God of War Chains of Olympus

I got the PSP God of War Entertainment Pack - Red as a warranty replacement for my original PSP Daxter Entertainment Pack - Ice Silver. I was looking forward to playing Chains of Olympus, as this was my first experience with the series. I own a PS2, but never bothered to pick up the two console God of War titles.

I've played several PSP games now, and Chains of Olympus LOOKS great. It's possibly the best-looking game for PSP, and as a result, it's a shame that Ready at Dawn will not be making any more for the system. However, that's just about all Chains of Olympus has going for it.

The storyline is sub-par, combining a weak understanding of Greek mythology with a tired tale of deception and revenge. However, this is an action game, so story can be overlooked somewhat in favor of actual gameplay quality. The game is fun for a while, but as you progress through the game you earn spells, most of which are useless, new moves and a new weapon. Once you obtain these, certain moves can be repeatedly spammed to kill just about everything, including bosses. At this point, the fun of the game slowly dies as this formulaic strategy nearly always works and is practically required to beat God mode, the highest difficulty. There is no penalty for dying in the game, which is good, but before almost every boss fight there is an cutscene that can't be skipped. On higher difficulties, this becomes very irritating, as it may take several strategies before you figure out the boss' Achilles heel.

On completing the game, which takes 4-6 hours at most, you earn God mode and can take on special challenges that are at best repetitive and frustrating and at worst mindlessly easy. Beating the challenges and the hardest difficulty unlock new costumes and a small amount of behind-the-scenes content, very little of which is worth suffering through the same horrible plot and repetitive gameplay for, not to mention that you would then have to play through the game a third time to enjoy the new costumes. I felt no compulsion to replay the game a third time, and I only played a second time so I could unlock everything.

Anything below God mode difficulty (the hardest) is quite easy, and God mode simply requires you to perform the same moves over and over again with better precision and timing than before. Some of the challenges are also difficult, but there isn't much of a sense of accomplishment after beating the hard ones, as all you typically need to do is find out which special move fits the situation best and use it over and over again, just like in the actual game. The game itself also contains a few puzzles, but for students of action/adventure games with more difficult 3D puzzles, such as any recent installment of the Legend of Zelda series, they're trivial and hardly worth mentioning, useful only to break up the action.

I don't think there's any reason to buy this game until it's in the bargain bin, or at the very least in the Greatest Hits series. Better yet, rent it and in a week you'll get everything out of the game you could possibly want. With no online play and very limited unlockables, the game's replay value is near nonexistent. I'm glad I got it as a pack-in rather than paying full price for it.

It's also worth mentioning, for those with no familiarity with the series, that this is not a game parents should be purchasing for young children. The brutal violence and small amount of nudity didn't turn me off at all, but could be a bit disturbing for kids.

I am in my late twenties and as a High School scholar, I used to play games like Battle Axe for the Seaga Genesis and Mortal Combat 1, 2, 3 and 4. I used to be a hardcore game-head. I stopped playing video games for about 10 years and decided to buy myself a PSP (for portability and cool graphics). I heard of God of War after much research and figured I should try it, since so many people like it. I wanted to get Final Fantasy, but wasn't impressed with what I saw on the package (still haven't seen gameplay) so I bought God of War - Chains of Olympus. I was disappointed at first when my memory card would not allow me to save my progress. This got me frustrated and so I changed the memory card and it worked fine.
I must admit, the game is pretty short, but I don't regret it. The graphics and the cinematography, the music and the mini-scenes made this game the top game in my list.
If you are looking to buy a game that is fun for adults, then this game is the one for you. It has very graphic scenes and the creators focused on the most gruesome killing possible and emphasized just that.
In the end I was pleased with my purchase and would buy part 3 in a heartbeat!

Summary: God of War: Chains of Olympus has you playing as Kratos, one of the beastliest men ever to walk on the face of the earth. Take down a Basilisk, punish a God, subdue a Titan and more in this epic journey set in ancient Greece. In addition to visually impressive pre-rendered cutscenes, this game boasts some of the best graphics I've seen on the PSP so far. The gameplay is insane, with moves that defy gravity and powerful magical spells. The game even has some puzzles for you to solve, in addition to intense button-mashing sequences which just might wear down your PSP buttons. The story is short, but hey- quality over quantity. Ready at Dawn studios has made some great games for the PSP, but this one takes the cake.

Gameplay - Five Stars
This has got to be on of the most fun games I've every played on the PSP. There are just so many ways to take down your opponents. But don't think that it's a walk in the park; some Boss Fights are extremely challenging and parts of the game can be frustrating. When you kill enemies, you get red orbs which can be used to upgrade your magic, and learn new moves. The game also gives you fun puzzles to solve, which involve a bit of thinking, but nothing frustrating.

Story - Five Stars
If I could use one word to describe it, it would be: Epic. This story will unless you hate fighting gods, or taking down a Titan, then you'll love it. I did, and as you can see from all these other reviews, they did too. I won't reveal the storyline, but remember: epic.

Online Play - Nonexistent
You don't honestly expect online play for a game like this, do you?

Final Verdict - Five Stars
Let me tell you, I beat this game three times. And all three times, it was worth every minute. This game keeps you on your toes. Yes, what everyone says is true, it's short. But as before mentioned, quality gameplay over quantity.

The game is not very long and there are times that one returns(changes) repetitively, but of rest it is God of War, insuperable, alone for fanatics!

Short game, but very entertaining, I don't play a lot of video games (PSP is beginning to change that...), but this one really drew me in. It has a decent storyline and genuinely good gameplay. A must have for PSP.