Mike Deneen, designer at Ready at Dawn Studios, developers of Kratos’ second outing on PSP, talks about the game’s story, its weapons, characters and more.
How does the story of this game fit in with the other titles in the series?
The story takes place between God of War and God of War II; at the end of God of War, Kratos ascended to the throne of the god of war and in God of War II he is on a complete warpath. Our game bridges those two points, covering a really personal story as to why Kratos becomes as enraged as he is at the beginning of God of War II.
What updates have you introduced to the combat system?
We have a much deeper combat system this time around. We’ve got the Hyperion Charge which is a move where Kratos can run at a guy and mount them, beat them up and throw them. We also have a spear and shield weapon, which is a throwback to real Spartan army days; he takes out a gigantic shield and moves around and blocks like an old Spartan. He can also throw spear projectiles at enemies. On the magic front there is the Eye of Atlantis magic; it’s in this kind of brass, ornate giant eyeball that he holds and it emits a gigantic force of electricity at the enemy. It’s a really spectacular manoeuvre.
What feedback have you taken on board from the community in developing this title?
When we started working on this title, we looked very closely at what people liked and disliked about God of War: Chains of Olympus and we felt we addressed a lot of this as well as adding stuff we wanted to put in. People wanted a much bigger game, they wanted some of the abilities he had in the other God of War games, so we’ve gone ahead and we’ve made a much bigger game. We’ve also included grapple points, a fully fledged navigation system, a deeper combat system and bigger enemies!
What can you reveal about the new enemies players will encounter?
We like to say that the first boss in Ghost of Sparta can eat the first boss in Chains of Olympus whole – it’s that big. We ramped it up across the board in that respect.
Are there any other new characters for players to look out for?
There are lots of new ones to look forward to. We promise you a lot of popular Greek mythological characters that we’d like to show you pretty soon.
How much bigger is this game than God of War: Chains of Olympus?
It’s hard to quantify; certainly there are a lot of big moments in this game that we felt we didn’t have enough of in Chains of Olympus. Some of the ones they loved in Chains of Olympus such the moment where Kratos chooses his journey of revenge over the relationship with his daughter… we focused on those kinds of encounters this time around. So it’s a very personal story, you get really up close and personal to a lot of the characters. There are a lot more characters you can interact with as well. Everything about it is much more deep and full so it’s definitely a much bigger game in that respect.
What kind of feedback do you get from people once they get their hands on the game?
They really like Scylla, who’s our first boss, a giant tentacled sea monster from Greek mythology. They also like the Eye of Atlantis lightning magic and our new enemy Geron, a multilimbed creature that walks off a giant electrified rock that teleports back and forth, a new trick for a God of War enemy. And just the overall detail of everything, that’s something everyone is stunned at. We like a challenge and we really challenged ourselves with this one.
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