** This thread discusses the Content article: PSP Fanboy review: God of War: Chains of Olympus **

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The first thing that many gamers will notice is that the series
narrator Gaia is back to give us the scoop on what's going down with
everybody's favorite Spartan general. The game kicks off with Kratos in
Attica, and just like in the demo, he must defeat the Persian army and
their mighty Basilisk. From here is where the focus of the game shifts,
and apparently a new evil and a new calling arises. Kratos, eyeing the
distant horizon, spots a fiery object fall from the sky; curious, he
seeks out the fallen object. In doing so, his journey takes him as far
as the depths of Tartarus -- the underworld.

Despite the
seemingly alluring plot, the actual narrative is not quite on the epic
level like the previous two titles. So don't go into this game
expecting to see something like Homer's Illiad. While there's a feeling
that lingers that there could have been more, it is expected that Chains of Olympus
was not meant to be a full-blown prequel but rather it's a side story
fleshing out a bit of Kratos' accursed past. The game does achieve its
goal of telling that side story, weaving an interesting tale, and all
the while still leaving a lot of room for a proper prequel.

On the flip side, God of War
games are not particularly well-known for their depth in storytelling;
these games are famous because of their compelling level designs and
action-oriented battles. Both of which, Chains of Olympus retains faithfully.




The level designs do well in spacing out the action and puzzle
portions of the gameplay. There's a good flow between these elements
which also makes the pacing from battle to battle fit like a glove. At
first, as in the case of Attica, the levels seemed to be way too
linear; however, this problem is remedied in the later stages. Most of
the puzzles are not that tough; they're all pretty easy to crack, so
there are no worries about getting stuck on any one of them. If there
were worries about getting stuck somewhere, it would be in finding the
right path because some of the environments and the PSP's relatively
small screen make it hard to see destructible barriers or climbable
walls.

Battles are entertaining skirmishes due to the game's
intuitive controls. Weapons and magic are easy to use; the only
difficult move to execute is the dodge role which requires holding down
both shoulder buttons and flicking the analog stick in the direction
you want to move. Enemies provide just the right amount of varying
difficulty -- from quick-kill peon soldiers and harpies, to the
combo-input kills of Medusa creatures and the giant Cyclops.

One
minor criticism about in-game fights is in the boss battles. The bosses
themselves are great. They're challenging and it's enjoyable to figure
out the winning strategy to take them down; however, the major problem
is that there are far too few of these unique challenges. There are
only three major boss duels throughout the game, and it would've been
great to have had one more. Honestly though, it's not a game breaking
issue, but it wouldn't of hurt to just have squeezed one more boss
battle in there.




Kratos has two weapons: his default Blades of Chaos, and the
Gauntlet of Zeus which is received much later in the game. The weapon
choices does seem lacking, but there isn't really much need for another
one as his default blades are great to work with and the gauntlet is
used for breaking enemy armor or breaking through certain areas in
levels. Kratos will also come across a shield and there are three magic
spells for him to learn. The magic is actually quite adequate as each
one is useful in different situations: the Efreet summon is good for
swarms of nearby enemies or for huge powerful foes, the Light of Dawn
spell is a good range attack, and Charon's Wrath is a nice way to
temporarily paralyze enemies.

It doesn't take much effort to
say that the game is aesthetically pleasing; its visuals are awe
inspiring for a portable game and that greatly reflects through the
game's many huge environments. If the storyline for Chains of Olympus
is not epic enough, well at least its levels leave that sort of air.
One gripe though is that the frame rate can be choppy at times. It's
suspected though that this is due to playing on an older model PSP.
Newer models shouldn't have this problem.




An important note to mention is that the game is addicting. It's
completely possible to have forgotten one's sense of time while playing
this, which is a good thing since you know you're having fun; however,
it's bad if you're not mindful of your battery life. When fully
charged, the PSP battery will last approximately five hours while
running Chains of Olympus; that's pretty good with all things considered.

Detrimental
to this, however, is that the game is extremely short; it can be
completed within an afternoon of casual play on normal difficulty. If
you haven't noticed, all the criticisms mentioned earlier: lacking boss
battles, lacking emphasis on story, and lack of weapons all revolve
around the relatively short gameplay. While the main storyline is quick
to finish, Chains of Olympus does offer some extra
challenges and unlockable bonus content to keep replayability high.
Taking on the five Challenges of Hades is one thing to do; another is
to replay the game in the uber-difficult god mode. Completing both
tasks will unlock more bonus content which includes: bonus costumes,
behind-the-scenes videos, and image galleries.

While Chains of Olympus is an excellent game, it's not the definitive God of War
experience that perhaps many are craving for. The fundamental
differences between the PS2 and the PSP do weigh in heavily, and it's
probably the reason why the experience of playing Chains of Olympus feels
like it's over too quick. The transition from the console to the
portable realm will probably not go ignored by those fans who've played
the first two games, but it is something that isn't too difficult to
get over. Despite this criticism, Chains of Olympus is one of the best experiences to be had on the PSP and one that should surely not be missed.

PSP Fanboy score: 9.0Permalink