God of War: Ghost of Sparta

The first attempt at bringing the God of War series into a portable system was not very successful. Chains of Olympus suffered with a shallow story that only became interesting near the finish line and an equally shallow combat system that further reduced the complexity of mechanics that were never originally complicated to begin with. Ghost of Sparta, then, represents a new chance to make the franchise work on the PSP and, while it corrects some issues from the previous title, it makes new mistakes that still negatively affect the experience.

In Ghost of Sparta, Kratos, after becoming a god himself, begins to have mysterious visions that lead him to the city of Atlantis. There, he discovers his family’s fate and decides to embark on a journey to free his brother from the clutches of the God of Death, Thanatos.

Despite the alluring premise, the game’s story is hardly exciting. The Spartan wants his brother back and starts to kill everyone to get him back. The whole drama surrounding his family, then, is once more reflected in his bloodthirstiness, which makes the whole thing thematically redundant: the first God of War did the same thing, after all. So, since it once again puts Kratos’ rage in the spotlight due to his family, Ghost of Sparta is simply treading old ground, telling the same story with another coat of paint.

But to make matters worse, the few elements that make up the story are far from coherent. The motivations of various characters, for example, change without any plausible explanation just to suit the needs of the moment: Kratos’ brother, Deimos, goes from “I hate you! You didn’t protect me! I’m going to kill you!” to “Raaawr! We are Brothers in Arms!” after a single battle. Athena’s inconsistency is even worse: she spends a huge amount of time criticizing the Spartan’s journey to, without any reason, defend it at the end.

Another serious problem is the quality of the dialogues, which are rife with exposition and redundancy. Right after Kratos’s mother exclaims “Finally, I am free,” the narrator immediately repeats the information, but… with more words: “she released the weight of her burden, and finally found the peace she had long sought.” Kratos’ visions are not explained either (apparently, being tormented by visions is just his thing) and the narrative doesn’t even bother to contextualize the loss of his powers: Ghost of Sparta takes place right after the events of the first God of War, but Kratos appears devoid of his magic, energy, and strength without any explanation whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the mission of saving his brother could lead the Kratos to interesting places such as Atlantis, Sparta, and the Land of the Dead. However, such settings never have the chance to come to life due to the extreme linearity of the level design. Chains of Olympus suffered a little from this problem, but it still contained the Temple of Helios, a small maze with several interconnected halls. Ghost of Sparta, on the other hand, is entirely made up of corridors. When Kratos visits Sparta we’ll see several soldiers bowing to the protagonist, people walking down the streets and even some markets teeming with life. However, with the exception of a brothel, Kratos will be prevented from exploring the city altogether.

When it comes to the combat system, there are some improvements over its predecessor. This time around, a new mechanic has been introduced: the ability to set Kratos’ weapons on fire, which deals more damage to armored enemies and stuns others with a small explosion. New monsters have also been included to add diversity to the action, and one particular creature, a kind of female specter, impresses with its ferocity, as it launches both small and long-range attacks, as well as an annoying, difficult-to-avoid grab – being a force to be reckoned with even in small numbers. The bosses, however, never come close to matching the series’ standard: Scylla is basically the Chains of Olympus Basilisk with tentacles sticking out of its body, and the final clash with Thanatos is devoid of any creativity: the player, when tired of abusing the “square, square, triangle” combo, can just push a button to make Deimos help the Spartan – and that’s basically the whole battle.

Ghost of Sparta may have improved Chains of Olympus’ combat system to some extent but it is still dragged down by a story with nothing new to say, boring level design, and bland boss battles.

February 16, 2025.

Review originally published in Portuguese on September 26, 2019.