We were skeptical about Chains of Olympus. The first God of War for the PSP has a lot to live up to. With the PSP competing against the booming DS, an awesome God of War action game is just what the Sony doctor ordered. But could it possibly be as good as the console games?
The answer is a semi-confident yes. I was seriously impressed at how close Chains of Olympus feels to the console versions of God of War. Kratos' attacks are as furious as ever, almost emulated exactly from the PS2.
The demo we played was short, but gave an ample amount of insight into what the final game is going to be like. All the same types of combat maneuvers are there, including some new attacks and combos.
We should have known that this game would hold up. It's developed by Ready at Dawn studios that did some amazing work with Daxter on the PSP. The demo of Chains of Olympus was short, but wasn't without its thrills. After engaging in some normal GoW-style fighting, a beastly-like two-legged creature busts through the door. And when you think it's time to fight him, a larger dragon/wizard enemy gobbles him right up. So, the battle quickly becomes bigger.
This mini-boss battle isn't too tough. Once you beat this fire-breathing creature down enough, it'll trigger the all-familiar finishing-move mini-game where timed button pressed will ensure Kratos' victory.
After that, it's onto some beach battles that make for some nice carnage before the demo ends. I'd love to see the game running on a TV with the new PSP's video outputting feature.
We expect to see more on God of War: Chains of Olympus in the coming months. Stay tuned.