that needed to be stopped by a spear. Still, a clever way to add the teamwork dynamic to the fight.
Thanatos is one of the most dynamic opponents in the entire series. He can slam into the ground with his sword, charge forward, and send a blast through the ground towards Kratos. He can also take to the sky, land on a cliffside, and jump down to incapacitate Kratos while he attacks Deimos. Kratos can then jump on his back and the brothers initiate a combo attack. There’s a lot to consider when approaching this fight and it’s a real blast. Eventually the Spartans team up in a satisfying QTE where they knock the god off a cliff before he transforms into a giant demon.
Now he’s able to swipe with his forearm, slam the ground with his fist hard enough to send out another blast, and spit out an energy ball similar to the scourge of Erinys, which is both challenging to parry and a cool way to connect him to his daughter through gameplay. Eventually the armor on his forearms is taken out and he kills Deimos in a cutscene. This enrages Kratos and grants the player an infinite supply of Thera’s bane. In this final sequence Kratos lays into the god until he’s forced to shrink back down, tosses him around the arena, and finally finishes him off.
And this is the first fight on the PSP that felt like it could’ve just as easily been in the console games. It’s a stellar two-stage fight with a satisfying conclusion. Little details like Thanatos’s energy blasts and killing the god with the power of a titan also add flavor to the fight. It’s everything a player could want from a final encounter and it’s amazing they pulled it off on a handheld in 2008.
So while the boss fights in this game have their ups and downs, no one can say they lack sufficient effort. It’s clear the team wanted to make each one a memorable experience and while they didn’t always succeed, the work put in is clear and makes for a game that’s absolutely worthy of the God of War namesake.
Platforming
But hey, that’s enough positivity- let’s talk about the platforming. Yeah, I hate to say it, but Ghost of Sparta’s implementation of platforming challenges might be the worst in the series since God of War 1. Remember how Chains of Olympus cut down on platforming so much that it was barely in the game, making for a more focused experience? Well, Ghost of Sparta attempted to rise to the challenge, implementing changes made in God of War 2 and adding in platforming challenges of their own. Unfortunately, they miss the mark.
The plank walking cut in Chains of Olympus is back, but there aren’t any obstacles to avoid while walking, meaning the sequences are just a slower way to progress. Chains that would’ve been a quick means of transitioning between locations in the previous title now feature the return of chain combat, which is just as boring as before, being on par with God of War Betrayal. The climbing segments add quick jumps from God of War 2, but the combat is still slow and the challenges are rudimentary. Even the coolest segment in the game in which players swing between two walls while dodging falling rocks is an exact copy of a sequence in God of War 2 and it even crashed the game on me.
Unlike the previous game, Ghost of Sparta does have some timed platforming sequences, but none of them really stand out, with the majority still being handled in QTEs. Those that do require player input often act as instant death traps, which are more annoying than challenging. All in all, is the platforming terrible? No, the controls are still there and players who miss classic sequences from the first game might enjoy their return, but design-wise it’s a clear step back from Chains of Olympus.
Puzzles
On the opposite end of the spectrum is how the puzzles were handled. While Chains of Olympus has little to no platforming and a few really tedious puzzles, Ghost of Sparta has really tedious platforming and little to no puzzles. There’s one or two sequences involving some critical thinking, but for the most part progression is pretty straightforward. The closest the game comes to a real puzzle is this sequence involving a crane and it just involves using a dead body to activate a switch and moving the crane to progress.
I really wish I could say more, but if there’s something I’m forgetting it appears that the rest of the internet forgot it too since searching for “Ghost of Sparta puzzle help” only results in the IGN walkthrough and a GameFAQs walkthrough that doesn’t even mention the word ‘puzzle’ once. Their omission isn’t missed when compared to the first game and given everything else they’ve managed to accomplish here, cutting the puzzles in favor of a more focused experience was the right call.
Level Design
Though even with that extra focus, the level design is really inconsistent. At first, the small changes to the gameplay increase the pace, with the beginning and even most of the middle of the game being a tight, enjoyable experience, but then the ending slams on the brakes in a way I rarely see outside of indie games that pad their runtime to justify their cost.
But first, the good. Invisible walls are a lot less of an issue and the addition of minotaur horns makes finding hidden chests a more lucrative endeavor and more fun. They’re still not particularly well hidden, but it’s definitely better than the constant dead ends in Chains of Olympus.
And as far as the levels go, they have a lot more variety in how they’re traversed, when enemies appear, and when major events occur to shake up the typical formula. Gone are the linear hallways from the previous game, replaced with sprawling outdoor areas and little obstacles here and there to keep progression entertaining, but man, what happened in the second half?
Past the midway point everything just feels so much slower. Every obstacle and unique challenge is too bogged down, repetitive, or meandering to be enjoyable. It’s like the developers got to the end of the game and became insecure about being shorter than Chains of Olympus, so they added a hodgepodge of random roadblocks to pad things out.
Dragging Midas along the floor and constantly dropping him to finish off repetitive wolf enemies, unnecessary combat encounters, these vines in death’s domain that don’t serve as a challenge but need to be burned to progress, the slooooow contraptions when returning to the sunken Atlantis, boring underwater platforming with chests that take ages to open, the return of long as fuck chain shimmying and plank walking, it’s all delay with no actual gameplay purpose, culminating in the worst offender that I’ve dubbed the wheel of tedium.
While obviously not the only problem area in the game, this section is the epitome of everything wrong with the level design. This walkway needs to be rotated to reach the next area, with the player needing to take out some gears holding open a door to block incoming flames. While the door is open, the player can hide behind the arms of Sparta shield until the flames stop, take out the door, and rotate the platform. This needs to be done repeatedly since the gears inexplicably heal themselves, with the player constantly needing to stop and even rotate a full three quarters of the way around if they want to get the chests on either side of the room.
So it’s slow, has the player repeating something that poses no challenge after the first success, and forces them to decide between boredom or missing out on an upgrade. In and of itself this area isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it’s just so acutely indicative of the tedium in this half of the game and such a perfect display of flawed game design that I felt it warranted a mention.
Ghost of Sparta isn’t a slog per se, but it gets pretty close. It’s almost like the team switched level designers halfway through- that’s how stark the difference is. The entirety of Death’s domain involves climbing, block pushing, chain swinging, all of the tedious filler the series offers. I can confidently say the design is enjoyable as a whole, but that’s more of a testament to the core gameplay in the God of War series than to the talents of this game’s designers.
Post-Game
And as if that wasn’t enough tedium, there’s one final thing I have to mention. Normally I don’t discuss post-game content since it’s usually seen as a bonus rather than a major aspect of the game, but here it’s just so bizarre that it’s almost impossible to not talk about it. See, typically the game has a few side challenges to keep the player busy and give them something unique to do with their moveset that may not have fit into the structure of the game itself. It’s neat, but nothing special. In Ghost of Sparta, it’s just more blatant padding.
In the campaign, players visit the temples of Poseidon and Ares, but in the post-game they get access to the temple of Zeus where they can unlock new items like enemies for the battle arena, costumes, and even the second half of the challenge levels, but the currency to get these rewards is red orbs. The catch is that you can’t see what you’re purchasing before you buy it, which is stupid in and of itself, but even worse is that to buy everything it costs a grand total of one million orbs, which is about 10 full playthroughs or about 45 minutes of grinding in the battle arena, which, for the record is boring as hell.
For all of that you unlock access to the bottom of the temple where you find the Gravedigger’s shovel and unlock him as a costume in the arena. There, he transforms into Zeus, officially confirming what everyone already knew. And while it’s a cute addition, by the time players unlock this skin, they’re bound to be finished with the game altogether and Zeus’s move pool isn’t fun or unique enough to warrant extra play time, especially since he can’t be used in the campaign mode.
Final Thoughts
The core question I wanted to answer when starting Ghost of Sparta was whether it’s worth playing amongst the pile of games comprising the rest of the series, especially considering how skippable Chains of Olympus turned out to be. But I also wanted to know whether it deserved the slightly lower review scores when compared to the other title.
And in that regard I think there are a few reasons the game wasn’t received quite as well. Chains of Olympus got a pass for being the first portable game and as such critics were likely less harsh. Also, while that game came out after God of War 2, this one followed God of War 3, which had a massive jump in visual fidelity, scale, gameplay variety and quality of life improvements for the series. Plus series fatigue was beginning to set in, with Kratos’s fate up in the air at the time, a prequel felt overindulgent. And with the end of the game being so slow, it likely left a bad taste in reviewers’ mouths.
On a relative scale it may seem like more of the same, but part of the benefit of a retrospective is the ability to acknowledge those sorts of biases and judge the game on its own merits. And to the team’s credit, they tried. I actually consider Ghost of Sparta to be better than Chains of Olympus overall, even with the blatant padding, nonsensical plot points, and tedium. It’s classic God of War, and the most important part of God of War, the combat, has been vastly improved. So I’d say it’s certainly worth giving a shot.
Ghost of Sparta isn’t a perfect game, but it’s one with a lot of passion behind its development. Whether you like it or not, you have to at least respect the effort on display. Next time I’ll be finishing the Greek saga for good by covering God of War Ascension and that’s sure to be an interesting trip. But for now, I hope you enjoyed the video and as always, have a mighty nifty day today!