PSP’s God of War is high-gloss fun

When you’re used to watching cartoon Yoshi bounce around the DS screen, you sometimes forget hand-held devices can produce life-like images. That was the case for me with the PSP.

Playing God of War: Chains of Olympus for the first time was like watching Planet Earth on a 42-inch high definition plasma TV in a dark room after watching it on a 26-inch tube TV’s grainy screen in broad daylight. I was stunned. I think I drooled a little on the screen.

I’d never played a God of War game before this one, so I went into it completely cold. But I’ve heard the hype. The game play is amazing. I loved the hack and slash action. There’s a great mix of puzzles to solve and enemies to eviscerate with devastating moves. And there are so many challenging mini-boss battles with interesting looking characters that it never feels repetitive. Oh, and the glorious cut scenes. They’re so pretty.

Now, I have to admit, it’s not all high-gloss fun. Just like eating too much candy, there are a few stomach aches with God of War. The controls feel a bit awkward. Holding down both triggers on top of the PSP and using the analog stick to dodge made my wrists hurt. It does take a while to load the game, and for a portable device, that’s a downer. Also playing God of War is a real time investment. It takes up to 15 or 20 minutes of playing to reach some of the save points. If you just want a quick hit, this can be frustrating because you lose your progress if you quit without reaching a save point.

And, I admit, I was a little weirded out by the sex mini-game. If you’re in a public place and not using headphones, people may wonder about the orgasmic noises flowing from your hands. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Overall, it’s a great game. Highly recommended for PSP owners.

Four severed limbs out of five.