God of war review
| Developer(s) | Ready at Dawn Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Engine | Proprietary "Ready At Dawn Engine" 2.0[1] |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release date | NA March 4, 2008[2] EU March 28, 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Hack and slash, action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | BBFC: 18[3] ESRB: M (Mature) |
| Media | UMD |
Gameplay
The gameplay of Chains of Olympus is similar to its predecessors; it is a third-person action adventure game that focuses on gruesome and violent enemy death scenes and epic boss fights. Also familiar to the series are box-based puzzles and the quick time events (QTE) that the player can execute to display a close up kill of the enemy. There are fewer tightrope walking sequences in the game that was prominent in previous games of the series.
Kratos still collects red orbs to power up his weapons and abilities. He also collects Gorgon eyeballs to increase his health and Phoenix feathers to increase his magic. The game's controls remain mostly unchanged but because of the PSP's reduced amount of buttons the game uses both shoulder buttons and the analog stick in order to dodge.
God of War's weapons are consistent with its Greek folklore setting. Mystical weapons that were created by the Gods and given to Kratos. Kratos starts out the game with the Blades of Chaos, the weapon that was given to Kratos by Ares when Kratos agreed to serve him. Towards the end of the game Kratos also picks up the Gauntlet of Zeus, a magical gauntlet that allows Kratos to unleash devastating punches on his opponents. There is also a Sun Shield that Kratos picks that allows him to block most attacks, parry an attack that stun the opponent and also deflect projectiles back at enemies.
Magic
- Efreet Magic - Used by the Persian King and acquired by defeating him. This is a block-breaking blow by a giant fiery Efreet which comes out of you and slams its fist at the ground causing a blow the size of Poseidon Rage, knocking out any enemy nearby.
- Light of Dawn - Acquired by solving a parrying puzzle similar to the fireball puzzle in God of War II after you acquire the Golden Fleece.
- Charon's Wrath - Obtained after defeating Charon and stealing his mask. Kratos will put the mask on and send a large blast, that stops smaller enemies from moving while inflicting damage.
Synopsis
Characters
- Kratos:
Kratos is the protagonist and only playable character in the God of War games. He is voiced by by T.C. Carson, an American singer and actor.
- Athena:
The goddess of war, wisdom and crafts speaks to Kratos throughout the story using statues of her.
- Persephone:
Queen of the Underworld and wife to Hades.
- Morpheus:
The god of dreams is the main antagonist in the story. Although unseen throughout the actual game, he sets into motion the events of Chains of Olympus by crashing Helio's sun chariot and causing the rest of the Greek Gods (sans Athena) to fall into a deep slumber.
- Basilisk:
First encountered when he interrupts a fight between Kratos and a cyclops in the outskirts of the city of Attica. After the initial encounter he flees into the city and fights with Kratos throughout Attica.
- Persian King:
Leader of the Persian army attacking Attica, he is eventually killed by Kratos.
- Charon:
Charon, the ferryman of Hades, refuses to allow passage to Kratos since he is not dead. Kratos and Charon's initial battle ends with Charon throwing Kratos into Tartarus. Charon is eventually killed when Kratos escapes from Tartarus.
- Eos:
Sister of Helios. Asks Kratos for help in rescuing Helios.
- Gaia / Narrator:
The narrator is the unseen Titan Gaia (voiced by Linda Hunt) that is only heard during the game's cutscenes.
Plot
Set ten years before the original God of War game[6], Chains of Olympus begins with the Gods sending Kratos to the city of Attica to help defend the city from the invading Persian army. After spotting a basilisk climbing over the city walls, Kratos gives chase through the city. While chasing the basilisk, Kratos confronts the Persian King inside the city and kills him. After defeating the basilisk he spots an object in the sky crashing towards Earth. On his way to the crash site, Kratos fights through the city of Marathon and encounters a deadly fog that Morpheus has sent into the city.
Eventually Kratos makes his way to the crash site and discovers both the Sun Chariot and Temple of Helios. He encounters a statue of Athena who tells him that Helios has disappeared and Morpheus has used his absence to cause the Gods to fall "into a deep slumber." Athena wants Kratos to retrieve Helios so he can release Morpheus' grasp on the other Gods. While fighting inside of the Temple of Helios, Kratos comes upon a statue of Eos. Using the statue to communicate with Kratos, Eos tells him that the Titan Atlas has kidnapped her brother Helios. Kratos fights his way down to the caves of Olympus, meeting up with the real Eos who tells Kratos that she will guarantee his release if he will help her save Helios; Kratos does not believe her as he has been lied to by the Gods before. However he reluctantly agrees to help save Helios.
After restoring the fire steeds, the horses lead Kratos into Hades, the underworld. He faces off against Charon on his boat on the river Styx. Charon knocks Kratos unconscious and throws him into Tartarus where the Titans were being held. While attempting to escape Tartarus, Kratos comes upon the area where the Titans are located only to find that the spot where Atlas should be is empty. This supports Eos' story that Atlas had taken Helios away. Kratos is eventually able to climb back out of Tartarus and finally defeats Charon. He takes the boat and follows the sunlight of Helios down river Styx eventually coming upon the Temple of Persephone. He sees his daughter Calliope on the shorelines of the temple and gives chase only to lose track of Calliope and instead meets with Persephone.
Persephone tells Kratos that Calliope is in the fields of Elysium and that the only way to see her again is for Kratos to "release" all of his evils by becoming mortal and giving up his powers given to him by the Gods. After agreeing so he could be with his daughter, Persephone reveals to Kratos her true plans and what she has done.
Bitter at being betrayed by Zeus and being tricked by Hades, Persephone was the one who had freed Atlas. While Kratos was disarming himself Atlas was slowly carrying out her plan to destroy the pillar that held the world and Olympus atop of Hades. Persephone plans to kill everyone, including herself, to free herself from her situation. Kratos realizes now that if he stays with his daughter it would mean the end of the world for everyone including Calliope and himself. Eventually he makes the hard sacrifice of not being able to see his daughter in order to regain his power.
Kratos has a final battle against Persephone atop the pillar that holds the world. After chaining Atlas to the pillar, he is able to defeat Persephone and prevent her plans from coming to fruition. He returns Helios to the sky but too weak from battle, falls back towards Earth. While unconscious, two gods talk over him before stripping him of the gauntlet and the Sun Shield leaving him alive on top of the bluffs overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Development
There was already speculation about the existence of the game when in early February 2007 Ready At Dawn posted a teaser for an upcoming PSP title with the words "Coming Soon" using the font from God of War.[7] More information was leaked when an editor from 1UP got an early copy of God of War II and posted the game's instructional manual with a one page teaser for a God of War PSP game that was "Coming 2007."[8][9]
At the God of War II launch event on March 13, 2007 at the Metreon, God of War II director Cory Barlog officially confirmed the existence of a PSP God of War game in development. "It is its own story that connects to the overall story. God of War, God of War II, and then if all the stars align God of War III will be the telling of a trilogy. This PSP story will be a further fleshing out."[10]
The game had already been in the development stages just before the completion of Daxter. Ready At Dawn Studios pitched the idea of a God of War game for the PSP to SCEA's Santa Monica Studios. [11]
In an interview after the game was completed, director Ru Weerasuriya stated that several things had to be cut from the game given time constraints. These included multiplayer and co-op aspects as well as other puzzles, characters and dialogue.[12]
Engine
God of War: Chains of Olympus uses a proprietary, in-house engine referred to as the Ready at Dawn engine. Their work has expanded on the engine they had created for Daxter while additionally including a fluid and cloth simulator.[12] The lighting system was redone in order to match the increase in the realistic graphics.[13] The camera system in the engine had to be heavily modified in order to change from the free camera aspect for Daxter into the fixed cinematic camera for God of War.[12]
Increased processing power
- For more details on Technical Specifications of the PSP, see PlayStation Portable#Technical specifications.
The game was originally designed for with the PSP's restricted 222MHz processor in mind. During the middle of development on the game, Sony released a new firmware upgrade that allowed games to now use the full 333Mhz processor on the PSP. Improvements with the faster processor allowed more realistic blood effects, lighting effects and shadows.
Demo
The game was scheduled to be released during the fourth quarter of 2007,[15] but the release date was pushed back to March 4, 2008.[2]. Because of the delay, Ready At Dawn Studios instead offered to those who had already signed up for a playable UMD demo a "special edition" version of the demo.[2]
The demo was released on September 27, 2007 officially titled God of War: Chains of Olympus – Special edition: Battle of Attica. In the demo, Kratos faces off against a number of Persian soldiers and a giant Basilisk, who is the first boss Kratos has to battle. Then the demo takes you through the city of Attica as Kratos chases down the basilisk before ending with Kratos fighting the Persian King. [16] The disc also includes a developer video that commentates on a play through of the demo as well as a lanyard in the shape of the Greek letter Omega. Since the UMD demo's release, a downloadable demo has been made availible through the North American PlayStation store.
Shortly after the release of the demo, Ready at Dawn also decided to send users who signed up for the demo a song titled, "Battle of Attica". Composer Gerard Marino has stated that this was the first cue written for the game basing it on concept art and screenshots of the game [17]
Trailers
An initial teaser trailer for Chains of Olympus was released on April 25, 2007 coinciding with the announcement of a UMD demo.[18] The trailer depicts Kratos in a couple of areas, mainly the city of Attica, showing a fleet of ships in the background. The Titan Gaia (voiced by Linda Hunt[6]) narrates the trailer. At the end Kratos is knocked into a pit by a large reptilian creature.
Bundle
On February 26, 2008, Sony announced that a special bundled God of War PSP Entertainment Pack would be released in June 2008. Along with the game, the bundle includes a Limited Edition "Deep Red" PSP with an image of Kratos silkscreened on the back, a copy of Superbad on UMD video, and a voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops from the PlayStation store for free.[19]
Reception
| Reviews | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | 9.5/10[20] |
| Edge | 7/10[21] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 9.4/10 |
| Game Informer | 9/10 [20] |
| GamePro | 4.75/5[20] |
| IGN | 9.4/10[20] |
| Compilations of multiple reviews | |
| Compiler | Score |
| Metacritic | 92[22] |
| Game Rankings | 93[23] |
God of War: Chains of Olympus has achieved the highest composite score for a PSP title on Metacritic, displacing former champion Lumines. IGN gave the game a score 9.4/10, citing its unprecedented graphical achievements and improved control scheme[24]. Similarly, GamePro rated Chains of Olympus 4.75/5 praising the game's "fantastic" graphics and "tight and responsive" controls. The review criticized the game's relative lack of variety in enemies and the fact that, "You still have to lug boxes around to solve environmental puzzles." The reviewer still concluded that, "Chains of Olympus is the best PSP game yet."[25] 1UP.com gave the game an A saying, "as a God of War game, Chains of Olympus is slightly lacking, but as a PSP game it's fantastic, and as a technological achievement it's off-the-charts phenomenal."[2