God of War: Chains of Olympus (PlayStation Portable, 2008)

This is an area- or level-based action game, with heavy emphasis on the experience of combating powerful, fantastic enemies as a super-advanced mythic-style warrior, who gains the use of magic spells and magic items to aid in the fights. Your character's primary attacks use short, curved swords which have the ability to extend (on chains) to great lengths as the wielder swings them in wide arcs, with the ability to catch numerous enemies with each swing at a variety of ranges. Don't worry: despite this uber fighting ability, the enemies normally take at least a few hits each to put down - and most of them take more than a few - and most have some sort of defense or otherwise an ability to attack 'through' being hit themselves. Combat is balanced quite well - as it should be in a game with one or two precursors having been produced before it - so that you feel that you are playing a very, very powerful warrior with incredible, fantastic fighting abilities and the ability to destroy many foes at one time, while the enemies - and groups of enemies - are powerful enough to put up a decent fight of their own and ensure that you don't get too carried away with enjoying your own abilities, but that you must actually put effort into avoiding your foes' melee, ranged, and slightly magical attacks, as well. This balance, and this feeling of being immersed in the middle of high-end mythical combat, are what this game is all about.

So long as you are able to survive each action-combat sequence, you are generally rewarded with a clear and obvious means of fully restoring your character's health - and, I think, magic - after all the foes are vanquished. The sources of these restorations may not always be immediately present, but, so long as you are patient enough and brave enough to forge ahead despite, often, low levels of health, you will find them eventually, and before the next major combat sequence.

This touches upon another quite well-designed balance within the game. The only reason to play this game is for the quasi-adrenaline rush of the intense and meaty combats, but the game paces itself with periods (sometimes sort of lengthy) of quiet, peace, and relaxation. These scenes provide players the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the environments a little - which are generally pretty artfully and beautifully done, to search for hidden coves and treasures, and to explore the areas a little bit. This slow-down of the action will feel quite welcome following an intense 5 or 10 minute, epic battle scene.

These slow moments (and some moments when you are being shot with arrows, as well) are often used by the designers to add a puzzle element in the game, allowing the player to use her or his brain in a different - if not entirely demanding - way. The puzzles sometimes feel like miniature versions of the old-school MYST material, though they are not nearly as complex. They're a nice little activity between combats, but are nothing to get excited for. Those that stump for a few extra minutes produce frustration more than satisfaction once the solution is discovered and the player realizes that it was a stupid matter of pressing the proper face button at the spot she or he stepped on a dozen times before, having recognized that spot's visible and obvious importance.

It's not the best game ever, but it's a good title for an occasional portable play. Several difficulty levels and multiple challenging mini-games help the game's longevity.

God of War: Chains of Olympus is a prequel to the PS2 series. Although it doesn't take the series beyond what's available in the first two titles, it lives up to the reputation you would expect.

The action in the game is classic God of War. A mostly isometric, top down view of your character, Kratos, as he slices, maims, and dismembers bad guys with his twin Blades of Chaos. These stubby swords can be used as you would wield traditional swords, or Kratos can use the chains which tether them to his forearms to swing the blades in a variety of deadly attacks. There's a generous number of combos available, and you can upgrade them for even more devastating moves.

Along your quest you'll also acquire the Gauntlets of Zeus. An awesome weapon that, due to it's limited range, requires you to get a little more intimate with your foes, however it delivers a powerful punch. Some may be disappointed that this is the only alternate offensive weapon in the game, but at least it is one you'll want to use.

On the defence, you will get your hands on the Sun Shield, which can deflect projectile attacks back to where they came from, and offers up some counter-attack moves.

There are three magic attacks also available which provides some form of ranged or area attack. My preference was towards Efreet magic, which summoned a demon-like creature to pound the ground and cause fiery earthquakes. Like your weapons, all magic attacks are upgradeable. Even with the upgrades, I did find the other two magic spells somewhat limited, and it served me just as well to use my regular weapons, except when enemies stayed too far out of reach.

The camera work is as good as any God of War game, which is saying a lot. The controls are also responsive and easy to handle. The change in how you dodge (as there's no R-Stick on the PSP you need to press both shoulder buttons at the same time you're directing the L-Stick) did take some getting use to. It was the only thing about the controls that felt awkward for me; not that the developers had much other choice in the control scheme.

The variety of enemies, and layout of the stages were somewhat predictable. Of course Kratos finds himself battling through Hades as he has in all the other titles. As much as I love the series, even I was thinking "This is getting a little old". I will admit however that the fight out of Hades was one of the more emotional events of the series, considering the situation that was at hand.

The boss fights were of course large, and as fun as ever. And as much as I dislike quick time events (where you must press a button when prompted) God of War does manage to make the most out of them. The action overall is addicting, and the puzzle solving elements you'll come across, although not complex, gives just right balance you need alongside the intense excitement.

One you've completed the main story line, you'll be delighted to see that there's some bonus challenge missions to take on. And these bonus rounds do make for some heavy challenges, which can cause some of the most frustrating moments to be had with the title.

It doesn't add a lot to the series, but following the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" rule has paid off. Despite it being a similar experience to it's big brother counterparts, you'll appreciate the option to having a God of War adventure in the palm of your hand. There's no better way to take this kind of action along with you.

Wow, I don’t know what I was waiting for; I should’ve gotten this game the day it first was released.

But back to the review, first of all congrats to the developers for the very good graphics that comes in this small package (Yes I said graphics), they immerse you even deeper in the drama of the game.

Then the moves that our little God, “Kratos”, brings to the table and it has to be said pretty good ones as well and when combined with the special abilities it becomes an amazing combo of entertainment and kicking butt action.

Thirdly, the story is pretty good as well; as I said before the combination of story, graphics and moves that they put in place really do the job of immersing you and sticking you to play the game for long periods of time (You are warned).None the less, the gameplay controls are easy and the special moves and attacks are easy to master with a bit of practice as usual.

Finally, I just wanted to make the comment (Not that anyone has not think about this), for the romantic scenes the developers decided to make them in form of a mini-game (You know click the right button), I would have wanted to see more of the action that it involves, instead that only a candle moving and turning off as a finale…Oh! Yeah this game is rated M for Mature!

Altamirano8236.

First the pros.
Graphics are great, story line is good, new abilities are good, easy to get lost in the game and lose track of time.

Cons.
Way too short. When i finished the game i was basically pissed. Very easy to figure out, even in God mode, you only have more enemies to defeat and is a little harder to take them down. Camera angles can get a bit agravating. But my biggest complaint is how short it was, i spent maybe 5 hours total playing the game and it was over.

Conclusion.
If you like God of War, you'll like this game, classic Kratos, typical pissed of spartan. I would wait till the game is out a little longer so you pay a better price, for how short the game is, its is not worth the $30-40 they are going for new.

Ready at Dawn does a soperb job of making an epic adventure on the handheld PSP. Everything you have come to expecet from the God of War series on the PS2 console is present. From incredible puzzles, to mythological battles, this game wins on all levels. The graphics have pushed the PSP to the limits! Even the controls are spot on. Every PSP game now has a new hero to look up to, and his name is KRATOS!!