Portably potent
12/12/08 08:35 Filed in: Reviews
Ok, been doing this website regularly for 3 weeks now. And I think it’s time to reveal a juicy little tidbit about myself to the readership....I’m cheap. Very very cheap. I’m the guy that goes to the mall once a week, just to see what’s on the market. I don’t buy things...I just quietly walk around listening to my iPod. I also enjoy reading the flyers that come in the mail. Again, I never buy anything...I just like to look. And sometimes this odd little foible pays off.
A few days ago, I was in EBgames going through the PSP titles. They have this sale going on, and I figured there might be a game in there that might pique my interest in the poor little sony handheld. And there it was...God Of War: Chains Of Olympus. I’m an Xbox fan. My reasoning behind my console preference is that I mostly am not interested in the different game franchises on the playstation consoles. God Of War is the exception. I’ve secretly coveted the awesomeness of this franchise, but I’m seriously not going to buy a PS2 or PS3 just to play one game. And when Chains Of Olympus first came out on the PSP, I had a hard time justifying the $60 purchase price in order to play a portable game. But there it was....for $17.83 Australian dollars used. I could not pass this up.
So here goes...I finally got to play a game in the God Of War series!
First thing’s first. The presentation...oh dear gawd the presentation is so damned juicy. From the gorgeous cutscenes:
To the jaw dropping in-game graphics:
This game screams quality. You know how people have been saying that the PSP is capable of PS2 quality graphics? I haven’t agreed. More like PS1.5. However, this game seriously looks like a PS2 game. There’s such detail in the environment, and the way that Kratos’ loin-cloth flaps in the wind....well...now I’ve said too much. Suffice it to say, the game both looks and sounds deadly. But that’s where the deadly only begins. Kratos kills things with such veracity. The mini-game elements when finishing some characters off is astoundingly fun. It never grows tiresome:
In case you haven’t guessed it, yes this is a mature game. If you see a child playing this game, I would suggest handing the poor confused youth a bible. Then again, the bible is filled with many scenarios that rival the violence in this game....so maybe it might be better to hand the child something in the hello kitty oeuvre instead.
What sets this game apart is the astounding sense of scale. You fight some big damn beasties in this game. This may not be new to videogames, but the camera angles that the developers chose really emphasize the largness of the creatures you’re taking down. All very close in, and wide angle lensed(is “lensed” a word?)
The way these minigames play out really leaves you with a sense of accomplishment at the end. The cinematic feel of this game truly puts the exclamation point on these big battles. The camera following close behind you all the way. You don’t just feel like you beat a beastie. You feel like you took it right the fuck down.
The connection to the gameplay is also very tight. The combos pull off fairly easily, and this game’s controls are nice and responsive. Solid 3rd person action gaming 101. But sadly, this game isn’t without it’s flaws. It suffers from invisible walls a plenty. And there are definitely times when you’re stuck in a room and you have no fucking clue on how to progress. And this game will kick your ass. It’s not for the easily frustrated gamer. You will die a lot. But that’s fine. It just means that when you get through a particularly tough challenge, you feel like you actually accomplished something.
All in all, if you’re like me...someone who is less than forthcoming with his pocket change, go hunt through some bins at EB for this one. It’s fun, and it makes you appreciate your PSP again. But it may also anger you when you start to wonder why there aren’t more games that are of this calibre on this embattled system. For now I’m gonna put that out of my head and go kill things dead.
A few days ago, I was in EBgames going through the PSP titles. They have this sale going on, and I figured there might be a game in there that might pique my interest in the poor little sony handheld. And there it was...God Of War: Chains Of Olympus. I’m an Xbox fan. My reasoning behind my console preference is that I mostly am not interested in the different game franchises on the playstation consoles. God Of War is the exception. I’ve secretly coveted the awesomeness of this franchise, but I’m seriously not going to buy a PS2 or PS3 just to play one game. And when Chains Of Olympus first came out on the PSP, I had a hard time justifying the $60 purchase price in order to play a portable game. But there it was....for $17.83 Australian dollars used. I could not pass this up.
So here goes...I finally got to play a game in the God Of War series!
First thing’s first. The presentation...oh dear gawd the presentation is so damned juicy. From the gorgeous cutscenes:
To the jaw dropping in-game graphics:
This game screams quality. You know how people have been saying that the PSP is capable of PS2 quality graphics? I haven’t agreed. More like PS1.5. However, this game seriously looks like a PS2 game. There’s such detail in the environment, and the way that Kratos’ loin-cloth flaps in the wind....well...now I’ve said too much. Suffice it to say, the game both looks and sounds deadly. But that’s where the deadly only begins. Kratos kills things with such veracity. The mini-game elements when finishing some characters off is astoundingly fun. It never grows tiresome:
In case you haven’t guessed it, yes this is a mature game. If you see a child playing this game, I would suggest handing the poor confused youth a bible. Then again, the bible is filled with many scenarios that rival the violence in this game....so maybe it might be better to hand the child something in the hello kitty oeuvre instead.
What sets this game apart is the astounding sense of scale. You fight some big damn beasties in this game. This may not be new to videogames, but the camera angles that the developers chose really emphasize the largness of the creatures you’re taking down. All very close in, and wide angle lensed(is “lensed” a word?)
The way these minigames play out really leaves you with a sense of accomplishment at the end. The cinematic feel of this game truly puts the exclamation point on these big battles. The camera following close behind you all the way. You don’t just feel like you beat a beastie. You feel like you took it right the fuck down.
The connection to the gameplay is also very tight. The combos pull off fairly easily, and this game’s controls are nice and responsive. Solid 3rd person action gaming 101. But sadly, this game isn’t without it’s flaws. It suffers from invisible walls a plenty. And there are definitely times when you’re stuck in a room and you have no fucking clue on how to progress. And this game will kick your ass. It’s not for the easily frustrated gamer. You will die a lot. But that’s fine. It just means that when you get through a particularly tough challenge, you feel like you actually accomplished something.
All in all, if you’re like me...someone who is less than forthcoming with his pocket change, go hunt through some bins at EB for this one. It’s fun, and it makes you appreciate your PSP again. But it may also anger you when you start to wonder why there aren’t more games that are of this calibre on this embattled system. For now I’m gonna put that out of my head and go kill things dead.