God of War: Chains of Olympus

Generally, I'm not a fan of modern beat-em-ups; I liked the Streets of Rage series for the Sega Genesis but that's about where my fascination with fighting hordes of the same bad guys ended. That said, I've always been a fan of the God of War games because I feel that the break the cycle and introduce new elements to make their games interesting. While Chains of Olympus is nowhere near as ground-breaking as its predecessors, it does what it does really well, and looks graphically incredible while doing so, truly pushing the PSP to its limits.

As I just said, this game is fiiiiine-looking. I've always known that the PSP is capable of some pretty incredible stuff (for a handheld), but I never could've imagined a PSP game with this much attention to detail, textures and animations this smooth, and character-models this... un-polygonal, I suppose? CG cutscenes are done with an interestng-but-effective combination of 3D models (usually just Kratos and whoever he's talking to) and 2D "cardboard cutouts", as it were, of such things as soldiers and townspeople. There's blood aplenty, and it often suprises me how steady the framerate stays despite the constant flow of the stuff along with the red aftertrails of Kratos' signature weapons, the Blades of Chaos.

Speaking of weapons, you'll find plenty of additions to your already-formidable movelist to keep gameplay fresh. Aside from simply finding new weapons and magic spells (Efreet is my favorite spell; you'll see why if you buy the game), you can also upgrade your existing weapons and abilities with Red Orbs which are dropped by defeated enemies and found in treasure chests. Even weapons and abilities that initially seem useless can become quite deadly once you've got several new moves to try out on the next unfortunate Persian soldier that gets in your way.

Sound quality is wonderful. Everything, from massive explosions to the brutal sounds of swords piercing armor and flesh, is spot on. What's more, the voice acting is quite good-- Linda Hunt as the narrator, in particular, really helps draw the player into the game, and T. C. Carson is effectively moody and vengeful as Kratos.

Unfortunately, this awesome-sounding package does come with a few hitches. Rather than attempting to cut off pathways with in-game obstacles, the developers instead chose to use invisible walls ad-nauseum. What's more, the in-game obstacles that are used seem rather cheap; a satyr bombarding me with what are effectively Molotov cocktails every time I try to open a door is more annoying than it is effective.

Despite its flaws, God of War: Chains of Olympus is still a wonderful gem of a game, and a must-have if you're looking to bolster your PSP library.

The Rundown
Graphics: 10/10. There hasn't been a game that looks this good on any handheld system to date.
Audio: 10/10. Realistic sounds, accompanied by good voice-acting? Doesn't get much better.
Controls: 10/10. You'll be destroying entire armies with relative ease before you know it.
Gameplay: 8.0/10. Overuse of invisible walls and annoying obstacles got on my nerves.
Overall: 9/10. Buy it. Seriously. You will not regret it.