God of War: Chains of Olympus Review

By Kristan Reed Published 11 March, 2008

Link to the past.

Version tested: PSP

If only more developers treated the PSP with such respect. With God of War: Chains of Olympus, Ready At Dawn manages not only to produce a showcase title for the much and unfairly maligned platform, but one that fans of the acclaimed PS2 hackandslash series will slice off limbs to get at.

Set ten years before the events of the original God of War, Chains of Olympus sees Kratos having yet another bad day. To begin with, it's all fairly innocuous god-bidding fodder, with the surly bald warrior defending a Persian city from an invading army. Soon enough, he comes across a statue of Athena, who sends him off on a typically violent quest via the usual collection of huge caves, ornate temples and even Hades itself to retrieve Helios, for reasons too absurd to go into. Eventually, our hero faces one of those galling moral dilemmas that game developers love (no wonder Kratos was so irrepressibly grumpy in the first place), and we're given the perfect excuse to hammer buttons and add to his growing collection of spare body parts.

As hard as it might be to imagine, Chains of Olympus comes incredibly close to replicating what made the PS2 originals so exciting - both in terms of the visuals and gameplay. Technically, it's one of the most impressive games to appear on PSP, capturing its predecessors' architectural and environmental opulence with ease - and all without any slowdown or loading pauses to rile us.

'God of War: Chains of Olympus' Screenshot 1

Hey, you've got something in your eye. Allow me...

In combat terms, the controls are mapped identically bar the evade move - which is now somewhat awkwardly moved from the right stick to a combo requiring both shoulder buttons plus movement direction (this, it must be noted, isn't really a problem once you get used to it). Elsewhere, the well-established system of triangle for heavy attack, square for light attack, circle for grab and X for jump remains, and provides for simple, accessible and satisfying combat, as ever. The fact that the original never featured a manual camera is a godsend for its transition to PSP - for once, we're not left bitching about an inability to see what's going on. Happy accident or not, it means you're able to control the game almost exactly as was intended.

Weapon-wise, you get a few new toys to play with as you go along in the usual fashion. To add to the default blades of chaos, you soon add the ever-useful Efreet magic ability, which damages enemies within a given radius, followed closely by the Gauntlet of Zeus, which essentially gives you the ability to punch very very hard indeed. On top of that you also gain a sun shield, which is useful for deflecting projectiles, and a couple of other magic abilities - the Light of Dawn (chuck a ball of light), and Charon's Wrath (don a mask and dish out wracking pain from a distance). As ever, each downed enemy releases coloured orbs - red for powering up weapons and magic, blue for magic, and green for health - while occasional chests en-route also help improve your overall health and magic, just as they did in the PS2 parent titles.

'God of War: Chains of Olympus' Screenshot 2

On the small screen, it really does look incredible - less so through the TV-out, admittedly.

For all its faithfulness, though, it's not quite a full God of War game. It relies on short, sharp, repetitive combat encounters over and above exploration and puzzles, and there are far fewer enemies to fight or massive, screen-filling bosses to worry about. It feels lightweight next to the originals - and the presence of extremely regular checkpoints and save points is further evidence of this. It's probably a decision taken to make it work better on the move, but at the same time the feeling that this is God of War Lite grows the further you get into it. And with the game clocking in at six or seven hours, it's roughly half the length of either of the PS2 games. That Ready At Dawn, for whatever reason, had to cut co-op play, multiplayer, some of the puzzles, dialogue and characters, is a shame.

At face value, it's obvious that Chains of Olympus gets things absolutely spot on in terms of look and feel, and it's quite an incredible achievement in all manner of ways: the absence of loading times, the excellent controls, and the slick visuals contribute to it being one of the best examples of how to make a game for the PSP. It's not quite the full God of War experience, but none of this detracts too significantly from a game that is well worth buying despite its compromises.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ScarOnTheSky #1 4 years ago

    Erm, shouldn't this be in the PSP section?

  • mingster #2 4 years ago

    No loading times is impressive. As are the ridiculously good graphics.

  • krudster #3 4 years ago

    The lifting of the CPU cap has certainly helped.

  • Ryze #4 4 years ago

    When's the PC version out? O_o!

    BTW - preorder from Asda for £17

  • killest #5 4 years ago

    psp > ds!

  • andromeda #6 4 years ago

    wheres the ironic politiican news , i got my popcorn ready

    like this game so far though, good stuff

  • Murbal #7 4 years ago

    Reads throughout like it's being directly compared to the PS2 originals. Surely it could be reviewed as a PSP title in it's own right and not as a lesser version of undoubtably two of the finest (albeit last-gen) home console experiences?

  • mingster #8 4 years ago

    no mention of nipples in review is disappointed

  • Ryze #9 4 years ago

    Sorted. The PSP / Sony is damn lucky that this game doesn't need a right-stick camera.

    That and the load times -also sorted here- is what breaks the vast majority of PSP games.

  • ArcMonkey #10 4 years ago

    PSP???

    PC??

  • JediMasterMalik #11 4 years ago

    @Murbal - I agree, it should be.

    Also, what's this about multiplayer and co-op?

  • Moonprince #12 4 years ago

    "Surely it could be reviewed as a PSP title"

    You'd think so wouldn't you...

  • afghan_jones #13 4 years ago

    the very fact that it is being compared to the home console versions at all just shows how effing good it is within the handheld market.

  • BBIAJ #14 4 years ago

    No slowdown, are you sure EG?

    The demo was riddled with slowdown, a stuttering framerate, and tearing, and that's with it running off of the memory stick, not being streamed from UMD!

  • symbiote #15 4 years ago

    So how is a game that's praised for making the most of the PSP then held back from a higher score because it's on the PSP?

  • Cloudane #16 4 years ago

    I am a Nintendo DS fan at heart but not even I can argue that the PSP output has been better than the DS for the past six months.

    I might even end up buying one soon...

  • Chtulie #17 4 years ago

    No mention of it's improved controls for magic? Especially after taking a biton where controls have changed? Maybe you've forgotten that the original games where quite a bit more awkward when it came to using magic?

  • captainrentboy #18 4 years ago

    Ahhhh God Of War 3, the one game that makes me envy PS3 owners.
    Imagine how fucking sexy it will look, I never did get how they made the originals look sooo frikkin good on the PS2. They are some talented developers, I'll give 'em that.

  • mingster #19 4 years ago

    BBIAJ - They have fixed any issues with slowdown and tearing.
    There is absolutely no slowdown of visual problems in the finished version.
    (I've completed it on a phat PSP and its perfect)

  • mingster #20 4 years ago

    This is the lowest scoring mark for theis game on the whole internet BTW and 8 is good!
    Its ranked as the no.1 PSP game ever on meta and gamerankings

  • Kay #21 4 years ago

    I didn't think much of the demo, to be honest. It was just a case of 'defeat all enemies in the room, move on to the next room, defeat all enemies again, defeat a boss, move on to next room' etc. Is the whole game like that?

    I much prefer the atmospheric locations, exploration and puzzle solving aspects in these type of games, rather than just having seemingly endless combat.

    K
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 11:54

  • jonchoo #22 4 years ago

    @BBIJ, there are slowdowns in the downloaded demo because it is compressed. Running the game from UMD is fine. I didn't encounter a single slowdown, at all.

    Personally I found the control for the PSP version even better than the PS2, particularly dodging.

  • mingster #23 4 years ago

    K.. i personally wanted way more combat and found there was slightly too many puzzles and not enough fighting.

  • mingster #24 4 years ago

    umm dabo .. i'm not insinuating that.. i don't go in for the conspiracy theory's i 'm just commenting this is the lowest mark for the game of any review out there if this is an 8 then all the reviews of PSP games scored before need remarking as there are no reasons this game shouldn't score a 9 ther's nothing wrong with it apart from being a bit short to complete on normal difficulty setting.

  • krudster #25 4 years ago

    It's quite short and the game is more repetitive/combat-centric than the original. You think that it deserves a 9 in spite of that? Go for it.

  • krudster #26 4 years ago

    It scored 7 in at least one publication I could mention, so we're not the lowest score.

  • JediMasterMalik #27 4 years ago

    Again- what is this about the removal of co-op and MP? The other games had neither, was it originally planned for this or something?

  • mingster #28 4 years ago

    Yeah i'm a bit perplexed about the co-op / multiplayer comment as well, had never heard that it was ever going to be in it to begin with.

  • Hughes. #29 4 years ago

    Hooray! Finally PSP games are no longer being marked down because "big console experiences don't belong on handhelds" and "they don't suit playing on the move"; now they're being marked down because they're not like the big console experience and they dosuit playing on the move!

    It's a revolution!

    Maybe one day PSP games will just be marked just on how good they are, instead of having irrelevant baggage strapped on them by reviewers?

  • SeesThroughAll #30 4 years ago

    had to cut co-op play, multiplayer, some of the puzzles, dialogue and characters, is a shame.

    JMM is right.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 12:20

  • jonchoo #31 4 years ago

    Dunno about co-op or multiplayer. Never read about the possible inclusion of any, and this review is the first I have read about them (in fact if you google co-op and chains of olympus you will reach this review). So the fact that both didn't make it into the game didn't bother me one bit as I never expected them anyway.

    Either Eurogamer is making stuff up to disparage the game or RAD promised some co-op/multiplayer to them that we didn't know about.

    But RAD did cut a level out. A video of the level is included as a bonus and it looks pretty good.

  • krudster #32 4 years ago

    From an interview:

    "As a matter of fact, we did explore many different ways of expanding the God of War universe and gameplay. Multiplayer was on the table, both player vs. player and co-op, during the first meetings with Sony. In the end we all came to the conclusion that we had to stay true to the franchise and tell more of Kratos’ story and expand the mythology of God of War.

    "Still, it would have been cool to build a co-op game and give the player the ability to play different heroes of Greek Mythology. Imagine Kratos fighting alongside Hercules or Achilles. How cool would that be? What I really wish I had is an extra year to tell the whole story that was originally planned. One of the coolest and most complicated puzzles had to be cut out of the endgame due its complexity and time. It might have been one of the most powerful moments in the whole story of Kratos. We also had to remove some characters and some dialogue. We love the game but also would have wanted to add a lot more to it. I guess that’s how we always feel at the end. But again, we had to stay true to the franchise and tell more of Kratos’ story and expand the mythology of God of War"

    [link url=http://www.n ext-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9401&I temid=2&limit=1&limitstart=1
    ]http://ww w.next-gen.biz/index.php?option...[/link]

  • jonchoo #33 4 years ago

    Well proven wrong. Either way the inclusion of co-op/multi didn't make it out of pre-development planning stages so it wasn't 'cut'. Subsequently we were never promised of any.

  • lambtron #34 4 years ago

    Stop bitching everyone. Its a good game. End of story.

    / buys

  • krudster #35 4 years ago

    It's a forum. Bitching is mandatory!

  • Hughes. #36 4 years ago

    So, an idea from the first brainstorming session, and not anything they ever did any work on?

    srzly?

    I feel so cheated now.

  • Feanor #37 4 years ago

    The claim that EG has something against Sony or the PSP is ludicrous. This site has given 9's to many previous PSP games.

  • krudster #38 4 years ago

    I concede Multiplayer and Co-op wasn't 'cut' as such, but he fully admits a big puzzle was cut, as well as characters and dialogue.

    It sounds like a game that could have been as amazing as the originals with a bit more time.

    Still, as the man says, just buy it.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #39 4 years ago

    Which part of God of War PSP did you make, dabo?

  • krudster #40 4 years ago

    It's a forum! Therefore I must sound angry and be unpleasant! RaaaRRRGH!

  • el_pollo_diablo #41 4 years ago

    8. That's a good mark. Reviews are subjective. What's the problem?

  • darc #42 4 years ago

    Just like GoW II, but half the length - sounds like the perfect game! I totally don't get the argument that a game's value can be measured in hours/price, when 90% of those hours are spent repeating the same concepts. I loved GoW II, but like most games, for me, it overstayed its welcome.

    The only let-down with Chains of Olympus is that they cut back on puzzling and exploration. Those are the elements that complement the combat to keep the whole thing from feeling like a slog.

    Either way, this is good news for the PSP. This is a game that's good enough to sell new PSP's, which will likely lead to more good PSP games. (My PSP has been edging ever closer to the "Sell" pile for months now.) I doubt I'll buy it, since I got my fill of GoW on PS2, but I am really impressed with the demo.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 14:57

  • Danbojones Verified Senior Staff Writer, GamesIndustry.biz #43 4 years ago

    @Dabo, There's a massive difference between 'justifying the comments you have made' and accusing EG of being corrupt and on the take. Try to make your salient points, to which you are entirely entitled, without the groundless accusations, and you might find that your opinions receive a little more respect.

  • Bohnsen #44 4 years ago

    Well, regarding the "reviewing it as a psp game". How about reviewing it as a videogame? And as such it tries at its hardest to duplicate previous iterations. And you know what? It succeeds in most technical aspects. It really wants to be compared - so that's what happens.

    It's an "almost as good" God of War. It technically is up to the task but lacks in the gamedesign departement. It doesn't get the plattforming and exploration part as good as the other ones and there are significantly less "wow's" in there (which don't have anything to do with the plattform).

    8 points then - right on spot.

    And now go buy it, if you haven't already.

    cheers,

    Alex

    P.S.: And yeah, it really is short. 3 and a half hours on my second play-through.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 14:32

  • Hughes. #45 4 years ago

    The game is marked down because it's not like the PS2 games.

    Previous games have been marked down on the basis that they shouldn't try to be like PS2 games.

    The game is marked down because it suits playing on a portable device.

    Previous PSP games have been marked down because they don't suit playing on a portable device.

    The game is marked down for the absence of content, half of which was never going to be put into the game anyway.

    Trying to claim these complaints are all about the number at the end is a bunch of crap

  • peterfll #46 4 years ago

    Strange, the fact its half the length of the PS2 games with cuts from the puzzles is a win-win for me. With so many games to play 6 - 7 hours these days is ideal, even more so from a portable game.

  • symbiote #47 4 years ago

    @krudster

    "It's quite short and the game is more repetitive/combat-centric than the original. You think that it deserves a 9 in spite of that? Go for it.!

    I think you should treat the PSP more like a small island instead of a large conservatory is all.

  • krudster #48 4 years ago

    Bohnsen, I'm glad someone gets the point.

  • CaoSlayer #49 4 years ago

    This game should be marked down because is a direct clone of the ps2 ones.

    With the exception of the fist of Zeus that have been lifted from DMC (it shares exactly the same moveset than beowulf from DMC3), every other power up is an old power up from GoW 1 or 2, the shield is the golden fleece, the efreet is poseidon rage and primordial fire is zeus bolts.
    This game add nothing to anyone who played the ps2 ones and it only selling point is offering more of the same cause ps2 ones are as short as this one.

    This game seems shorter but it about the same length, the difference is that this game lacks of those awfully designed jumping areas and is straight forward lacking artificial length.

  • Arwin #50 4 years ago

    As long as this game really is 1 point less good than Daxter, which I'm ready to believe, by the way, then I think the score is justified.

  • TONYgr #51 4 years ago

    its not a persian city!its a greek!and yes the game rocks!!!

  • Les #52 4 years ago

    Review scores are useless... As are discussions about them. But at least they can be entertaining... ;)

  • Pulsar_t #53 4 years ago

    psp > ds!

    Umm, no GoW doesn't qualify the PSP as being 'larger than' the DS. I'll have to play this and Ninja Gaiden DS side by side to decide which one is better.

  • Apologie #54 4 years ago

    EG normally likes to rate a "critically acclaimed game" lower then most sites, they must think that by that they get more respect or credibilty... so, consider it a 9/10.

  • Apologie #55 4 years ago

    By the way God of War 1 & 2 are the best action games ever created and look at they'r score in these site, both of them received 9/10... yet stragely games like Halo that don't bring anything new or revolutionilze anything in the genre get the "perfect score 10/10" what a joke, even COD4 a great great game, much better then Halo in every department got a 9/10... EG, what a joke.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 16:44

  • ccfb #56 4 years ago

    Will this thing run on my old school fat boy US import psp?

  • Feanor #57 4 years ago

    Of course....

  • DAN.E.B #58 4 years ago

    in a thread about a PSP game some tard brings up Halo3?

  • Apologie #59 4 years ago

    DAN:SOLO

    you are the tard here... i was questioning EG scores and gave Halo as an example, so there is a conection between what i wrote and the God of War revew (i need to explain these meticulously given your retardation).
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 17:33

  • oerhoert #60 4 years ago

    You people are full of it.

    First: There's no such thing as "reviewing it as a PSP game". I like games. I couldn't give a rat's ass about what platform they're on, what I want from EG is an in-context evaluation. Handheld games need to be just has good as stationary console game to deserve my attention.

    Second: If anything, EG tends to go lighter on bad games than I'd prefer, with some exceptions. Don't think for a second that the moronic standards of IGN tell us anything about how EG should do it.

    Third: The game, eh? Sounds nice. I like short games.

  • Ryze #61 4 years ago

    Great game by the sound of the review - great score - being an 8. It possibly deserves a 9, but I've not played it to be able to tell.

    My copy will arrive on launch day hopefully, and as I have no train journeys coming up at all and I've just cheated through a 1 year abandoned difficulty spike on GTA: LCS, I may well be playing this one for the rest of the year, in between 360 and PS2 games.

    Quality.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 17:42

  • DAN.E.B #62 4 years ago

    @Apologie

    Yeah ive read your posts anti 360 bullshit of the highest order!

    you must be proud.

  • VMerken #63 4 years ago

    When is this out in Europe? Just wondering.

    Considering the way this site is going, it might be interesting to include the following at the start of the review:

    - Platform used to review game (in case of a multi-platform game such as, say Resident Evil 5)
    - Version of review copy [ JAP, US, EUR (= UK or BEL or GER, etc) ]
    - If review-copy is non-EUR and game is not out in EUR shops, include EUR expected release date
    - Retail price in $, £ and €

    And stuff. You know, things which lessen confusion and promote the impression that this site is aimed at the European gaming crowd. Or something.
    Edited by 1 at 11/03/08 @ 21:10

  • Amoebalove #64 4 years ago

    @Apologie

    would please start your posts by saying 'in my opinion'.

  • MrObycyek #65 4 years ago

    I am actually liking the fact this game is shorter than the ps2 versions and agree with darc. GowII ran out of ideas long before the end and became something of a slog. I do not want to play a 30+ hour game if I am just doing the same things over and over again. Mix it up and give me some variety in that case.

    I also agree 100% with the comments of VMerken. This site is called Eurogamers. How about more reviews for the European versions of games as opposed to the US version. Otherwise in my opinion you should call this site InternationalGamer. And how about updating your games lists and getting me a free European copy of Raw Danger?

  • CaoSlayer #66 4 years ago

    @Apologie

    God of war 1&2 are way far from being the best action games ever. In first place, the gameplay is a copy-paste of capcom games like onimusha and devil may cry, there is nothing original and only repeat things that works. And specially, those games aren't fun, they are gorgeous and fast placed but are games where only three moves are useful at hard difficult and so the game becomes a repetition of the same three moves over and over for the whole game, you also fight only about ten types of enemies that require three or four strategies in total, so the game grows boring and uninteresting at the few hours and is the reason of why GoW are the best rent games out here, they are worth one gameplay and no more.

    Of course, the production values of the game are awesome, but that don't makes them "the best action games ever".

  • Widge #67 4 years ago

    Its a shame if the exploration has been cut down a bit. Some of the best moments from GOW1 were in the Pandora's Temple place... walking around a huge puzzle with the epic music blaring out.

    Fantastic.

    BUT its good that devs are starting to go away from this "we're tailoring the game to the platform" idea. Liberty City had 'portable friendly' early missions, but christ they were boring. They were the stuff you slog through to get to the good bits.

    And I have to say, I BARELY save game on my PSP. If I have to stop playing, Pause + Sleep... its not so hard. I get near a charger at least once a day so no danger there.

  • FladgeMangle #68 4 years ago

    Funny old world. Not so long ago EG game Tomb Raider Anniversary 6/10 because the PSP doesn't have a second analogue stck.

    Which is a pity. because it really didn't need one (there free look was in there, but omitted from the manual as far as I remember).

    Anyway... GOW:COE is awesome. I'd give it a 9 or even a 10. I do think EG are a bit guilty of making too many comparisons here. As with the TR:A roundup (not even a review, just a few dismissive comments), they are apparently down on the PSP for what it is (or in this case, isn't). I don't know what they don't like about it as a platform, I've never had any trouble enjoying mine.