God of War: Ghost of Sparta picks up on a loose end from
God of War, as well as a short conversation with Poseidon. Dedicated players undoubtedly unlocked the special ending in
God of War focusing on Kratos's brother. I think there was always a slight bit of speculation about how this would eventually play out (or, at least there was here at the site), but after three games, we were stumped.
Ghost of Sparta answers that question and even shows exactly why Poseiden is more than a little peeved with Kratos. I won't spoil anything, but when its all done,
Ghost of Sparta puts a bow on series and ties everything in nicely.
Gameplay sticks to the same tenets as previous games. A slash here, a stab there, and a few dismembered limbs... you get the idea. Ghost of Sparta doesn't try to reinvent the wheel; it just adds new treads and spinners.
As with Chains of Olympus, more focus is placed on combat than puzzles. This is a straight-out action game. A few puzzles pop up in each section, though slashing and stabbing usually play a part in the solution. Off the top of my head, I can't remember any really tricky puzzles, unless you consider figuring out the quickest way to take down a certain enemy a puzzle.
After the story, there's a series of unlockable challenges and the arena. Challenges place Kratos in difficult situations. In one, you need to open six chests, while in another, you bust through a giant box. Tasks are timed, plus you have to deal with increasingly aggressive enemies who will do everything they can to stop you. These are fun and support the underlying concepts that make God of War stand out amongst action games.
The Arena section is, for lack of a better explanation, a "debug mode" for combat. You set the enemy types, timer and difficulty. Next, you jump in and start fighting. It didn't hold my interest for long, though I do see some value in being able to set up a fight and hack away. If you count God of War as "stress relief," this is your mode.
Both extra modes feed into the Temple of Zeus, where you spend collected orbs on unlockable extras. I'm usually the type of player to chase every last item down, though the few items I unlocked didn't exactly push me to want to keep going. It's a personal value issue, not something "wrong" with the game.
