Breathe deep, I know you don’t hear this often: I wish it were 2008 so I could snag the full version of a PSP game. Yeah, it was weird for me too. Anyway, so after letting my PSP charge overnight, I was finally able to dig into the juicy morsel that is the God of War: Chains of Olympus demo, and much to my surprise I’m mightily impressed (and kind of pissed that it’ll be so long until the full game hits).
Since it’s just a demo it was, suffice to say, not nearly long enough, clocking in at a mere 20 minutes or so, but what there is to be had was a load of fun, and it completely captured the feel of the PS2 masterpiece it follows.
If you were worried about the visuals, don’t be. They’ve somehow managed to capture all the fidelity of the PS2 version on this tiny screen, and moreover, they even managed to get the controls to work with an incredible amount of finesse. The demo starts as you would be crazy not to expect, with a frak-ton of combat. You’re immediately dropped into the siege on Attica, with Persian soldiers attacking the city by boat and on foot. Your first task is simply to dispatch said soldiers in a brutal fashion, and then destroy one of the attacking boats by firing off a ballista.
From there you drop into the room below, where you fight off more soldiers–of course–and are then faced with what appears to be a large troll. The troll, as it turns out, is really only there to drop off a massive club, which you’ll use momentarily to pummel a gigantic Basilisk in the eye with. Well, I take that back–he’s also there to feed said hungry Basilisk, but that’s neither here nor there.
Like the other God of War games, Chains of Olympus makes use of a locked camera that the player doesn’t control, but it really does a great job at keeping itself in the action and, which gives the player an excellent vantage point at virtually all times. Gameplay is fast and furious, and the enemy soldiers are no match for you at any point. The boss characters present more of a challenge, and again in true God of War tradition end up letting you throttle them spectacularly with a series of well timed, prompted button presses that don’t disappoint. Well, OK, the scenes don’t disappoint, the button presses kind of do, but it all works out for the best.
In any case, the demo so far gives me high hopes for this game, and from what I’ve tasted so far I have to say that it’s certainly looking like a must-buy for me.
