God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) / 2008 Sony / http://sony.playstation.com /

God of War: Chains of Olympus is the third game in the God of War series, and provides individuals with a little bit more of the back story for the series’ protagonist, Kratos. The basic game play is ported over without much in the way of changes from the Playstation 2 predecessors. As in both previous games, Kratos powers up eir skills and weapons by collecting red orbs, while there are puzzles strewn about the hack and slash-based adventures. The controls, owing to the lesser amount of buttons on the PSP, are a little different. However, they are intuitive and even individuals completely educated on the God of War games will easily pick them up.

Where there are less in the way of tightwalk sequences that there were in previous iterations of “God of War”, there are quite a few new things to find and do during the game. Perhaps the one thing that makes the game a little less difficult are the spells that Kratos eventually learns during the game. This means that, at some point, Kratos is able to cast “Charon’s Wrath”, a spell that clears the screen of lesser enemies, while seriously damaging the major ones. Individuals that attempt to tease out the timeline for the God of War games will learn that the actions of “Chains of Olympus” take place a decade before the events in the original God of War. The epic opening to game has Kratos help save Attica from destruction from the marauding Persian forces, before moving into an incredibly interesting story that climaxes with a deity attempting to destroy all of the Heavens and the Earth just to remove themselves from life.

While rumored possibilities for the game, such as multiplayer and co-op play, were axed from the final cut of the game, the action is enough to keep individuals interested for tens of hours. Where there have been a number of solid PSP games released for the platform in the past, it really seems as if Ready at Dawn (the developer) and Sony themselves have really outdone themselves here. What was previously only capable of playing portable games now has the ability to play God of War: Chains of Olympus, which could easily have been a PS2 game. Hopefully the success of this game will allow the series to continue on the PSP, and ensure that the story of Kratos will not end any time soon.

Rating: 8.3/10