● God of War Chains of Olympus Review (PSP) @ Thursday, January 29, 2009 ●
Aside from its rather stunning visuals, the first thing you will immediately notice about Chains of Olympus is that Ready at Dawn has done a better job of keeping Kratos' (the main character of the game) move set intact. From what I can tell without doing an actual side-by-side comparison of the two games, Kratos' moves appear to be identical to what you will find in God of War 2. Furthermore, combat is extremely responsive, perfectly mimicking the console versions. I immediately and naturally went back to my favorite combos, and they worked exactly as I had remembered.
*The lighting is fantastic.
Though the Playstation Portable (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 is not a second analog stick, dodging works by pressing L and R at the same time, which again works even better than on the Playstation2 pad since you do not have to move your thumb off the face buttons. Each of the control changes has been implemented fantastically and you will not miss any of the missing buttons.
Given that this is a God of War title, most of your time will be spent in combat. Ready at Dawn did not mess with the franchise's proven formula, which is perhaps one of the only (small) flaw for the game. You will generally lay waste to anything in front of you as you progress through the game's stellar environments, occasionally being trapped in a room until you have dispatched every opponents inside of it. Like the previous titles, it's a very linear experience, with only small nooks and crannies hidden away with secrets that will take you off the beaten path for a few moments. It would have been nice to have seen a little experimentation here or there to mix things up. Things like the Pegasus elements of God of War II did this to some extent, but you will not find anything like that here.
