Tech Blog

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Quite possibly the most venerated of all the franchises in Sony's decorated library of games, God of War endures as one of gaming's most talked about series. The mere mention of a new entry in the series is enough to generate a flurry of excitement among the gaming community and a hype train that steams ahead unabated until the game's eventual launch.  Even a remake compilation such as the God of War Collection, which releases today, seemed to carry the weight of a main entry to the Kratos canon despite being revamped ports of 2005's God of War and 2007's God of War II.  There is still four months to wait before we'll have a chance to get our hands on God of War III, but what better to tide us over than high-definition versions of the two greatest PS2 action-adventure games of all time?

The two reworked God of War titles included in the collection feature many enhancements over their PS2 counterparts including full 1280 x 720 resolution on a single Blu-ray Disc.  Both titles run on PS3 code meaning you don't need a backwards-compatible PS3 console in order to run the games.  I've seen both upgraded games in action and while the graphics are well below the pristine-looking God of War III, when originally released on the PS2 God of War and God of War II ran at a resolution of 512 x 448.  Then again, I'd be hard-pressed to find any game that looks as good God of War III so maybe that's an unfair comparison.  Needless to say, both games have never looked better and the crisp visual upgrade make two of most playable games even more enjoyable to run through.

Another significant visual upgrade comes in the form of 2x anti-aliasing to help reduce edge artifacting (e.g. jagged edges) and provide smoother looking characters, objects and environments. The original released games had no anti-aliasing and to get around this the artists created art assets that were specifically created to keep aliasing to a minimum. Even better, by utilizing the power of the PS3 the developers at Bluepoint and Sony Santa Monica were able to boost the framerate to a full 60 frames per second creating a much smoother experience.  The textures in the games have also been improved through the utilization of advanced filtering software that increases the resolution of images as well as boosts the sharpness.  This same process was used on the game's cinematics, improving the overall fidelity when viewed in HD.  

For trophy fiends like me you'll be happy to hear that God of War and God of War II include a full collection of trophies, a first for the franchise.   

If you're on the fence about the whether to pick up the game or not (maybe you've already play through the original), it's worth noting the Sony has announced the compilation of both best-selling games will be value priced.  Also included in each retail copy of the game is a voucher for a free download of the God of War III E3 2009 demo.   Considering the caliber of both titles, the volume of upgrades and the free demo there is certainly a lot of value packed into the compilation.  I've put in about three hours into the remake of the original God of War and it's been an enjoyable experience so far.  I have a feeling I'll be playing through both games before the week is over.  I hope sleep doesn't mind taking a backseat.