Preview: God of War: Chains of Olympus
Complete and utter destruction in your hand! Kratos is coming to a PSP near you.
There is no greater master of the brutality of battle; no finer artisan of the primal urgings of war. Kratos: The pale ghost of Sparta. Kratos: Bane of Ares and successor to his blood-birthed throne.
Kratos. Son of Zeus. Sculptor of history.
But it was not always so. Tricked by Ares into slaughtering his wife and daughter, the destined warrior wandered the breadth of existence for ten years before accepting Athena's charge to kill her twisted brother. The Olympian gods bade him journey to lands untouched by mortals during that decade, molding him into their servant against a legion of adversaries. Powerless to shape the events of a world quickly tumbling into upheaval, the gods charged Kratos with the task of destroying those monstrosities responsible for their impotence.
Chains of Olympus will have lots of puzzle solving, just like on the PS2.
Chains of Olympus will span Kratos's ten years of bondage to the gods and serve as a prequel to the original PS2 classic, God of War. Built from the ground up for play on the PSP, it sports a tailor-made engine and a rebuilt control scheme, both of which were specifically designed to capture the original's unique look and nuanced feel. But the handheld just can't stand toe-to-toe with its console cousin; bridging the gap between the two systems while sacrificing as little as possible to the PSP's weaknesses was a very tall order.
So, despite Chains of Olympus's close ties with God of War and its sequel, SCE Santa Monica opted to outsource the title's development to Ready At Dawn Studios. Unlike Santa Monica, which has no real experience working on the PSP, Ready At Dawn proved themselves superbly capable with the handheld during production of their first game, Daxter. And, since it was Ready At Dawn that first pitched the idea for a prequel -- they loved God of War so much that they wanted to take a crack at the prestigious franchise -- Santa Monica gave them every resource they needed, working closely with them for the length of the game's development.
Another menacing beastie to battle
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