God of War: Chains of Olympus Comments by Kristan Reed

OMG OMG. Mark my words GOW3 will be the best looking game in existence!

Lovely stuff.

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

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

The lifting of the CPU cap has certainly helped.

When's the PC version out? O_o!

BTW - preorder from Asda for £17

psp > ds!

wheres the ironic politiican news , i got my popcorn ready

like this game so far though, good stuff

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?

no mention of nipples in review is disappointed

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.

PSP???

PC??

@Murbal - I agree, it should be.

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

"Surely it could be reviewed as a PSP title"

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

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.

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!

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?

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...

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?

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.

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)

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

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

@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.

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

Read like a ten to me.

Never played the thing, but the score doesn't seem to tally with the review to me.

Re-read that review and still perplexed that this is being marked down for not being at the same level as a PS2 game. Surely the PSP deserves some slack. GoW Lite sounds exactly the type of thing I'd want on PSP.

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?

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

JMM is right.

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.

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"

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option...

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.

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

/ buys

It's a forum. Bitching is mandatory!

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

srzly?

I feel so cheated now.

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

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.

"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."

Possibly but the PSP is only capable of so much, and the results I feel are still pretty spectacular.
8 out of 10 isn't an unreasonable final score, i still think i'd lean towards 9 myself though.

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

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

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

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.

@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.

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.

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