[Gamers' Day 2007] Chains Gang
God of War on PSP is real. We've seen it. Here's the scoop.
Published: May 17, 2007
Let it not be said that Sony can't still incite a little genuine enthusiasm for their software. By oh so cleverly slipping a promo ad for God of War: Chains of Olympus onto the back of the God of War II instruction manual, they confirmed what had been hinted at on Daxter developer Ready at Dawn's web site: God of War was indeed coming to the PSP.
And then of course the speculation and questions started. To be honest, we had 'em rolling around in our head too, so we had to take a little peek. "How would the controls work?" "Will the graphics come anywhere near the level of 'holy hell, how is the PS2 doing that?' polish of GoW II?" "Does it play the same?"
The answers, came surprisingly quick: "They're nearly identical, though the roll moves are still be played with (right now, it's L+R+analog) and will be play tested like crazy." "It's easily the most impressive PSP game yet." "It's literally God of War in the palm of your hand." The sheer magnitude of what Ready at Dawn is doing with the PSP hardware wasn't lost on anyone at the event. Even blown up on a huge, sexy 50-something inch (or bigger) Bravia HDTV, it still looked damn good.
Built to be a prequel to the first PS2 game, the story chronicles just what did happen to make Kratos into the pissy, angst-ridden ass kicker that he'd become while in the service of Zeus. Remember, a whole decade passed between the events that resulted in Kratos' family's tragic death and the Spartan's quest to kill Ares, the original God of War, and this is what Chains of Olympus finally expands upon.
When we eagerly went for the PSP, we got a faceful of boot and were told to sit down and shaddap while the RAD guys went through the motions. On the one hand, we were a little bummed because now we had boot treads on our face, but on the other, we were seeing what is, in every way, a portable version of God of War with no compromises. The controls are just as fluid, the moves seemed lifted almost part and parcel from the PS2 games (though we did get to see a nifty little leg sweep/head stomp melee kill) while we watched plenty of slicing and dicing it up on the rooftops of Attica against a Persian onslaught.
Maybe it was just the fact that the game opened up like all God of War titles, with a huge, epic, battle royale to properly introduce the controls, but we couldn't shake the feeling that Ready at Dawn just got what the series was about -- at least from a presentation standpoint. When we watched a Cyclops charge into the final room (after watching Kratos fire a Persian ship-sinking shot from a massive crossbow, mind you) only to have Kratos catch his mace and then push it back, then see an absolutely massive beast straight eat the Cyclops the sense of scale was finally complete.
The actual battle with the creature's head and claws was fairly short-lived, but the finishing move that buried the familiar Blades of Chaos right in the big thing's melon was a nice, visceral end to the demo. Of course now all we want to do is play the damn thing, but there should be a demo disc hitting later on down the road, so hopefully we won't have to wait long. And hey, there's always E3, right?
And then of course the speculation and questions started. To be honest, we had 'em rolling around in our head too, so we had to take a little peek. "How would the controls work?" "Will the graphics come anywhere near the level of 'holy hell, how is the PS2 doing that?' polish of GoW II?" "Does it play the same?"
The answers, came surprisingly quick: "They're nearly identical, though the roll moves are still be played with (right now, it's L+R+analog) and will be play tested like crazy." "It's easily the most impressive PSP game yet." "It's literally God of War in the palm of your hand." The sheer magnitude of what Ready at Dawn is doing with the PSP hardware wasn't lost on anyone at the event. Even blown up on a huge, sexy 50-something inch (or bigger) Bravia HDTV, it still looked damn good.
Built to be a prequel to the first PS2 game, the story chronicles just what did happen to make Kratos into the pissy, angst-ridden ass kicker that he'd become while in the service of Zeus. Remember, a whole decade passed between the events that resulted in Kratos' family's tragic death and the Spartan's quest to kill Ares, the original God of War, and this is what Chains of Olympus finally expands upon.
When we eagerly went for the PSP, we got a faceful of boot and were told to sit down and shaddap while the RAD guys went through the motions. On the one hand, we were a little bummed because now we had boot treads on our face, but on the other, we were seeing what is, in every way, a portable version of God of War with no compromises. The controls are just as fluid, the moves seemed lifted almost part and parcel from the PS2 games (though we did get to see a nifty little leg sweep/head stomp melee kill) while we watched plenty of slicing and dicing it up on the rooftops of Attica against a Persian onslaught.
Maybe it was just the fact that the game opened up like all God of War titles, with a huge, epic, battle royale to properly introduce the controls, but we couldn't shake the feeling that Ready at Dawn just got what the series was about -- at least from a presentation standpoint. When we watched a Cyclops charge into the final room (after watching Kratos fire a Persian ship-sinking shot from a massive crossbow, mind you) only to have Kratos catch his mace and then push it back, then see an absolutely massive beast straight eat the Cyclops the sense of scale was finally complete.
The actual battle with the creature's head and claws was fairly short-lived, but the finishing move that buried the familiar Blades of Chaos right in the big thing's melon was a nice, visceral end to the demo. Of course now all we want to do is play the damn thing, but there should be a demo disc hitting later on down the road, so hopefully we won't have to wait long. And hey, there's always E3, right?