Game Card
God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
- Publisher:
- SCEA
- Developer:
- Ready at Dawn
- US Release:
- Q1, 2008
- EU Release:
- n/a
- Number of players:
- 1 - 1
- Type:
- Action Adventure
- Reality Factor:
- Fantasy
- Perspective:
- Third-Person
- Extra:
- Platform
- Blood Level:
- Medium Blood
- Age:
- Ancient Times
Review
We play God of War: Chains of Olympus...
The Greek mythos is one that is so expansive that trying to capture its essence is no easy task. However, a few years ago SCE’s Santa Monica team managed to capture a piece of that essence in God of War for the Playstation 2.This time around, Ready at Dawn, the same studio that put Daxter into his own successful game on the PSP, takes Kratos’ story and puts it into a portable portion as a prequel to the PS2 hit. Keeping with the formula established by its console-based forerunners, Chains of Olympus is a spectacular accomplishment for handheld gaming.
While the original God of War and God of War II chronicle Kratos’ ascension into the Olympian’s pantheon and eventual war against the gods, Chains of Olympus follows Kratos in his quest for personal salvation while serving at the behest of Ares. After repelling a Persian attack on the city of Attica, Kratos watches as Helios, the sun god, falls from the sky. The remainder of the game focuses on Kratos’ quest to save the gods from a deep slumber brought on by Morpheus, by rescuing Helios from depths of Hades, and saving all of Olympus and humanity itself.
As is the standard for any GoW title, the story in Chains of Olympus is driven by strong narration and a captivating plot. While the game is a prequel, meant to set up the events which unfold in the earlier games, the story works well as a standalone, and entices players to boot up the PS2 classics.
Though the PSP has a slightly different controller scheme than the Dualshock 2, gameplay has not been sacrificed on the handheld hardware. Every thing works, and works well on the PSP, save for a few quick-time elements. While only having one joystick a few less buttons overall, the game relies on shoulder buttons to initiate multiple actions including rolls, blocks, combos and magical attacks. Many of the attacks from the previous games make their way into the handheld version, and work seamlessly when integrated into the shoulder-button scenario.
Along with Kratos’ standard, arm-infused sword weaponry, comes the gauntlet which Zeus himself used to defeat the Titans. As a strong, heavy weapon, the gauntlet is not as quick as his blades, but is essential for different elements in the game and is more powerful.
While standard attacks remain consistent, new elements make up Kratos’ magical repertoire. By pressing R and a corresponding face-button, you attack with a shield-busting Efreet (a fiery, ephemeral being), a long-distance shield throw, and a curse-induced poisoning. Also, as usual, all types of attacks and weapons are upgradeable.
The core gameplay elements of any God of War title also make a transfer to the PSP, including quick-time sequences and puzzle elements. While the puzzles won’t strain your brain, they’re satisfying and offer a relaxing break between frantic fights. Unfortunately however, the GoW staple of sequentially pressing buttons in-time with on-screen cues has a few missteps. Although pressing face-buttons is all well and good, trying to sync up with joystick rotations can become frustrating. It takes a great amount of exaggerated effort to make the quick-time rotations match up, but luckily, the same enemies have the same button-mashing pattern, so you can start swirling the joystick before the cue pops up.
Before gushing over how amazing the game looks and sounds, it’s at least fair to point out a few additional flaws—and we stress ‘few.’
On the whole, the game runs almost flawlessly even with multiple enemies on screen and environmental animations running. Also, there is little time wasted on load screens. However, when the game does drop in frame rate—and this was only experienced once through our play through—it can be as epic as some of the battles; ironically, such experiences feel more like an intentional, bullet-time effect rather than a debilitating chug in performance.
The only other hit against the game is there aren’t many huge battles. Aside from the first fight against a gigantic basilisk, your enemies are nearly all on scale with Kratos; the battles just don’t seem to have the same immense feeling as some of the past titles. Also, minion enemies themselves begin to get repetitious, with only slight variations in difficulty and appearance.
However, that’s not to belittle the experience. Everything in-game looks gorgeous and surreal. With an amazing aural accompaniment from the soundtrack to environmental acoustics, Chains of Olympus is a complete game that will make you forget you’re playing on a handheld device. Levels are grandiose in design and include background animations that may be subtle, but that bring the environment to life.
Once all is said in done, Chains of Olympus delivers with an exceptional addition to the God of War storyline. By playing through the game on the normal difficulty setting there’s a fair amount of playtime to be had, but doing so unlocks the insane difficulty, which extends the life of the game for any hardcore fan. Adding to extra playtime are 6 challenge stages which require different criteria to successfully complete. There isn’t much to unlock in terms of extras, but the amount of effort to complete the tasks requires more than a few attempts at each.
Chains of Olympus is the polar opposite of a budget-title, and plays as such. An exceptional soundtrack matched with stellar gameplay and insane amounts of action is wholly delivered on the smaller format. There is little to find wrong with the gameplay, and Ready at Dawn deserves accolades for its accomplishment. Kratos’ next adventure is set for the PS3, but he is more than welcomed to return to the handheld in the future.
Top gaming moment: Completing the first level on the insane difficulty setting.
While the original God of War and God of War II chronicle Kratos’ ascension into the Olympian’s pantheon and eventual war against the gods, Chains of Olympus follows Kratos in his quest for personal salvation while serving at the behest of Ares. After repelling a Persian attack on the city of Attica, Kratos watches as Helios, the sun god, falls from the sky. The remainder of the game focuses on Kratos’ quest to save the gods from a deep slumber brought on by Morpheus, by rescuing Helios from depths of Hades, and saving all of Olympus and humanity itself.
 |
 |
|
| Caught between a devil goat and a Cyclops, just great. |
I swear my travel agent said, “Clear oceans and blue skies.” |
As is the standard for any GoW title, the story in Chains of Olympus is driven by strong narration and a captivating plot. While the game is a prequel, meant to set up the events which unfold in the earlier games, the story works well as a standalone, and entices players to boot up the PS2 classics.
Though the PSP has a slightly different controller scheme than the Dualshock 2, gameplay has not been sacrificed on the handheld hardware. Every thing works, and works well on the PSP, save for a few quick-time elements. While only having one joystick a few less buttons overall, the game relies on shoulder buttons to initiate multiple actions including rolls, blocks, combos and magical attacks. Many of the attacks from the previous games make their way into the handheld version, and work seamlessly when integrated into the shoulder-button scenario.
Along with Kratos’ standard, arm-infused sword weaponry, comes the gauntlet which Zeus himself used to defeat the Titans. As a strong, heavy weapon, the gauntlet is not as quick as his blades, but is essential for different elements in the game and is more powerful.
While standard attacks remain consistent, new elements make up Kratos’ magical repertoire. By pressing R and a corresponding face-button, you attack with a shield-busting Efreet (a fiery, ephemeral being), a long-distance shield throw, and a curse-induced poisoning. Also, as usual, all types of attacks and weapons are upgradeable.
The core gameplay elements of any God of War title also make a transfer to the PSP, including quick-time sequences and puzzle elements. While the puzzles won’t strain your brain, they’re satisfying and offer a relaxing break between frantic fights. Unfortunately however, the GoW staple of sequentially pressing buttons in-time with on-screen cues has a few missteps. Although pressing face-buttons is all well and good, trying to sync up with joystick rotations can become frustrating. It takes a great amount of exaggerated effort to make the quick-time rotations match up, but luckily, the same enemies have the same button-mashing pattern, so you can start swirling the joystick before the cue pops up.
Before gushing over how amazing the game looks and sounds, it’s at least fair to point out a few additional flaws—and we stress ‘few.’
On the whole, the game runs almost flawlessly even with multiple enemies on screen and environmental animations running. Also, there is little time wasted on load screens. However, when the game does drop in frame rate—and this was only experienced once through our play through—it can be as epic as some of the battles; ironically, such experiences feel more like an intentional, bullet-time effect rather than a debilitating chug in performance.
The only other hit against the game is there aren’t many huge battles. Aside from the first fight against a gigantic basilisk, your enemies are nearly all on scale with Kratos; the battles just don’t seem to have the same immense feeling as some of the past titles. Also, minion enemies themselves begin to get repetitious, with only slight variations in difficulty and appearance.
 |
 |
|
| Seriously, there has got be a better way for staying in godly shape. |
Sorry mate, the dentist is actually two doors down to the right. |
However, that’s not to belittle the experience. Everything in-game looks gorgeous and surreal. With an amazing aural accompaniment from the soundtrack to environmental acoustics, Chains of Olympus is a complete game that will make you forget you’re playing on a handheld device. Levels are grandiose in design and include background animations that may be subtle, but that bring the environment to life.
Once all is said in done, Chains of Olympus delivers with an exceptional addition to the God of War storyline. By playing through the game on the normal difficulty setting there’s a fair amount of playtime to be had, but doing so unlocks the insane difficulty, which extends the life of the game for any hardcore fan. Adding to extra playtime are 6 challenge stages which require different criteria to successfully complete. There isn’t much to unlock in terms of extras, but the amount of effort to complete the tasks requires more than a few attempts at each.
Chains of Olympus is the polar opposite of a budget-title, and plays as such. An exceptional soundtrack matched with stellar gameplay and insane amounts of action is wholly delivered on the smaller format. There is little to find wrong with the gameplay, and Ready at Dawn deserves accolades for its accomplishment. Kratos’ next adventure is set for the PS3, but he is more than welcomed to return to the handheld in the future.
Top gaming moment: Completing the first level on the insane difficulty setting.
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E3 '07 Trailer
Posted 13.07.07
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User Comments
By devel (SI Core) on Mar 20, 2008
