|
 Finishing games quickly typically isn't my thing, especially right now while I'm in the middle of buying a house.
When God Of War released three years ago I ran through it that first weekend it was out. Dan received a call that Sunday night with me on the other end thinking that I was bragging about finishing it so quickly but he had already beat me to it. Nowadays I realize that phone call was more about me calling someone else to share in my enthusiasm and gushing compliments for it. God Of War II couldn't have gotten here quick enough at that point.
Strangely enough the sequel arrived last year around this time and for reasons long since forgotten I wasn't able to even purchase the game right away let alone actually sit down and play it. Once I got around to it I was in love all over again, but it just never gripped me as hard as the first one did though in many ways I thought it was a better game. For months I puttered around picking it up here and there advancing through it slowly and some time around June I had reached a very frustrating battle that I couldn't beat no matter what I did. There it say, lonely, written-off and angry until a few weeks ago when I decided to give it one last try. Low and behold I ran through the frustrating part on the first try and a couple nights ago I dusted off the last battle and got amped up for God Of War III whenever it decides to hit the PS3.
My renewed excitement for the series lead to me finding myself at GameStop over the weekend picking up a new PSP and a copy of Chains Of Olympus, which I managed to blast through during a 24 hour period over the weekend. Read on after the jump for my review of the game.
There's a trick to making an extremely familiar gaming series have a successful jump from one platform to another without a hitch. For whatever reason developer Ready At Dawn seems to know it. Hell, I think they invented it. Having already made the triumphant Daxter for the PSP they showed how to really make a 3D platformer have great controls and zero load times on a handheld. Based on that alone they seemed like the only choice to develop Kratos' first portable adventure and have it be playable. With Zeus as my witness, they did more than just pull it off, they ripped off the wings of everything Kratos destroyed on the PS2 and made something truly remarkable.
This is typically the paragraph dedicated to relating what the plot of the game is but if I were to try and write that I'd just be paraphrasing what it says on Wikipedia, so here's a link to that. I will say that I found the story of this game to be the weakest of the three, but then again, it's God Of War...as long as Kratos is still angry and ripping assholes in half with his bare hands, who gives a shit? Right?
The true accomplishment of this game is, to paraphrase Tim Gunn, making it work. I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but I think this might be better looking than its PS2 counterparts. It certainly still has the tight ass controls that I've come to love so much from this series and in many ways it improves on them by simplifying things. For instance, dodge is now as simple as holding down both shoulder buttons and moving the thumb stick in the direction you want to dodge. You don't ever have to remove your right thumb from the face buttons making it easier to attack after dodging. The zero loading times also carry over, something Ready At Dawn already showed us they knew how to do with Daxter. Technically, Chains Of Olympus is a marvel.
By now you might have gotten wind that this game only runs about 5-6 hours when played on normal difficulty and this much is true. This shorter running time allowed the game to be completely filler-free. There is never a dull or repetitive moment in a game that is all action from start to finish. Once you've completed the main game there are quite a few unlockables to go after extending the amount of play you'll get from this $40 game.
I haven't played a large number of games on the PSP so I'm really qualified to state where this game should fall in the ranks of releases for the handheld. After having played Chains Of Olympus I am qualified to say that I can't imagine there being a better game available for it.
|
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 