Even without introducing any original element, the team at Ready at Dawn managed to preserve the mood of the epic game.
Everything you expect from a "God of War" is contained in the package. The distinctive cinematic style, the nonstop action, with dozens of enemies ready to be massacred, and chefs who take much of the screen and in need of special moves, like minigames, to be defeated.
Despite the smaller amount of buttons on the PSP, Kratos moves have not changed, he acts exactly as expected. Well, actually commands have been enhanced since it is much simpler and more intuitive to dodge attacks by pressing L and R buttons while turning in the desired direction. The special powers also work best when they are activated by the combination of the R button and the front buttons. It may seem little but is not: the controls on the portable work more naturally than the PlayStation 2, even using the weak and strange directional analog of the PSP by far one of the more questionable aspects of the device.
The cinematic style that marks the franchise has always filled his eyes for an exciting narrative, clever camera moves and the constant sense of adventure on a grand scale. If there were a genre of epic simulator, this would certainly be one of them.
In PSP, this style could be kept to the letter, with some of the best graphics that the console has ever produced. The textures are rich and the scenarios are extremely creative, keeping the standard adopted by the main series, as well as character models and structures of the maps, with some hidden corners with bonuses or small puzzles that encourage exploration.
There are some problems of "tearing", which is the impression that the screen is being cut in half for failing to display everything so quickly, but are minimal and do not take points from flawless visual presentation. Most impressive, however, is that the game works in a fluid manner, continuously, without pauses for loading.
The soundtrack is also impressive and contributes to the sense of grandeur of the adventure, with sound effects that make use of a surround effect from stereo speakers to the island, now and then causing some surprise.
Actually "Chains of Olympus" is a game as faithful to the two main chapters that dared not submit any new evidence, as the case of flight at Pegasus in the second game, working as a summary of all the things that worked in the past, with a new story to unravel. Surely, in another series, created under whim or in a universe already drained of ideas for plots, this lack of new evidence would certainly be disappointing, but here, strangely there's that claim - the third adventure of Kratos can look so fresh and engaging as its first meeting.
Even without the courage to make any original element, the team at Ready at Dawn managed to preserve the mood of the two film epic games developed internally by Sony, in an adventure that owes nothing to its bigger brothers. Kratos returns in full force with an adventure track, which also includes some extras, as well as on the Playstation 2. It is certainly one of the best titles on the PSP made in both the technical aspect as narrative, and a very powerful reason to consider purchasing the console.