Previews

Hands on with new levels of God of War: Chains of Olympus

We get down on our knees and play

Hands on with new levels of God of War: Chains of Olympus

Flown in on Hermes's winged sandals, a near-final version of God of War: Chains of Olympus arrived late yesterday afternoon. We've seen the game in action before and even toyed with a demo of the opening sequence, but this new unrestricted build offers the best hands-on look yet. Our prayers for the year's first must-have game just might be answered because Chains of Olympus is shaping up to be a frenzied, action-packed game the likes of which hasn't been seen on PSP before.

As described in our last hands-on, Chains of Olympus opens during the Battle of Attica. Kratos is called in to defend the city from Persian forces mounting an attack from the outlaying beaches. This is ground we've covered before – battles against a giant basilisk, a bloody trail of dead Persian soldiers, and tight controls that make all that carnage so easy to execute. What we're really interested is in getting to the stuff that has been until now kept under lock and key.

Like a rabid Cerberus, we were quick to devour every new morsel of information as we ventured well beyond the opening level of previous previews. Magic joins Kratos' arsenal of abilities shortly after moving from the shores of Attica into the city. After defeating the invading Persian commander in a one-on-one fight, you gain the power to summon Efreet. Holding down R and tapping the Triangle button unleashes the fiery djinn who pounds the ground using his emblazoned fist. Two additional magical summons can be found later in the game.

Unlike basic attacks, conjuring Efreet drains Kratos' magic, which is replenished by collecting blue orbs. Finding secret Phoenix feathers increases your maximum magic – a total of five are needed before your meter is extended. The same goes for Kratos' health, which can be bolstered by locating five Gorgon eyes.

With the newly acquired Efreet magic, busting through the rest of Attica to find the basilisk proves a cinch. Kratos let the scaly beast slink away after their last dual, but before leaving the city you'll have to make short work of him. The final showdown against the lizard essentially mirrors the earlier confrontation but lasts longer. Pounding away with attack from Kratos' blades and Efreet magic whittles away his health until you can trigger two button-pressing quicktime events to knock him off.

You'd think Kratos would be ecstatic after slaying the mythical basilisk – quite the opposite. The emotionally-tortured Spartan shouts angrily at the gods following his victory for instructions on what comes next on his path towards redemption, only to witness the sun literally fall from the sky.

Darkness engulfs the planet and a thick black fogs begins to creep along the surface. Athena explains that Helios, the sun god, has fallen astray and given opportunity for the god of dreams, Morpheus, to seize power. Locked in slumber, none of the gods can fight back against Morpheus' legion of dark creatures.

Returning Helios to the sky means trekking through the city of Marathon to reach his temple. Unfortunately, it's entirely covered in Morpheus's black fog. Getting through the city requires lighting a path with torches and setting carts on fire to illuminate the way. Mind you, scores of skeletal minions attack you through the whole process, as well as slithering snake women and magically-imbued panthers – our kind of party.

Upgrading Kratos' blades and magic makes beating them easier. Spending red orbs enhancing his default blades not only augmented their power, but also unlocked a new attack.

Upon reaching the Temple of Helios it's immediately apparent that you'll need to put a puzzle-solving hat on Kratos' bald head. But only a little one as the puzzles are all incredibly simple, usually having you activate switches by placing weights over them or pulling levels to open doors. Expect a lot of these easy puzzles throughout the course of the game.

They're not terribly entertaining despite being effective in breaking up the frenetic action. If any complaint is to be lodged against Chains of Olympus it would be that the combat is too intense – at one point we ended up accidentally powering down the PSP in a rush to enter a button combo.

Not much more of a wait for the game as development has completely wrapped. Now all we have to do is allow our fingers some rest before Hermes brings everyone copies of Chains of Olympus the first week of March in the US and near the end of the same month in the UK.

Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.