God of War: Chains of Olympus

         

          One of the more challenging aspects of reviewing games is the need to see them in context. Every game ever made is to some extent a product of the time and environment in which it was produced. Likewise, every game is just one small part of a vast landscape filled with competing products, not to mention everything that's come before. Such being the case, there are a lot of different metrics a person can use to measure the quality of a game. It would be a lot easier if every game could be observed and rated within a black, empty void, where outside considerations such as price, hype and expectations hold no sway. On the other hand, that's not the environment consumers experience games in, and any value they could draw from that kind of critical process would be dubious at best. It's what makes context important to consider in any review, even if doing so can be frustrating.

           God of War: Chains of Olympus is a difficult game to view in context. There are a number of different angles to take into consideration, and judging its quality as a standalone product versus its status as part of a series or as a handheld game is a bit of a balancing act. Let's start with the basics.

           The action in Chains of Olympus will be familiar to anyone who's played either of the other God of War games, or any other action game released since the first Devil May Cry. You'll be spending a lot of time hitting the square button, mixing in the triangle button for stronger attacks and the left shoulder button to block; hitting the circle button while near an enemy engages a short execution minigame which requires you to hit the correct button at the appropriate time, or will just kill your opponent outright. There are a handful of different combos you can unlock and learn, but through most of the game, you'll find that your basic combos are typically the most efficient way of dealing with enemies. Rather than rely on an especially deep and complex combo system, Chains of Olympus varies its combat by throwing different combinations of enemies at you. This approach means that by the end of the game, you'll have to pay attention to multiple enemies' attack patterns at once to ensure that you don't get hit in the back by one creature while you're laying into another. It never gets overwhelming, but it's generally enough to keep you on your toes and keep the game from becoming too stale.

          

          The game's presentation is pretty amazing, especially if you're way into melodrama. Kratos' angry screams as he curses the gods and dismembers his enemies are as convincing as ever, and the game's levels and beautifully rendered cutscenes are all tied together with a score that's forceful and bombastic. The story is simple, but epic, and well-told. My one problem with the story is the attitude it takes toward one character in particular.(Skip ahead to the next paragraph right now if you're worried about spoilers; I'll meet you there.) I'm referring here to Kratos' daughter, Calliope . When the two have their touching reunion near the end of the game, she asks him, “Why did you go?” Now, my memory of the first God of War may be a tad fuzzy at this point but if I remember correctly, Kratos didn't go anywhere. In fact, it was his daughter who went; to Elysium, because he brutally murdered her. This scene felt really strange to me, given what I know from the other games.

           In fact, if there's one thing wrong with Chains of Olympus, it's that I've played the other two games in the series; that's where the problem of context arises. On the face of it, CoO seems just like its console-based brethren, but if you look closely, several small differences begin to reveal themselves, and the differences don't work to this game's advantage. For one, Kratos' animation just doesn't feel as forceful in this game, and it makes the combat seem less visceral overall. Maybe it's a small gripe, but it feels pretty important given that the series' brutality has always been one of its biggest selling points.

           By that same token, a lot of the opportunities for morally questionable acts of violence that characterized the other games are curiously missing from this installment. In the previous games, there were a number of instances in which Kratos would murder or sacrifice totally innocent people in order to further his own goals. Beyond their inherent shock value, these bits were nice because they helped to characterize Kratos as something other than a typical hero, or even an antihero; indeed there were times in those games—especially the second—when I questioned whether Kratos might not actually be the villain of the story. However, beyond an instance near the end that requires you to crack open some innocent spirits to regain your powers, this kind of shocking moral callousness is almost entirely absent from CoO.

         

The gameplay here is a lot less varied than in the other installments as well. In my mind, one of the best things about the God of War games is that they never make you do the same thing for too long; combat is broken up by climbing rock faces, avoiding traps, and solving puzzles. By comparison, CoO is mostly combat, with a couple of short climbing sequences and maybe one puzzle, if it can be called that. The lack of puzzles is especially disappointing, given that the puzzles in the other two games were not only well-designed, but large in scope and oftentimes trying to kill you as you solved them.

           God of War: Chains of Olympus is a game that could be either lauded or condemned, depending on the context. Taken on its own, it's a very good, if short (five hours, roughly) game. As a handheld game, it feels pretty incredible; it's undoubtedly one of the best games on the PSP. If you're a fan of the God of War series, though, you may find that this installment falls a little flat.

The title logo as it appears in-game