Damn, was hoping to hear some better impressions overall.
I actually never completed God of War 01.
I actually rented it right when the PS3 was first released (had a Phat with backwards compatibility), however at the time I was so enamored with the at the time impressive graphics of Resistance: Fall Of Man that I stopped playing the lowly PS2 game pretty damn early on.
I then rented the Ultimate Collection when it was released on PS3 but went right to playing Part 2. Actually got pretty damn far with it but once again stopped playing for something else.
I was planning on finally checking out both games on the Vita. However I did once again rent it, so not sure there is any real urgency or need to play, so now that I am reading it has some questionable performance, looks like the truth of the matter is I may never play the first two God of War games.