God of War: Chains of Olympus

God of War: Chains of Olympus
Kratos, as featured on the Chains of Olympus cover.
Developer(s)	Ready at Dawn
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Capcom (Japanese release)
Director(s)	Ru Weerasuriya
Writer(s)	Marianne Krawczyk Ru Weeerasuriya Cory Barlog
Series	God of War
Engine	Proprietary "Ready At Dawn Engine" 2.0[1]
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable PlayStation 3 (as part of God of War: Origins Collection)
Release date(s)	PlayStation Portable NA March 4, 2008[2] EU March 28, 2008 AUS April 27, 2008 God of War: Origins Collection NA September 13, 2011 EU September 16, 2011
Genre(s)	Hack and slash, action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ BBFC: 18[3] CERO: D ESRB: M PEGI: 18+[4]
Media/distribution	UMD, Download (PSP) Blu-ray Disc, Download (as part of God of War: Origins Collection)

God of War: Chains of Olympus is an action-adventure game developed by Ready at Dawn and released by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable (as the fourth God of War game and the first for the PSP) in March 2008.^[5]

Loosely based on Greek mythology and focused on protagonist Kratos, the game forms part of a saga (the first chapter in the God of War series) with vengeance as a central theme.

Kratos, a servant of the Olympian Gods, opposes the goddess Persephone (who allies with the god Morpheus and Titan Atlas) in her attempt to destroy the world and Mount Olympus.

Gameplay

The game is similar to other installments in the series, and is a third-person action adventure game containing quick time events, box-based puzzles and boss fights.

Kratos' weapons includes the trademark "Blades of Chaos" and new weapons the "Sun Shield" and "Gauntlet of Zeus". New magical abilities include the use of an "Efreet", the "Light of Dawn", and "Charon's Wrath". Health and Magic upgrades - Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers respectively - reappear in addition to normal Health and magic-giving chests.

In addition to an array of normal opponents (such as soldiers; harpies; gorgons and the cyclops), major foes include a Persian King, a giant basilisk, the ferryman of the dead Charon and the goddess Persephone.

A Challenge mode (the “Challenge of Hades”) is also included in the bonus features, which unlocks a secret costume and a behind-the-scenes video.

Plot

During Kratos' ten years of service to the Olympian Gods, he is sent to the city of Attica to help defend the city from the invading Persian army. After successfully killing the Persian King, decimating his army and their pet monster the basilisk, Kratos observes the sun fall from the sky plunging the world into darkness. Kratos fights his way through the city of Marathon and witnesses the black fog of the Olympian Morpheus which now covers the land in darkness. Kratos also hears a haunting flute melody which he eventually recognizes as a song once played by his now deceased daughter Calliope.

Finding the Temple of Helios, Kratos is tasked by the goddess Athena to find the missing sun god as in the absence of light, Morpheus has caused the remaining gods to fall into a deep slumber. Kratos eventually locates Eos (the sister of Helios) who advises that the Titan Atlas, has abducted her brother. Kratos retrieves the Primordial Fires needed to awaken the fire steeds of Helios, who take the Spartan to the Underworld, where he has two encounters with Charon at the River Styx. Although Charon initially defeats Kratos and banishes him to Tartarus, Kratos returns and destroys Charon.

Eventually locating the Temple of Persephone and confronting the Queen of the Underworld, Kratos is given a choice: renounce his power and be with his deceased daughter (at a cost to mankind) or proceed with his mission. Kratos sacrifices his weapons and power to be reunited with his daughter, but discovers Persephone is bitter at being betrayed by Zeus and being forced to remain in the underworld with her husband Hades. While Kratos was distracted by his reunion with Calliope, Persephone's ally Atlas was using the power of the kidnapped Helios to destroy the Pillar of the World which would also end Olympus. Choosing to abandon Calliope forever, Kratos takes back his power and binds Atlas to the Pillar of the World he sought to destroy forcing the Titan to now hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. Kratos battles Persephone to the death. Although Kratos is victorious, he is warned by a dying Persephone that his suffering will never end. Atlas also warns Kratos that he will eventually regret helping the gods and that they will meet again.

Riding Helios' chariot back into the sky and seeing the return of the sun, a mournful Kratos then loses consciousness from the exertion and plummets to the ground. Kratos however is saved by Athena and Helios who then return to Olympus.

Characters

Main article: List of God of War characters

• TC Carson as Kratos: The protagonist. A former Captain of Sparta's Army, and once a servant to the God of War, Ares. He now serves the other Olympian Gods and wishes to be free of the nightmares that haunt him.

• Erin Torpey as Athena: The Goddess of Wisdom, and Kratos' mentor and ally.

• Fred Tatasciore as Atlas: A four-armed Titan imprisoned in Tartarus after the Great War. Freed by Persephone and captures the god Helios. Eventually chained by Kratos at the top of the Pillar of the World and forced to hold the world on his shoulders.

• Debi Derryberry as Calliope: Kratos's daughter. They briefly reunite in the Fields of Elysium until circumstance intervenes.

• Dwight Schultz as Charon: The ferryman of the River Styx in the Underworld.

• Erin Torpey as Eos: The Goddess of Dawn and the sister of Helios.

• Dwight Schultz as Helios: The God of the Sun. Kidnapped by the Titan Atlas on behalf of the goddess Persephone.

• Marina Gordon as Persephone: The Queen of the Underworld. Persephone allies with the Titan Atlas and the dream god Morpheus, intending to destroy the world (and therefore Olympus) with Helios' power.

• Fred Tatasciore as the Persian King: Leader of the Persian forces that invade the Greek city of Attica.

• Linda Hunt as the Narrator.

Development

Ready At Dawn pitched the idea of a God of War game for the PSP to SCEA's Santa Monica Studios, ^[6] and in February 2007 Ready At Dawn posted a teaser for an upcoming PSP title with the words "Coming Soon" using the font from God of War.^[7]

An editor from 1UP also obtained an early copy of God of War II and posted the game's instructional manual with a one page teaser for a God of War PSP game that was "Coming 2007."^{[8][dead link][9]}

On March 13, 2007 God of War II was launched at the Metreon, with game director Cory Barlog officially confirmed the existence of a PSP God of War game in development. "It is its own story that connects to the overall story. God of War, God of War II, and then if all the stars align God of War III will be the telling of a trilogy. This PSP story will be a further fleshing out."^[10]

An initial teaser trailer for Chains of Olympus was released on April 25, 2007 coinciding with the announcement of a UMD demo.^[11] The trailer depicts Kratos in the city of Attica, with a narrative provided by voice actress Linda Hunt.^[12]

God of War: Chains of Olympus uses a proprietary, in-house engine referred to as the Ready at Dawn engine. The camera system was modified to cater to the fixed cinematic camera for God of War gameplay,^[13] and the lighting system was reworked to aid in presenting realistic graphics,^[14] The battery life is noticeably decreased due to the higher clock speed required to operate the game.^[15][16]

After the game's completion, director Ru Weerasuriya stated multi-player options, other puzzles, characters and dialogue had to be removed due to time constraints.^[13]

Demo

The demo disc, titled "God of War: Chains of Olympus – Special edition: Battle of Attica", was released on September 27, and focuses on Kratos' journey through the city of Attica.^[17] The disc also included a developer video that commentated on a play and a lanyard in the shape of the Greek letter Omega.

As the game was delayed^[18] and the release date rescheduled for March 4, 2008,^[2] Ready At Dawn Studios offered a "special edition" version of the demo to pre-order customers,^[2] with one Ready at Dawn developer stating that preparation of the special demo disc took a considerable amount of the production team's time.^[14] The company also offered pre-order customers a song on disc titled, "Battle of Attica." Composer Gerard Marino has stated that this was the first cue written for the game basing it on concept art and screenshots of the game.^[19]

Release

God of War: Chains of Olympus was released on March 4, 2008 in North America, March 28, 2008 in Europe, and April 27, 2008 in Australia.

Together with God of War: Ghost of Sparta, the game was released as part of the God of War: Origins Collection on September 13, 2011 in North America and September 16, 2011 in Europe. The collection is a remastered port of both games to the PlayStation 3, with features including high-definition resolution, stereoscopic 3D, anti-aliased graphics locked in at 60 frames per second, DualShock 3 vibration function and Trophies.^[20]

The Chains of Olympus bundle pack.

Limited-Edition bundle pack

On June 3, 2008, SCEA released a limited-edition bundle pack for God of War: Chains of Olympus. The pack included the game, a UMD of the 2007 film Superbad, a voucher for the PSP title Syphon Filter: Combat Ops and a red God of War PSP imprinted with an image of Kratos' face on the rear.^[21] The pack was only available in North America.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	91.10%[22]
Metacritic	91/100[23]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A[24]
GamePro	4.75/5[25]
IGN	9.4/10[26]
X-Play	5/5[27]

Chains of Olympus gained a positive response from critics and achieved the highest composite score for a PSP title on both Metacritic^[28] and GameRankings.^[29]

GamePro (4.75/5) praised the game's "fantastic" graphics and "tight and responsive" controls. The review, however, also criticized the game's relative lack of variety in enemies and the fact that, "You still have to lug boxes around to solve environmental puzzles" but still concluded that "Chains of Olympus is the best PSP game yet."^[25]

IGN (9.4/10) cited the game's unprecedented graphical achievements and improved control scheme.^[26]

X-Play (5/5) rated the game as perfect, while Diehard GameFAN awarded the game Best PSP Game for 2008.^[30]

1UP.com (A rating) stated "as a God of War game, Chains of Olympus is slightly lacking, but as a PSP game it's fantastic, and as a technological achievement it's off-the-charts phenomenal."^[24]

One million units of Chains of Olympus were shipped prior to release^[31] and the game debuted at fifth place in the North American charts, with 340,500 copies sold in the first month.^[32]

In September 2010, God of War: Chains of Olympus was listed number one on GamePro's "The 10 Best PSP Games" list.^[33]

Soundtrack

God of War: Chains of Olympus - Original Soundtrack from the Video Game was composed by Gerard K. Marino but to date has not been commercially released.^[34] Marino composed roughly thirteen minutes of new music for the game.

References

1. ^ Marc Nix. "The Future of PSP -- Ready At Dawn". IGN. http://psp.ign.com/articles/772/772154p1.html. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} GameSpot. "Chains of Olympus breaking March 4". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6178390.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;1. 
3. ^ "GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS rated 18 by the BBFC". BBFC. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/3B7BB9ED0E30CB6A802573EF003F4758?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
4. ^ "PEGI Search a game". ACB. http://www.pegi.info/en/index/global_id/23/?searchString=chains+of+olympus&submit=Search. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
5. ^ IGN. "God of War: Chains of Olympus". IGN. http://psp.ign.com/objects/886/886122.html. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
6. ^ Matt Leone. "Previews: God of War PSP (Page 5 of 6)". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=4&cId=3159438. 
7. ^ James Ransom-Wiley (2007-02-16). "God of War font used to tease 'unannounced psp title'". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/16/god-of-war-font-used-to-tease-unannounced-psp-title/. Retrieved 2008-03-06. 
8. ^ "God of War II...YES PLEASE!!". 2007-03-02. http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7921013&publicUserId=5546756. Retrieved 2008-03-06. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ James Ransom-Wiley. "God of War PSP revealed on back of God of War II booklet". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/05/god-of-war-psp-revealed-on-back-of-god-of-war-ii-booklet/. 
10. ^ Matt Leone (2007-03-13). "God of War II launch event/PSP coming out party? Liveblog!". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7951988&publicUserId=5380373. Retrieved 2008-03-06. 
11. ^ Andrew Yoon. "God of War: Chains of Olympus - first trailer & UMD demo". PSP Fanboy. http://www.pspfanboy.com/2007/04/25/free-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-umd-demo/. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
12. ^ Andrew Yoon. "Chains of Olympus will "change the course of the GoW mythology"". PSP Fanboy. http://www.pspfanboy.com/2007/08/03/chains-of-olympus-will-change-the-course-of-the-gow-mythology/. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
13. ^ ^{a b} "INTERVIEW: Taking God of War to PSP". Next-Gen. 2008-03-04. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/interview-taking-god-war-psp. Retrieved 2008-03-08. 
14. ^ ^{a b} "GDC08: God of War developer goes behind-the-scenes". PSP Fanboy. 2008-02-20. http://www.pspfanboy.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-god-of-war-developer-goes-behind-the-scenes/. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
15. ^ Matt Leone (2007-12-10). "1UP Previews: God of War PSP". 1UP. http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3164808. Retrieved 2008-03-27. 
16. ^ 222Mhz vs 333 MHz Chains of Olympus. GameVideos. 2007-12-11. http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16611. Retrieved 2008-03-08. 
17. ^ GameTrailers. "God of War (PSP) Developer Walkthrough". GameTrailers. http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25829.html. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
18. ^ Carlos Bergfeld (2007-09-07). "God of War: Chains of Olympus Delayed, Dated". Shacknews. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/48843. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
19. ^ "God of War team offers "Battle of Attica" music". PSP Vault. 2007-10-06. http://www.psp-vault.com/Article1221.psp. Retrieved 2007-10-17. 
20. ^ Turndorf, Marc (2011-06-07). "God of War: Origins Collection Coming in 3D, Watch the Trailer". SCEA. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/06/07/god-of-war-origins-collection-coming-in-3d-watch-the-trailer/. Retrieved 2011-06-09. 
21. ^ "God of War PSP Pack Now Available". IGN. 6-3-2008. http://psp.ign.com/articles/878/878728p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-5. 
22. ^ "God of War: Chains of Olympus Reviews". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/938607.asp. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
23. ^ "God of War: Chains of Olympus (psp: 2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/psp/godofwar. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
24. ^ ^{a b} "Reviews: God of War PSP". 1UP.com. 2008-02-19. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3166395. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
25. ^ ^{a b} "Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP on GamePro.com.". GamePro. 2008-02-20. http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psp/games/reviews/162468.shtml. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
26. ^ ^{a b} "IGN: God of War: Chains of Olympus Review". IGN. 2008-02-18. http://psp.ign.com/articles/852/852821p1.html. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
27. ^ "God of War: Chains of Olympus". G4. http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1724/God_of_War_Chains_of_Olympus.html. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 
28. ^ "Metacritic: Index of PSP Game Reviews by Score". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
29. ^ "GameRankings Filter Control Box: PSP". http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simpleratings.asp?platform=1024. Retrieved 2008-06-27. 
30. ^ Dieheard GameFAN's 2008 Gaming Awards
31. ^ "God of War: Chains of Olympus". Ready at Dawn. http://www.readyatdawn.com/chainsofolympus.html. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
32. ^ Kyle Orland (2008-04-17). "March NPD: Wii, Smash Bros. on top, software sales surge". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/17/march-npd-wii-smash-bros-on-top-software-sales-surge/. Retrieved 2008-04-18. 
33. ^ Noble, McKinley (2010-09-23). "The 10 Best PSP Games". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/106330/the-10-best-psp-games/. Retrieved 2010-09-28. 
34. ^ "God of War: Chains of Olympus - Credits". allgame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=52152&tab=credits. Retrieved 2010-11-05. 

External links

• Official USA Site
• Official European Site
• God of War: Chains of Olympus at Internet Movie Database
• God of War: Chains of Olympus at the Open Directory Project