God of War: Chains of Olympus - updated hands-on

Features
By published

Plot details emerge as Kratos batters his way through a new adventure

This is the real plot of chains of Olympus, and it's also where things start to get really impressive. Unlike Attica, which visually was kind of pedestrian for the series, the second level features massively ornate temples and statuary - you know, the kinds of things that occasionally made the PS2 choke while it tried to render them. On the PSP, however, everything runs smoothly - without so much as a drop in framerate - no matter how detailed the surroundings get.

Kratos is far from defenseless against these horrors, of course; by the time we'd made it this far, we'd been able to upgrade the Blades of Chaos, as well as the Efreet magic he'd picked up in the first level, which manifests a huge, fiery demon to rapidly pound the ground and knock over your enemies. We also found Helios' shield deep within the temple, which enhances Kratos' blocking ability and makes it possible to reflect attacks back at enemies.

While we've only been able to spend a short time with the game so far, the little bit that we've played has dispelled any notions that this is just a weak spinoff of the "real" God of War titles. Kratos won't spend the game battling puny human enemies, and the level design so far is every bit as unique, complicated and pretty as we've come to expect from the series. Check back forupdated impressions over the next couple days, as we continue to plow our way through the game.

Feb 13, 2008

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.