Other than that small change, not much is different about the controls in Chains of Olympus. The “L/R” method frees up your second thumb, so at no point during the gameplay will you have to move your fingers away from the all-important jump of offensive buttons. The game does a great job of introducing you to the mechanic via an early boss battle, and one could even argue that the gameplay benefits from the lack of a second stick. While it’s a bit awkward at first, it all becomes second nature before too long. An interesting and workable solution was found - holding L and R together in conjunction with the PSP’s analog “nub” makes Kratos evade and roll. The lack of a second analog stick (used to make Kratos evade on the PS2) was something that was cause for concern when the game was first announced. Ready at Dawn have done an admirable job of mimicking everything that made the action of the series so great.įirst and foremost, as much as I might like the PSP to be a Dual Shock controller, it most certainly is not. This is simply not the case with Chains of Olympus. It’s necessary to remember that we’re comparing a PSP game to a PS2 title in most cases, you’ll find that the portable title loses more than a few key elements that made the game great in the first place. In fact, considering how faithful the game is to its predecessors, it’s hard not to be impressed. Now this might sound like one, but calling Chains of Olympus’ gameplay “God of War Jr.” is not an insult. It’s moments like this help create an emotional attachment to Kratos as a mortal who has (or once had) an actual soul, and it’s easily one of the sharpest moments in the series. One interactive cut-scene in particular comes to mind that plays out in such a way that had even my cold, insensitive heart skipping a beat. As anticipated, you’ll find Kratos screaming names at the sky in anger and/or earnest in the original it is repeated shouts of “Ares,” and in the sequel we heard recurring screams of “Zeus.” In Chains of Olympus, well … I don’t want to give too much away here.īut it should be known that Ready at Dawn have put together a well-crafted narrative that’s not only more subtle than fans might be used to, but in many ways more emotionally gripping. As a side-story (the game is in fact a prequel to the first game), it fits in nicely with the rest of the series’ narrative. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PlayStation Portable)Ĭall this “God of War Gaiden,” if you will. But the fact is, in spite of its smaller stature, Chains of Olympus can easily hold its own alongside both the original tile and its sequel. The smaller scale really shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise fitting an entire God of War adventure onto a UMD is a huge undertaking. But it’s also important to keep in mind that while the key words used when talking about God of War II were “bigger” and “more,” the PSP title is a noticeably smaller experience. Take a deep breath, because here it is – Chains of Olympus is an epic game. An epic score that helps bring to life an epic story. You’re sick of hearing it, and I’m sick of writing it, but here I go: the God of War games are “epic.” Epic set pieces paired with epic, over-the-top gameplay. So I was convinced that Kratos’ first portable foray, God of War: Chains of Olympus would be at least good, if not as great as its console brothers. When it comes to all things ashen and baldy, I’m optimistic, especially considering Ready at Dawn’s impressive portable Daxter adventure. Like the first game on the PlayStation 2, I loved the sequel, and was pretty thrilled to hear (immediately upon release of God of War II, actually) that Ready at Dawn were hard at work on a portable Kratos adventure for the PlayStation Portable. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining that it was less than a year ago that I was sitting down to write a review of God of War II.
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