God of War: Chains of Olympus Update

At this point it should go without saying that Ready at Dawn's upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus is doing very right by the PlayStation 2 franchise. The ambitious, eye-popping game pretty much had us the moment we saw it moving. One part testament to the Southern California-based developer's mad skills with the PSP, and one part testament to the universal appeal of beating the crap out of mythological critters, the game has made a positive impression every time we've seen it. The only downside has been that Sony and RAD have been keeping things pretty close to vest for this entry in the series, which is meant to ensure that players get some good surprises. We recently managed to get down to Ready at Dawn and take a peek at some new content in the game, which included another look at Attica, the first level; a boss fight; and a brief tour of Tartarus.

Our look at the game kicked off with the now-familiar mayhem of Attica, the first level in the game. The game is set in the decade of time Kratos spent doing the will of the gods, and the level is a nice chance to see our boy at work. The fearsome warrior kicks much tail and cuts through the insanity as the city is besieged. As we've seen before, the central problem Kratos is initially dealing with is a super-old-school-style weapon of mass destruction: a basilisk. The fearsome critter is a serious problem initially and requires some work to deal with. Given how often we've seen it, that part of our demo was pretty familiar, but we also got a chance to battle the Persian king, one of the many bosses you'll face over the course of the adventure. The battle against the surly monarch kicks off with a cinematic that has him engaged in the standard prefight smack-talk you'd expect from our boy. Once that's out of the way, you'll face off against the king and his lackeys, all of which need some hook blade to the face. The king is your biggest concern because he possesses a powerful magic attack, as well as a few unblockable attacks that are painful.

We're not going to go into detail on the specifics of defeating his kingliness, but suffice it to say the battle is a great time to become familiar with evasive dodges, counters, and the unique properties of Kratos' combos. The battle ends with one of the most awesome uses of a massive crate and an enemy's head we've seen in a game, which you should be able to check out in our exclusive direct feed. The battle, along with its rough ending, is a reminder that the PSP game has all of its console cousin's bite, and then some. Besides the satisfaction of knocking the snot out of your opponent and totally defeating him, the fight with the king also shows off some Mega Man-style positive reinforcement: you gain the king's magical attack, called Efreet. The mana-fueled attack summons a fiery demon to do all sorts of damage to opponents. Best of all, as with most of your magic in the game, you'll be able to upgrade it as you go along.

The second level we played was Tartarus, the not-so-pleasant corner of the underworld reserved for the really creative and painful punishments of the not-so-nice. While you'd think everyone there would greet Kratos like the Cheers crew does Norm, the locals aren't really happy to see Kratos. In fact, everyone's trying to murder him. While no one would share the specifics of why Kratos was off in the underworld, the level fits into the larger tapestry of his mission as errand boy for the gods. The chunk we played through featured a nice mix of puzzle-solving and exploration, key elements from the console games. The level also showed off a good variety of things to kill. Besides the old stand-bys, skeletons and harpies, we also got take on armored cyclopes, which were tough. The backdrop to all the action was a slick and massive-looking space that featured giants bound by chains and menacing cliffs that offered a good sense of scale. The other added challenge in the levels was the game's difficulty, which is currently a bit on the hateful side. Sony and RAD reps were quick to point out that this issue is due for tuning as development wraps up.

Control in the game was really comfortable and felt right. Ready at Dawn's adaptation to the PSP is working out nicely. Kratos handles like a champ, with his combos--old and new--coming out intuitively. Though you might initially find yourself hoping for camera control, the game appears to be doing just fine without it.

As far as the graphics go, the game continues to bust out visuals that are the top end of what the PSP can do. The action is fast, and, thanks to the boost in processor speed afforded by the latest firmware update for the hardware, extremely smooth. We're very taken with the game's art direction and sense of style, both of which have made the leap to PSP with nary a hitch. The levels feature the same mix of wide-open space and tight quarters seen in the console game. Tartarus is especially cool, thanks to the sense of scale we mentioned.

Based on this new snippet of the game, it looks like development on God of War: Chains of Olympus is going really well. The game still looks amazing and plays exceptionally well (though there's obviously some tweaking that needs to happen). Given that there are a few more months of development still to go, we have high hopes the game is going to rock the house. Anyone looking for a showcase of just what the PSP can do should keep an eye out for the game. God of War: Chains of Olympus is slated to ship this March for the PSP, so look for more on the game in the coming months. Until then, come back Friday for a deeper look at the game and how Ready at Dawn is putting together this promising action adventure.