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»God of War: Chains of Olympus
"Madness? THIS IS...not a 300 reference."
Translating popular PS2 franchises to PSP isn’t
exactly new, but God of War: Chains of Olympus has been getting a lot
of attention for its potential to finally realize the goal of making a
handheld game every bit as good as a modern console entry in the same
series. Does it succeed? Not completely, but it comes damn close.
Considering that the God of War games were some of the best in the
PS2’s massive library, Chains of Olympus is a fantastic game in its own
right.
Kratos is the anti-hero other anti-heroes go to when they want to feel
better about themselves. Kratos was a bloodthirsty Spartan general who
was known for being unusually vicious even considering his background.
And that was before he sold his soul to Ares and killed his family
while on a rampage. Angry and constantly miserable from the guilt,
Kratos pledged service to the other gods and will do whatever it takes
to be released from his past. Much more happens in God of War 1 and 2,
but Chains of Olympus is a prequel, so there’s no need to get into
that. Kratos has just started serving the gods, and CoO covers his
first major task and fills in a couple of details from the
chronologically later games.
God of War is primarily an action game, but also has platforming and
puzzle sequences. You’re not going to mistake it for Mario or Zelda,
but these elements are given much more emphasis than in most other 3D
action games like Devil May Cry. You may have heard people call it a
“button masher”, but that isn’t true. Your choice of weapons is limited
compared to most 3D action games, but on the higher two of the four
difficulty settings – the easier of which is selectable from the start
– just attacking your enemies will get you promptly killed: learning
the patterns of enemies and becoming proficient at blocking and dodging
are absolutely vital, as are learning the different styles you can use
to attack with your primary weapon. Puzzles that are extraordinarily
well done for this type of game and some light platforming link
together the combat and story sequences.
The PS2 God of War games made use of practically every button and
directional device on the PS2 controller, so naturally there was
concern about how the controls would translate to the fewer buttoned
PSP. Everything was translated perfectly with one exception: your
dodging roll, which you will need to use quite often. On PS2 you just
flicked the right analog stick in the direction you wanted to move. In
Chains of Olympus, you have to hold the L and R buttons and use the
analog disc. This isn’t a very natural action, and having to hit three
things at once is a little cumbersome for a dodge that has to be used
very quickly. Still, I eventually adjusted, and it didn’t make anything
impossible. A much more minor annoyance are the action command
sequences where you have to rotate the analog disc, which I missed a
fair amount of times. Other than those minor problems, the PS2 gameplay
was translated perfectly.
Unfortunately, there is one other significant flaw in the game that
forced me to say it didn’t quite live up to the goal of matching a
console game in every way, and it would be a problem regardless of the
release’s context. The game is very short: a playthrough will take 4-5
hours. There’s not much to elaborate on in regards to this, the game
just doesn’t last very long. I was also disappointed that hardly any of
the new features added in God of War II were in CoO, in addition to the
game having basically nothing new of its own. Don’t let that make you
think the game is bad though, a shorter God of War is still damn good.
The graphics in Chains of Olympus are some of the best on PSP – only
slightly rougher polygons make them distinguishable from the PS2 GoW
games, which were some of the best looking on the system. The ancient
Greek settings and monsters are finely detailed in God of War’s
horror/action movie style, and the relentless blood and gory finishing
moves are still there. There are some particularly impressive areas
with gigantic creatures/objects in the background moving seamlessly.
The music fits the feel of the game, and as always, the voice acting is
high quality.
Chains of Olympus has a good
amount of replay value. There are four difficulty settings, although if
you’re familiar with the series you can safely skip the easiest. The
hardest setting will take quite a bit of skill to beat, and your
playthrough on that mode should get an extra hour or two added to it.
There are also a few bonus challenges, which are difficult but won’t
last that long, there being only five and a successful attempt taking
only a few minutes. There are also some bonus videos and costumes to
unlock. And of course, like the previous God of War games, CoO is just
fun to play through again.
God of War: Chains of Olympus is
quite possibly the best game on PSP. Don’t let the complaints fool you:
despite the length issues the multiple difficulties and how enjoyable
the game is ensure that you’ll get a good amount of playtime out of it.
CoO doesn’t equal the previous games in the series 100%, but being
almost as good as the PS2 God of War games makes it a lot better than
plenty of console games. This game should be on the buy list of every
PSP owner, and is one of the better reasons to own the system.
Article by: KI Simpson
Posted on: Apr. 24th, 2008 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| The combat is intense and satisfying, and the puzzles are way above par for this type of game. |
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Graphics |
| Probably the best on PSP, almost as good as the PS2 games. |
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Sound |
| Not as exceptional as the rest of the game, but still does the job well. |
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Replay Value |
| The unlockable difficulty is a good challenge, and the game is just fun to play even if you’ve beaten it before. |
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