Walkthrough

This walkthrough is written for Hero (Normal) difficulty. Play on a harder difficulty if you like, but this walkthrough (especially for the boss fights) may not always apply.

The Shores of Attica

You'll begin the game with Kratos atop a building, surrounded by soldiers. Your trusty Blades of Chaos work as well as they ever have, so start slicing and dicing here. Don't get fancy; just try to keep your combo meter up as high as it'll go for the extra orbs that this rewards you. After defeating all of the soldiers (just wait for them to stop coming), fire the ballista nearby into the ship. That, for some reason, will trigger an explosion on the roof nearby, allowing you to drop down into the building.

Tip: Keep in mind that you can destroy all of the crates on the rooftop and inside the building for more orbs. Be on the lookout for more crates as you play the game, as the orbs that they drop will add up over time.

Kill the soldiers inside the building, then refill your health with the chest nearby. Attempting to open the door will reveal a cyclops first, which you can knock away by mashing the O button, and then the dreaded Basilisk, which will act as the boss for a large chunk of this first portion of the game.

Boss Fight: Basilisk, Phase One

The first fight against the Basilisk is fairly easy. Get up close to the mouth and start hitting it with your attacks. The Basilisk has two attacks of its own here. It will often rear back and then snap forward for two quick chomps of its teeth; you can block this attack with your left analog stick. It will also periodically fling fireballs at you, which you can dodge with the dodge mechanic. Unfortunately, the loss of the second analog stick on the PSP will force you to dodge by holding down both the left and right shoulder buttons and then moving the analog stick to one side. It's a bit complicated, and not particularly easy to do if you're holding the PSP, so you may want to find a flat surface to rest it on while you play the game.

At any rate, if you use your normal attacks on the Basilisk while dodging or blocking its attacks, you will eventually wear down the Basilisk so that it only has a third of its health bar left or so. When that occurs, you'll be able to start the minigame to finish this first mini boss fight. Tap the buttons that pop up to wound the Basilisk, then use the minotaur's club to put out its eye. It'll move off, forcing you to follow it.

After the Basilisk goes down, follow it out onto the beach nearby. You can destroy the small barricades scattered around this area for more orbs, but your goal is to push the battering ram up to the next door. Nothing too complicated here; it only moves in one direction. One thing to keep in mind here are the presence of the falling ballista bolts. You can see where they fall if you keep an eye on the ground, but keep in mind that they can hurt you even if you stand outside the radius that shows on the ground.

Before smashing the gate, keep in mind that there is a Red Orb Chest to the right of it and another chest atop a platform near the save point that has a Gorgon Eye inside of it.

The Gates of Attica

Smash the gates with the ram and head through. You'll soon come across archers. Reach them by jumping into the water and swimming across. After they're dead, start attempting to use the crank nearby to open the gate, but be sure to kill all the soldiers that appear before doing so; any chance at earning orbs should be accepted. When you're ready to move on, turn the crank until the door is fully open, then rush across the room and through it before it closes. It may close too quickly for you to reach via running, so be prepared to dodge under it.

The next area will feature a number of soldiers and archers scattered around beneath a siege tower. Before entering the siege tower, move off to the right and bit and you'll see another tower. Destroy the wood at its base to reveal two Red Orb Chests. With those collected, climb the siege tower (why did the Persians pack all of their gold into a siege tower?) and jump off the ladder about halfway up to find another chest with a Gorgon Eye in it.

After climbing to the top of the tower, head to the left to find a Red Orb Chest, then navigate across the wooden beam to reach another door.