Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
The Ghost of Sparta returns to the video game scene and is as pissed as ever. In a side story of the main timeline, God of War: Chains of Olympus sets up some of the back story you play through in the PS2 classics. While we would love to dive deeper into narrative of Chains, it's something that shouldn't be spoiled.

What's Hot
Ready at Dawn showcased their talents Daxter for the PSP. Now, with Chains, they have proved they are a dominate development house and a force to be reckoned with. Chains is a technical achievement that goes galaxies beyond what is currently on the market.

To see the graphics up and running at this level on the PSP is worth a purchase alone. Not only do they surpass many PS2 titles, the framerate is rock solid through the thickest of battles. The cavernous temples and voluminous caves you explore give Chains the trademark feeling of scope and a mission too large for one warrior renowned in the previous God of War games. When the camera zooms out to reveal large rooms, you stand in awe that the PSP can pull off these tricks without a problem. The lighting and particle effects are the icing on the cake, giving mythological Greece the spark of life. Animations are diverse and fluid making Kratos brutally poetic as he taps into his unlimited rage.

The style and control of the combat is just as satisfying as we can remember. Combos go off without a hitch and "button sequences" give you ample time to initiate a bone crunching move. The different weapons you acquire through your journey diversify the gameplay a good deal. Especially the Gauntlet of Zeus, which packs an extreme punch to balance out the quicker twin blade attacks. Stacking hit combos in Chains allows you to dish out some massive damage to your foes all with satisfying results.

For a game that's focus is mainly on vicious action, the story is a strong element. Without giving too much away, the Greek tale told in Chains is on par with what you can come to expect. Betrayal, trickery and vengeance play central roles in the plot devices to move the story along. This time around, you see a side Kratos rarely shows so openly – compassion and love. Without spoiling the touching scene, there is a part in the Elysian Plains where Kratos has to give up all that he loves to actually save all that he loves. In a unique twist, you are put in charge of casting it away and you feel right along with Kratos the inner anguish of having to leave it behind. In some ways, tools like this that Ready at Dawn uses make you more involved in the story than the console games do.



What's Not
While the scope of the level design can be lauded over, in terms of length and diversity, Chains comes up short in a number of areas. The bestiary is rather limited and many of the enemies are reskinned versions of other evil forces you meet. The weapons you pick up during your journey are cool but there aren't as many as Kratos usually wields. Part of the reason being the number of key boss encounters has taken a serious hit. Fewer bosses and a smaller game in general results in Chains being a shorter experience than you would hope for. That is not to say that you would regret playing the game from front to cover.

The controls don't work perfectly, there is a tiny misstep. The dodging maneuver is serviceable but isn't as elegant as the rest of the combat. Technically, that is the only flaw that is strikingly apparent but Ready at Dawn did the best with the single control nub they were given.

Final Word
Ready at Dawn cements their sterling reputation with Chains. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the finest PSP game ever crafted and consequently set the bar for future games on top of Mount Olympus.