God of War: Chains of Olympus
Elmer sums up the demo in four words: "Oh My Freaking God"
It is difficult to properly express the sheer magnitude of AWESOME that was my first play through with Ready At Dawns God of War without resorting to juvenile exclamations like OMFG or the like. But hyperbole like "This is the most amazing achievement I've seen all year!" is not so far from the truth. Attempts to keep any appearance of decorum while talking about this title does it a disservice, this is indeed the most badass f***ing disc to ever hit the PSP. And I am only talking about the demo.
The controls are virtually complete with nothing spared in terms of responsiveness and brutality. Kratos is, as always, an engaging avatar representative of horrible rage and power. The only two concessions are that only one kind of grab is available to you (for the demo I would presume), and that dodging must be handled without the assistance of a second analog stick. Dodging is now done by holding the L and R triggers then pushing a directing on the analog nub. It becomes second nature quickly and is hardly disruptive to the flow of combat as L is already the defense trigger. Without missing a beat, I was already pulling off the same massive combos that were very well familiar to me. The soldiers were ants in the face of my wrath. Oh no doubt the enemies can be tricky, but any veteran of the previous games should have no trouble clearing hordes of the baddies available in the demo.
What would God of War be if it weren't for memorable bosses, and though this "Basilisk" (a Basilisk in name only as I'm pretty sure they don't shoot fireballs) isn't exactly on par with fighting the Colossus of Rhodes he certainly is no slouch when it comes to intimidation. Being an early boss, he could be forgiven for predictability but it comes are perfect comfort to see that the team knows what they're doing. It's the combinations of understanding the bosses pattern and using Kratos' agility to out maneuver these epic creatures that God of War has always done so very well. After diminishing their health enough the game rewards you as much as it challenges you with cinematic quick time events to finish the monster off. And by golly does it ever feel good.
And about those cinematics, oh man are they still here. Encountering a Persian king before he defiles the city's women, we're privy to the kind of deathly epic dialog that makes every scene in the series a reason to stay glued to the story. In almost any other game set in any other era, the kind of high drama and grandiose proclamations of gods and wrath could be construed as silly. But in the great world of Greek Mythology, hooboy it makes for great stuff. Fans will be glad to hear Kratos voice actor T.C. Carson is on the job again and hearing him as the Ghost of Sparta clinched it for me. If Ready at Dawn is going to deliver an entire game of this, without compromise or sacrifice, then my friends we have a real hit coming our way. Hell, even the demo disc comes with bonus features! Now excuse me while I get back and play this thing again. And again. And again.
