To prep its fans for the upcoming God of War III (set to release in March 2010), Sony re-released the first two games- God of War and God of War II- on PlayStation 3. God of War Collection features both epic adventures on a single disc, as well as different forms of bonus content. While all of the monster slashing fun remains intact, the action was sped up and the graphics converted to high definition, making this the definitive way to experience Kratos' bloody tales of destruction.

As the Spartan warrior, Kratos, you'll rip the ancient world a new one as he rampages through beautiful environments destroying all sorts of monsters, including standard issue foot soldiers, a powerful three-headed Hydra and a towering Colossus. Combat is fast and frantic, with bucket loads of gore. During the course of your journey, you'll instruct Kratos to rip enemies in half with his bare hands, drive razor sharp blades through their midsections, cut off their heads and yank their eyeballs from the sockets. You'll occasionally need to solve a puzzle, push crates and flip switches, but for the most part, there's never a dull moment in either game, especially during boss fights; these are some of the biggest enemies we've seen.

Visually, both games have never looked better. Each benefits from the HD upgrade (especially the slightly younger GOW II), with crisp looking characters and environments. On the downside, Sony failed to pay equal attention to the cut scenes. The full motion video clips still impress, with smoothly animated characters and images of mass destruction, but the in-game stuff remains mostly unchanged, with blurry and at times pixilated textures. You'll definitely do a double take transitioning from the actual game to the movies.

Those small issues, however, shouldn't prevent you from purchasing God of War Collection. Sony did an excellent job porting two phenomenal games to PS3, and we strongly suggest you replay them in all their glory. Of course, if you never experienced the God of War franchise, you're in for a wonderful treat.

Final Score: 9 (out of 10)