God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

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To replenish your magic, blue orbs can be collected from fallen enemies or found in blue chests. Green orbs, on the other hand, go towards your health meter, while red orbs can be collected, and then in an RPG-like fashion, used as points to upgrade Kratos' power or magic abilities.

Special items can also be collected and used to increase Kratos' power. For example, if you find five Gorgon Eyes you can increase Kratos' overall health meter, allowing him to sustain more damage. Similarly, five Phoenix Feathers can be collected to increase Kratos' magic meter bar. Again, this is similar to previous God of War games, and frankly, gamers would likely be disappointed if the PSP version lacked these familiar features.

Puzzle-solving is fairly basic, so imagine Zelda-like environmental challenges, such as pushing or pulling crates and then jumping on them to reach high areas. The puzzles are very simple and don't require much thought, unfortunately, and this is one area in which I would've preferred something meatier. In other words, players will rarely -- if ever -- stare at the screen, not knowing where to go (or what to do) next. When in doubt, walk up to an item, and if you see the context-sensitive circle button you'll know you need to press it (sometimes in a rapid fashion when opening a heavy door or the jaws of a creature) to get to the next area in this linear adventure.

Another issue is the relatively short gameplay at about five hours or so. The game can be played on easy (Mortal), normal (Hero) or hard (Spartan), and if completed on any of these three difficulty settings you can access the very hard (God) mode.

Minor issues aside -- namely, brevity, linearity and puzzle simplicity -- God of War: Chains of Olympus is one of the most visceral and gratifying handheld games ever created, and one that pushes the PSP hardware to new heights. No, the developers didn't take any risks in introducing a new look, control scheme or gameplay mechanics, but what they've been able to pull off in a handheld is equally impressive: The story, graphics, music, control and combat play are all top-notch, resulting in an incredibly immersive and addictive console-like mobile gaming experience you won't soon forget. Kudos to Ready at Dawn Studios for an extraordinary job well done. Let's just say we can't wait to see what God of War goodness is cooking for the PlayStation 3.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.