CHRISTMAS =D + God of War: Chains of Olympus Review

So I got a pretty good Christmas haul this year. Of course, there was all the usual stuff, like chocolate and shampoo and a new dressing gown, but you don't notice those much because yoy get them all the time. At least, I do. The one present I shall mention is one I was waiting since my birthday to acquire - a 3DS.

It's Metallic Red, and from the moment I picked it up I haven't been able to put it down. From surfing the internet late at night to messing around with the AR Cards, from downloading Pokedex 3D to killing Ghoma in under half a minute on Zelda, it's provided me with enough entertainemtn to shut me up for hours. So much so that I went into town after Boxing Day and blew all my money on Mario Kart 7 and Nintendogs, both of which I am still enjoying immensely. I dread facing 150cc Grand Prix, though, especially since this isn't Double Dash and I haven't got my brother to be the only competent driver between us.

I have played some Mario Kart online, and am looking for people to challenge on Super Street Fighter IV. If you want to find me and beat the everloving snot out of me with Blue Shells or Hadoukens, add my friend code to your own 3DS. Here it is:

3093-7547-3292

After New Years, I plan to continue with my Harvest Moon LP, so have no fears - it's not dead yet. The main problem is that there's a lot of days on the calendar where nothing of worth hapens, so I'll have to slog through those to give you any updates. Which gives me an idea for the horror plot I want to work in... *evil grin*

Until then, here's a review of another game I got recently - God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt my eyes after a- AAAGH MY EYES!"

I assume most of you already know about the God of War franchise, but for those who don't, I'll sum it up in brief - a grumpy, hate-ridden Spartan with family issues kills Greek myths with chain-swords. Chains of Olympus serves as a prequel to the first God of War game, taking place during the ten years Kratos (our human blender of a protagonist) spent in the service of the Gods of Olympus - the man hasn't yet grown his murderous hatred of Zeus in time for GoW3.

As I mentioned in my Kingdom Hearts rant, I like a game that doesn't hold my hand for too long before letting me get into the meaty adventure bits, which is why I love fighting games so much. Chains of Olympus throws you right into the middle of a Persian attack on the costal city of Attica, the enemy bringing along a Basilisk with them due to the fact Godzilla hadn't been born just yet. After you slay the beast and save Attica, Helios, the God of the Sun, suddenly gets yanked off his chariot, leaving his frankly idiotic horses to crash the sun right into the earth. It soon conspires that someone's let the titan Atlas out of the underworld, and it's up to Kratos to kick him back into line and save Helios.

As an action-adventure hack-and-slash game, Chains of Olympus follows the conventions set by the previous games - you have two attack buttons, light and heavy, and pressing them in various combinations deals chain-blade death to everything standing in front of you. You also get access to a grab attack which instantly kills weaker enemies, a launcher/air combo system that puts one in mind of Marvel vs. Capcom, and a dodge ability that you will use quite a lot, considering that you'll be dealing with cyclopes and other mythical monsters who want to eat you. Combat is nice and visceral, with blood flying with every strike, and you'll soon fall into a rythm of attacking and dodging that works quite well.

But just because you'll be doing a lot of killing, killing isn't all that this game is about. Occasionaly, you'll run into puzzles that actually require a lot of thought and exploration to get right. Although they don't transcend the use of the action button to push or pull blocks or turn cranks, they make a nice change from the hacking and slashing that makes up most of the game's action. One early puzzle is deceptively clever - you place a block onto a pressure switch to keep the gate open, only to find another switch on the other side that requires you to place a dead corpse (that the local Basilisk handily dropped earlier) on it to open another gate. It actually took me a while to figure this out, and it shows that the game isn't totally patronizing it's audience.

Killing enemies and opening certain chests rewards you with red orbs, and special bonuses of these are awarded for racking up big combos. You use these orbs to upgrade Kratos' weapons, unlocking new moves that increase the variety of bladed death you bring upon your foes. You'll also earn new items at certain points in the game that also grant new attacks - the Temple of Helios level grants you a shield that can be used to parry enemy attacks, and can be upgraded to allow Kratos to reflect projectiles. Be warned, though - you're going to need a lot of red orbs, as upgrading every weapon you have will be a costly excercise, but well worth it.

Beating the single-player story game unlocks the Challenge Mode, which works pretty much like every Challenge Mode ever - you are set a task of some sort that you must complete with a minimum of frustration and annoyance. While not the most engaging part of the game, Challenge Mode is a nice distraction, and gives you enough Kratos goodness until you want to replay the story mode on a harder difficulty. In which case, good luck to you - this game is challenging, even on Normal.

The Good Bits
What's not to like about this game, in all honesty? The combat flows well, and there is some actual strategy to it - you actuall have to think about when to dodge a Minotaur sword or parry a Gorgon tail. The puzzles are really well designed, too, even if they don't get past block pushing and crank turning, and it's nice to see Quick-Time Events being used properly - jamming a sword into a cyclops' eye is a hell of a lot more satisfying when you feel like you've earned it. The graphics, for what the PSP can pull off, are also pretty nice too - blood flows, smoke billows and torches cast light over everything. Finally, Isle of Creation may be, in my opinion, the best bit of music to play in the middle of a fight scene. Just sayin'.

The Bad Bits
Not many here, but thought I'd mention them. The collectables that increase your health and magic bar are very well tucked away, so you have to explore a lot if you want to find them - the fixed camera doesn't help in that department. Often, it's not really obvious where you're meant to go, resulting in a lot of Guide Dang It moments, and the amount of red orbs you have to collect to uprgade everything is ridiculous. Also, how the hell was I to know I was meant to lose that boss fight with Charon? :argh:

Scores
Graphics: 4/5 (Keep in mind this is the PSP here.)
Gameplay: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replayability: 4/5

Final Verdict
It's everything you'd expect from a God of War title, and loads of mindless fun. It's a bit on the short side - at the time of writing, I'm already in the Underworld level - but if hacking things apart is all you want, then I couldn't reccomend anything else. Also, did I mention the obligatory sex minigame is back?

Happy New Year to all of you! :)