God of War: Chains of Olympus Impressions

Hey everyone, I just had a chance to sit down and play through the God of War PSP demo that we got in at our store. I've always enjoyed God of War games even though they have never made my "best of" lists. The games have this look and feel to them that is different than any other game out there. Even though the gameplay may not be anything that fresh or new, it is definitely solid. I always feel like I am learning because of the games constant greek, mythological references so for me, these games are like an incredibly entertaining mythology class. The first two GoW iterations on the PS2 were epic in scale which led me to have my doubts about bringing the franchise onto a portable console. Surprisingly though, this game translates well to the PSP. Based on what I have seen in the demo, while not perfect, Chains of Olympus looks to be shaping up to be one of PSP's best action adventure titles yet. So here's exactly what I thought:

The first question on most peoples mind would be whether the games graphical standards were lowered during the transition to a smaller screen. Let me say this, I can see very little difference in this game and its PS2 predecessors. While there are some obvious differences such as simplified textures, none of these differences make the way this game looks any less impressive. The demo begins by dropping Kratos in the middle of a battle between Persia and the Greeks (sound familiar?). After getting the hang of the combat controls, which are virtually identical to the PS2 (minus one analog stick of course), Kratos drops down into a room where a giant Basilisk busts through the wall and another battle ensues. This gives you a chance to test out the quick time button events much like the sea basilisk in the first god of war. Once I completed that, Kratos moves on to a long battle against multiple enemies. The demo gives you a small taste of the brutal finishing moves used by Kratos by letting you use one..... yes, one finishing move! It got kind of old pressing circle and using the same finisher over and over again but hopefully the final version will include a lot more. The best part of the demo came in the form of a brutal boss battle against the king of persia. This scene demonstrated how well the power of PSP was going to handle the cinematics and I was blown away. After finishing off the Persian King, you recieve his magic ability which is an impressive power up and attack that hits multiple enemies. The demo ended with a final look at what will most likely be an epic battle against the basilisk. My only complaints were the slightly repetitive nature of the combat system and lack of original gameplay mechanics. Overall however, God of War: Chains of Olympus is the same old God of War that we know and love. The question is whether this is this a good thing or a bad thing? After this demo, I have faith in what "Ready at Dawn Studios" is trying to accomplish.

-Nick