Video game number three hundred and three: God of War: Chains of Olympus

Video game review number three hundred and three in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "God of War: Chains of Olympus".

Apparently, this is a good morning for portable games. First I played Super Princess Peach, which I really enjoyed...and now this game. I had never played a God of War game before this challenge, but after trying Dante's Inferno (which I loved), I ended up trying and buying God of War 3. I haven't gone back to finish that one yet because of this challenge, but it's certainly on my list of games that I must play once this project is over. Apparently, I am a big fan of the "hack and slash in hell" genre of game.

Chains of Olympus begins with Kratos (the ghost of Sparta), taking on the entire Persian army as they attack his kingdom. There are many soldiers to kill, giant monsters to beat..and quick time events galore. It was instantly impressed by this game both visually, and gameplay wise..and it took me only a couple of levels to decide that I also want to buy this one before my next plane trip. I think this could be one of my new favorites for the PSP.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto for the PSP, the controls here feel as natural as they do on the Playstation version. I instantly knew what I was doing, and the controls did not feel awkward or annoying the way they do for GTA games or some of the other console ports I've seen on Sony's portable device. They really got it right this time.

It's not often I compare a console game to a portable one, but as nice as God of War 3 (and the first two) are on the PS3, it really doesn't feel like this portable version is missing a lot. The cinematics look good, there were some giant bosses, and the graphics were pretty darn decent. I have to admit, when the battles zoom out a bit, your character gets a little too small for my liking...and I sometimes confused him with the enemies, but luckily, that's only during certain scenes.

Overall Score? 8.5/10. As far as PSP games go, this is nearly as good as I've ever seen. The core gameplay is here...and this is a great portable version of one of my console favorites. It's also a "greatest hit", so I think I'll be buying this one for 20 bucks the next time I see it at Target or some other game store. It's definitely one I want to have in my game collection.