God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Sony's GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) is the prequel to the two earlier God of War games. Once again, you play as Kratos, a Spartan warrior, who battles mythological creatures with the aid of a double-bladed weapon chained to your wrists. Since Chains of Olympus takes place before the events in the first game, Kratos has not yet achieved the status of a god after defeating the powerful Ares. Instead he must venture into mysterious dark environments to fight mythological creatures. In true God of War style, Kratos faces off against huge boss fighters early on in the game -- in this case, a huge fire-breathing lizard-like creature that attacks him on an elevated outdoor terrace; you must duck, roll, and jump to avoid it's claws and bites; leap over its fiery breath; and whack him silly with your chained blades. Eventually you'll be prompted -- with specific buttons you need to press on the face of the PSP, such as triangle, circle or square -- to pull giant columns down on its head to render him unconscious. As you play through this linear game, you will direct Kratos as he attempts to save the ancient world by destroying vicious monsters.

Take one gander at the graphics in Chains of Olympus and players might think they've booted up a console game. But this visually stunning, "Mature"-rated action-adventure hybrid is more than just eye-candy as the gameplay -- while on the short side -- is also extraordinarily good. Gamers will no doubt marvel at the size of the beasts you take on, how fluid the animation is, the slick "camera" angles, and the level of detail in both the characters and environments.

Puzzle-solving, however, is fairly basic, such as pushing or pulling crates and then jumping on them to reach high areas. Another issue is the relatively short gameplay at about 5 hours or so. The game can be played on easy ("Mortal"), normal ("Hero") or hard ("Spartan"), and if completed on any of these three difficulty settings you can access the very hard ("God") mode. Minor issues aside – namely, brevity, linearity, and puzzle simplicity -- God of War: Chains of Olympus is one of the most visceral and gratifying handheld games ever created, and one that pushes the PSP hardware to new heights. Just be aware this is a "Mature"-rated game with inappropriate content for players under 17 year of age.

Available on: PSP
Not available online
Genre: Action/Adventure
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released on: March 4, 2008
Price: 39.99
ESRB Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content