God of War Chains of Olympus
Table Of Contents
Introduction
God of War: Chains of Olympus is a hack and slash, action-adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn exclusively for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The game is the third title of the God of War video game series and is a prequel set before the original God of War. The game was released on March 4, 2008 in North America, March 28, 2008 in Europe and July 10, 2008 in Japan.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Chains of Olympus is similar to its predecessors; it is a third-person action adventure game that focuses on gruesome and violent enemy death scenes and protracted boss fights. Also familiar to the series are box-based puzzles and the quick time events that the player can execute to display a close up kill of the enemy. There are fewer tightrope walking sequences in the game that was prominent in previous games of the series.
Kratos still collects red orbs to power up his weapons and abilities. He also collects Gorgon eyes to increase his health and Phoenix feathers to increase his magic. The game's controls remain mostly unchanged but because of the PSP's reduced amount of buttons the game uses both shoulder buttons and the analog stick in order to dodge.
God of War's weapons include Kratos's trademark Blades of Chaos, the weapon that was given to Kratos by Ares when Kratos agreed to serve him and the Gauntlet of Zeus, a magical gauntlet that allows Kratos to unleash devastating punches on his opponents. There is also a Sun Shield that Kratos picks up that allows him to block most attacks, parry an attack that stuns the opponent and also deflect projectiles back at enemies. Kratos also acquires magical spells throughout the game that helps him deal with the amount of enemies he faces. This includes the Efreet spell, which knocks out all nearby enemies, the Light of Dawn, which allows the player to throw balls of light, and Charon's Wrath, which can inflict damage on several enemies. There are three major bosses in the game: the basilisk, Charon and Persephone, as well as a shorter mini-boss fight with a Persian king.
Story
Set halfway through Kratos' 10 years of service to the Gods,[7] Chains of Olympus begins with the gods sending Kratos to the city of Attica to help defend the city from the invading Persian army. Spotting a basilisk climbing over the city walls, Kratos gives chase through the city. While chasing the basilisk, Kratos confronts the Persian King inside the city and kills him. After defeating the basilisk, he witnesses the sun fall from the sky, plunging the world in darkness. Following the dim remaining light on the horizon, Kratos fights his way through the city of Marathon, along the way encountering the black fog of Morpheus, which now covers the land in darkness.
Eventually Kratos makes his way to the Temple of Helios (source of the remaining light) and the Sun chariot. He encounters a statue of Athena, who tells him that Helios has disappeared and Morpheus has used this to his advantage to cause the gods to fall "into a deep slumber." Athena wants Kratos to retrieve Helios so he can release Morpheus' grasp on the other gods and his power over the Earth. Along the way, Kratos is haunted by a strange melody, which he later recognizes as the song of his daughter Calliope. Kratos fights his way through the Temple of Helios and is sent to the caves within the temple of Olympus by Eos. Meeting her in the caves, she tells Kratos that she will guarantee the gods' promise of relieving him from his nightmares if he will help her save Helios from the Titan Atlas. Kratos does not believe her (having been lied to by the Gods before); however, he reluctantly agrees to help save Helios. Kratos then retrieves the primordial fire needed to awaken the fire steeds from the cave and returns to the temple.
After restoring the fire steeds back to life, the horses lead Kratos into the underworld before retreating. There, he meets Charon on his ferry in the river Styx. Charon compares the similarities between himself and Kratos, saying they 'are both slaves to the Olympians', and tells Kratos to go, saying it is not yet his time. Denying Kratos' passage, and with Kratos refusing to leave, they fight before Charon knocks Kratos unconscious and drops him into Tartarus. Kratos witnesses the breaking of the chains binding Atlas in the pits of Tartarus; Kratos eventually fights and climbs his way out of Tartarus, this time defeating Charon. He takes the ferry and follows the light of Helios (currently illuminating the underworld) down the river Styx, eventually coming upon the Temple of Persephone. He sees his daughter Calliope on the shorelines of the temple and follows her inside. Unable to find her, instead he meets Persephone, Queen of the Underworld.
Persephone tells Kratos that Calliope is in the fields of Elysium and that the only way to see her again is for Kratos to "release" all of his past evils and become worthy of Elysium, giving up his powers given to him by the gods; however, Persephone warns him that the world will suffer for his choice. After transferring his power into the Forsaken Tree, which included all of his weapons, his magic and relics, Kratos regains his humanity, becoming a normal man and being reunited with his daughter. In this form, Kratos loses his trademark red tattoo. However, Persephone mocks Kratos' choice and reveals to him her true plans.
Bitter at being betrayed by Zeus, tricked by Hades and abandonded by the gods, Persephone was the one who had freed Atlas. While Kratos was disarming himself, Atlas was slowly carrying out her plan to destroy the pillar that holds the world, and with it, Olympus. Persephone plans to kill everyone, including herself, to free her from her situation. Kratos realizes now that if he stays with his daughter, it would mean the end of the world for everyone, including Calliope and himself. Though it tears him apart, he sacrifices seeing his daughter again in order to regain his power by killing all the souls in Elysium. For some of the souls, he got back his weapons, his relics and his magic. Because of this, he once more became the Ghost of Sparta. Kratos once again gets back his red markings.
With his skills restored, Kratos pursues Persephone, catching her at the base of the pillar. She tells him it is the end, then transforms herself into a winged, armored monster, before carrying Kratos to the top of the pillar. Once they reach the summit, Kratos and Persephone engage in a bloody final battle; during the battle, Persephone tries to subdue and confuse Kratos, urging him to go back to Elysium and be with Calliope, and when he resists, she orders Atlas to destroy him. Kratos chains Atlas to the roof of the underworld (this is where the subtitle of the game's name Chains of Olympus came from), before returning to battle Persephone and eventually killing her with Zeus' Gauntlet. Dying, but uncaring of her fate, the goddess taunts Kratos, snarling that now his suffering shall never end as her body then explodes, severing the pillar in the shockwave with Atlas now the only thing now holding the world together. Though the Titan too gloats to him about the gods' true plans for him, Kratos believes his path is clear, serving them regardless so they will keep their promises to free him from his nightmares as it is all he has left. Atlas ends by foretelling that they will meet again, and Kratos will come to regret the events that occured here.
Keeping his own promise to the gods, Kratos returns Helios to the sky. But he is left with the knowledge that his sins have consumed him, and he will never be pure enough to see his daughter again. Weak from battle, Kratos falls unconscious from the sun chariot, but is suddenly stopped before striking the ground. He has landed on the bluffs that he would later jump from in the original God of War. Two gods, Athena and Helios, approach him and remove the Sun Shield and the Gauntlet of Zeus. As they depart through the gate to Olympus, Helios insists on helping further. Athena replies by saying "He'll live. They must." The pair then retreat through the gateway to Olympus on the bluffs, leaving Kratos behind.
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