God of War: Chains of Olympus Release Dates:USA (March 4, 2008) Europe (March 28, 2008) Australia (March 27, 2008) Publishers: Ready At Dawn Studios Platform: Sony’s PSP This is not a review, its really a walkthrough Many of you readers have played a God of War game before and know what to expect from it. Copious amounts of blood, nudity, demons of all shapes and sizes, weapons for you to collect, Gods to defy, and the rage of Kratos. I, honestly, have never played a single God of War game before, shame on me. There are only two games on the PSP that are worthy of praise, this is one of them, the other of which I shall be reviewing in the near future (expect it in 3-4 days). This game is the reason to get a PSP. Ready at Dawn Studios outdid themselves again with another transition game from the PS2 to the PSP. From the start of the game to the end, the engine that also powered the PSP’s Daxter, never failed once, it completely amazed me as there was zero lagging and how detailed the animations were. You start out in the kingdom of Attica, after being saved by Ares (the ‘true’ Greek God of War). In this game, Kratos has nightmares of his past and family and the Gods make a pact with Kratos to banish the images, in exchange for doing their bidding. Bound to repay the Gods, Kratos is given the task of protecting the kingdom of Attica from the ongoing attack by the Persian army. The first thing you do? You kill. The controls are very easy. Triangle for heavy attacks, square for light attack, X to jump, L+R to dash away (with the analog stick). What’s circle do? Once pressed, a really short, close-up cut-scene appears where you may: rip the heads of demons off, impale them, to strangle them. Sounds like fun. During the course of the game, you will collect red orbs which are used for upgrading weapons and magic. White chests have items that increase the magic gauge and health gauge. Blue and green chests replenish magic and the health gauges respectively. The first real boss of the game is a Cyclops; unfortunately, you don’t fight him, as he is eaten by a really huge lizard thing (I can’t explain any better). You then proceed to fight it. This is where you should be able to pull of some basic combos that deplete its life slowly. When its life reaches about 1/4 of its health, the circle button will hover over its head. Once pressed, the best interactive cut-scene appears, where you must press the corresponding buttons or spin the analog stick in the direction for the cut-scene continue. On the final button combination, an inhuman kill will take place, where you may bash heads in with giant clubs (left behind by the Cyclops). Now there's the face only a mother could love. The beast unfortunately does not go down, and it retreats, but you will encounter it later, finally defeating it. The second boss, however, is the interesting. The king of Persia is in battle, and Kratos has a short dialogue that does not have a happy ending. After the dialogue, you are thrust into another battle, where upon defeating the king, you gain his magic, the Effert, as seen in the picture below. After defeating the king, you may: 1) save the game and head to the next area or 2) you may proceed to an interactive cut-scene, where you have a threesome with two women. Upon completion a lot of red orbs are your bounty. Didn't your mother tell you not to play with fire? A little later, our lizard friend appears again, and you know what happens: another battle. This time after a bit of challenge, you finally defeat him by brutally decapitating him. There go your troubles… Side Note: Something not lacking in this game is blood shed. Every open area is going to have several battles, where you get to strut your stuff, aka killing. Blood spills with every successful hit, even when you are hit. Suddenly, a cut-scene appears where the Sun falls out of the sky. Well, really it’s the Sun Chariot of Helios (God of the Sun). With the Sun gone, Morpheous, God of the Underworld, has grown more powerful, as his only weakness is the Sun. Kratos journeys to where the Sun Chariot’s original statue is, where he meets up on Athena who informs him that her brother (Helios) is captured by Morpheous. She pleads with the Ghost of Sparta to bring him back and restore peace and light to the Earth. Kratos reluctantly agrees to help the Gods again. After traveling in the Temple of Helios, he encounter yet another God, Eos, who again plead with Kratos to travel to the Underworld and retrieve her brother. Yeah I'm baddass. Throughout his travel in the temple, Kratos gains the ability to use the Primordial Fire of the Sun and also acquires the Sun Shield, which is the most useful item of the game. With the Primordial Fire, Kratos is able to bring the fire horses of the Sun Chariot back to life, which takes him to the Underworld. During this travel, another cut-scene appears where Kratos remembers his past as a regular human, where he was able to spend time with his family. Waking up from his dream, Kratos falls from the sky, as the horses cannot survive in the Underworld. Barely able to use the Blades of Chaos (primary weapon) to slide down a cliff, Kratos is able to safely land into the Underworld, a place where no mortal is to set foot on. The only other person to do this would theoretically be Dante, about 1400 years later. Something really interesting of this game is the effects. The effect and placement of lights are amazing. You even see the trees swaying with the wind on Earth, and the ripples created in the water in the Temple of Helios. There are only two scary things about this game: the spontaneous battles because you expect to get to the save point in sight, but get hit by a giant and about 20 archers, who are unrelenting. The second thing is the Blood in the river Styx; the graphics are crazy right here, as you are able to see the souls of the dead in the river. Not a good sight, haunting memories… After a little exploration of the Underworld you will receive yet another cut-scene, where the Titan Atlas is released. Looks bad, but unfortunately, the power of a human is miniscule to that of a Titan. Towards the end of the cut-scene, Kratos hears a melody that seems familiar to him. From Dante’s Inferno (book of Dante’s travels through the circles of hell), the ‘captain’ of the ferry that carries the damned souls of the dead to their respective circles, Charon makes his debut as an enemy to Kratos. Charon denies the passage of Kratos across the river Styx, so that means battle. As expected, you are not able to defeat him and are knocked unconscious. Upon waking up, you are in the dungeons of Tartarus, a place where souls are kept before their final circle of Hell is determined. You easily bash out of your chains, and this is optional, you may ‘kill’ the other people that are there for extra health and magic replenishing. Did I mention this game is cruel? This is where the game gets really hard. You escape from Tartarus, and you demand a rematch from Charon. This time, you have acquired a new weapon: the Gauntlet of Zeus. With this weapon, you are able to destroy any object, including the statutes on the ferry that replenish Charon’s health. After finally defeating Charon, you take his boat and travel to the Temple of Persephone (Wife of Morpheous), the final area of exploration. Oh yeah, did I mention bloodshed? Upon reaching the shoreline, Kratos recognizes the melody again; it is the melody of his daughter Calliope, who he just happens to see at the door of the Temple. Of course he follows her in. Here you encounter never-ending monster battles, but are somehow able to make it through. When you finally reach the final floor of the temple, you meet Persephone. She tells Kratos all he has to do to see his daughter is to give up his weapons and magic to be able to spend the rest of his life in Elysium with his daughter. Who isn’t going to do that for their daughter? Kratos meets his daughter and they have reunited much to the liking of Persephone and Kratos. But Persephone releases a piece of information that shocks Kratos. She was the one to release Atlas. So, Kratos, the only hope for the Earth and the Gods, makes the decision to save his daughter’s life by leaving her, because Atlas would destroy the pillars holding Earth, which would fall onto Elysium, in effect ‘killing’ Calliope. So after gaining you regain your powers, you set off to the final battle against Persephone. Somehow, after a grueling battle, you are able to defeat the God. All peace is restored, and Kratos rides the Sun Chariot back into the sky, reviving the Sun. Don’t you think he’d be tired? Well he is, and he falls from the sky, only to be saved by Helios and Ares on a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea. Unfortunately, the Sun Shield and Gauntlet of Zeus are taken away. This is the place where the first God of War game would pick up. I hate birds So how does God of War rank in Dmac’s gaming world? Presentation: Well, what can you say? It’s God of War. Everyone is going to buy this, plus there is a PSP bundle with the game included. Menus look crisp and the images never cease to amaze me. I would say this is presented very well: 10/10 Graphics: The same engine that brought you Daxter for the PSP makes a comeback in GOWCOO. Everything is detailed perfectly, as stated earlier, the water, the trees, even the swaying of the clothing seem realistic. I can’t find any problem here: 10/10. Sound: This was a downfall of the game, not really intense, I do like the menu sounds, as they sound like swords hitting together. Only the boss battles had really interesting sounds, as with every movement of the boss would correspond with a sharp sound. For example, with the final battle, Persephone would charge at you, a sound from Metal gear Solid when Snake was seen by the enemy would occur. Sadly, it gets an 8/10. Gameplay: I can honestly say this is the second best game I have ever played for the PSP. Easy controls, exploration of almost every inch of the game, the game’s monsters actually are a challenge and fun mini-scenes makes this game worth it. 10/10 Lasting appeal: Another disappointment. Once you beat the game, that’s really it. But there are extra unlockables like extra suits, challenges and viewing the movies of the game. All in all, its worth 8/10. Total: Kratos beheads 46 demons out of 50. But he brutally impales the other 4. Closing Comments: I was amazed with game. Piece of advice, don’t play this game at 3 in the morning. You’ll have nightmares. Just kidding, once you start, you will be reluctant to stop. It takes a little more than 5 hours to complete, but is so worth the time of your life. Too many kinds of monsters, demons and even medusas, they will forever haunt your memories, as the second best game crashes through onto the PSP. This is one of the reasons to get the PSP, play it, worship it, remember it. Pretty lights, even killers have a soft side... Work Cited: IGN for screenshots EDIT: added a new screenshot
so... you too have never played the other God of War games. the fiery attack is the one i was spamming, then ran out of MP, then realized oh crap! I NEEDED that! dude, i forgot about the O instant kill button. sometimes, I wouldn't even use [ ] or /\; I'd just use O just to watch him kill them. "2) you may proceed to an interactive cut-scene, where you have a threesome with two women. Upon completion a lot of red orbs are your bounty." what! REPLAY! I missed that. lol jk.
you could get that 'unlockable' by just going into the room to the right of the save point. im sure you'll see them.
I've lost my attention span on this game already. ...Back to reviewing. It's a great game, no doubt. Just not my style.
