Apologies to you, PSP developers of the world, but let's face facts: Ready at Dawn makes you look like a bunch of sissies. While the rest of you are struggling to bring your ropey ports of PS2 and PS3 games for Sony's handheld, the team behind Daxter years ago seems to have no problem bringing epic entertainment to the smaller screen. God of War: Chains of Olympus is not just a tour-de-force of technical knowledge; it is also an object lesson of how to take even the most ambitious of the game console and make it work on mobile machinery. This is not a God of War or God worthy lite War spoiled by minor visual problems or gameplay - it's just God of War, with all the scale, beauty, blood, guts, bombastic and (ahem) this entails breasts.
Of course, the stunning visuals that steal the show. God knows how they've done it, but Ready at Dawn has managed to produce God of War on PSP that does not look different with two games on the PS2 one million miles. Of course, there is a little more detail on the characters and scenery. Yes, some of the effects are slightly soften. That does not change the fact that our anti-hero, Kratos, monster design, animation, architecture and various combo attacks and magic weapons still looks absolutely spectacular. From the beginning of the besieged city to the great temple which forms the central part of the area to the bottom at the end, you are consistently impressed by the coherent and beautiful production design, and a population that fills terrible game.
Ready at Dawn has also tempted to reduce the admirable series of scale. Where other developers, worried about a smaller screen and horsepower 3D finite PSP, might have been tempted to enlarge Kratos and reduce the number of enemies or the complexity of the environment, Ready at Dawn has been copied zooming it, swooping camera from the original PS2 and is not afraid to pull back the camera for a minute on Kratos seemed almost weak in the world built on literally Olympian proportions. It is not often that I was struck by the PSP games, but Chains of Olympus had my jaw on the floor more than once. Put on some headphones and throw that signature, brass-heavy score Holst together, and it was a surprisingly robust.
But technical game achievements are only part of the picture. What Ready at Dawn obviously been doing (with a little help from Sony's San Diego studio) is to analyze what makes God of War job and then find a way to make that fit on the PSP. The fact that the camera is always CPU-controlled may be helpful, but somehow Chains of Olympus map all complex, combo-based combat mechanics, use magical attacks and dodge, jump and climb maneuver of PS2 games to four face buttons and two shoulder buttons on the PSP. The amazing thing is how quickly you make adjustments, learning that different combinations of the shoulder and face buttons will perform a special attack, quickly clicking on the two shoulder buttons and analog core push to get started dodge. It seemed natural - and this proves essential to make the game fun to play.
All the elements of God's marvelous of War gameplay there too. brutal fights featuring some of the weaker enemies? Entertaining block and switch puzzles? elaborate fights with one or more giant enemies? Medusa? Climbing part? Column to be dropped and the great siege-engines will be fired? All present and very much true. Admittedly this game is a little light on the weapon, but the legendary Blades Kratos' chained of Chaos is still flexible and strong as ever, while the new additions - a challenge that packs a punch god-like - just brilliant. You can almost feel the crisis of zombie skull crushed. Bloody finishing moves back, and once again shows how - is used in the right way - which is usually annoying Quicktime sequence of events can really add something to the game.
Which brings us to the main flaw of the game. I like Chains of Olympus, but there is no getting around the fact that it was short. On the normal difficulty level or easy, you will be happy to be cracked in five or six hours on your first play through. The existence of the video clip to 'level the missing' as a bonus unlockable showed that there were originally more planned for the game, and whether any additional content does not fit the story or simply do not fit the schedule, you can 't help hoping that the game continues to bits long. On the plus side, it is a game you would love to fight through more than once, and you get a bonus unlockable challenge to put combat skills Kratos' for the rest.
Value for money corner is all that stops Chains of Olympus became the highest rated PSP game we've ever had. All the same, it's one that every PSP owner should have in their collection, partly to see what Sony handheld can do when pushed to its limits, and partly because it was a blockbuster experience while it lasts. Fans of the series may carp little about weapon selection is limited, packed games or bizarre moves missing, but weigh these things against the fact that this is easily the best try I've ever seen at bringing full-scale console experience on a handheld, and they almost do not register on the scales. I hope it is a title that will inspire other PSP developers to improve their game - it's definitely one to make us raise our expectations.
