God of War: Chains of olympus review

msmalls74

msmalls74

msmalls74

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Ign review of GOW (and its God not gears :mad:) for the PSP,


Chains of Olympus works as a prequel to the original God of War. Kratos has already been saved by Ares and is working out his seemingly never-ending payback by doing the bidding of Olympus. The game opens in Attica, where Kratos helps defend the city against the impeding Persian forces. If you've gotten your hands on the demo disc, you've already played the game's opening moments.
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Though the PSP is missing the L2 and R2 buttons and the right analog stick of the Dual Shock 2, I dare say that the control scheme here works better than on the PS2. Instead of having to use the D-Pad to change between magic types, you now hold R and press a corresponding face button. This means you won't accidentally trigger something you didn't mean to a waste precious magic, and it also means you can switch between them much more easily. Since there isn't a second analog stick, dodging works by pressing L and R at the same time, which again works even better than on the PS2 pad since you don't have to move your thumb off the face buttons. Each of the control changes has been implemented fantastically and you won't miss any of the missing buttons.
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One other thing that I'm slightly disappointed with is the short list of boss fights. The basilisk that you encounter in Attica is the only gigantic beast you'll fight in the game. You'll find things like Cyclopes and whatnot along the way, but the only boss fight against a huge creature is against the basilisk. That's not to say that the other fights aren't good, but you only once get the satisfaction of taking down something 100 times your size.
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While Ready at Dawn's first title, Daxter, was a visual accomplishment for its time, God of War: Chains of Olympus is quite simply the best looking title on the system, bar none. Practically everything in the game is on par with what you'll find in the PS2 titles (or close to it, anyway), be it the animation, environments or even the texture work, which is stunning. The care that went into the construction of the environments is phenomenal, especially for a portable game. The sense of scale seen in the console titles remains wholly intact here, with extremely large set pieces that perfectly fit into the God of War universe. The only noticeable downgrade that I wish could have been better is the small number of kill animations for when you grab an enemy, but this is clearly chalked up to memory restrictions and is easily forgiven.
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Closing Comments
God of War: Chains of Olympus is a stellar achievement on the PSP. It plays perfectly into the franchise's storyline and offers up the same level of intense action as its console counterparts. It's also the best looking title on the system, without question. Engaging from start to finish, Chains of Olympus is a mandatory purchase for anyone who owns a PSP and doesn't mind getting a little blood on their hands.

IGN Ratings for God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
Rating
out of 10
9.5 Presentation
Great story, lots of unlockables and nice voice acting tie the whole package together.
10 Graphics
Phenomenal achievement on the system. It's the best looking game there is, period.
9.5 Sound
The audio is easily on par with the console games, and the soundtrack might be even better.
9.5 Gameplay
It's not exactly original, but it's incredibly engaging and intense.
7.5 Lasting Appeal
It's relatively short (it took me about 7 hours), but there's plenty of bonus stuff to go back and earn.
9.4
Outstanding OVERALL
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Only bit im a slightly disappointed about is the lack of giant boss fights, but i cant wait! To me it seems the PSP has its best line up of new releases, what with Patapon (yay!) this friday, this game begining of March and FF7 Crisis core at end of March, cannot wait for my imports to arrive :D
 
Sweet. I really wasn't sure how this game would turn out so it is nice to see it got a positive review. Well done developer!
 
Already pre-ordered this from a USA site as USA release date is showing as 03/03/08 (and the game has already gone gold so may ship early) whereas UK date is still showing as 28/03/08 everywhere.


rp2000
 
rp2000 said:
Already pre-ordered this from a USA site as USA release date is showing as 03/03/08 (and the game has already gone gold so may ship early) whereas UK date is still showing as 28/03/08 everywhere.


rp2000
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Ive got mine pre ordered from the normal place, even though a UK store has it for £18, but like you say end of march, so its worth the extra £6 to get it early.
 
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