14 DAY TRIAL // 
Welcome to Spartan TV! We're going live right now with Kratos, the God of War, who's going to tell us a bit about himself (or not) as we plunge into yet another Spartan adventure! Since Kratos is not among us any more as he's gone to some other part of the world to take over the Chinese and Indian mythology, let me tell you the fellow's latest works. For starters, he must be the only demigod who ever dared to claim the throne of the gods and the title of "God of War". You must have seen him defying all the mythical creatures on Mount Olympus in the first God of War title and taking on Zeus in God of War II? Now it's time to return to Kratos' roots and find out the reason for his actions and a little bit about this troubled man, by looking into his past? Are you curious? Let's first find out what's the deal with all this "Spartan" I've been hearing all year ?
Spartanation
I've never heard so much "spartan" talk in my entire life! 2007 is surely the year when the most famous Greek society was featured in most historic movies and videogames. It all started with the famous "300" movie and its mighty Spartans, followed by the acclaimed "God of War II" and ? Halo 3. In case you might be wondering what the connection between Sparta and Halo is, you'll probably want to know that Master Chief is part of a military unit called Spartans? To end this Spartan year, here comes the long awaited God of War: Chains of Olympus, but only in its demo version, for now.
Turns out that the PSP title is in fact a prequel for the original God of War, a retelling of Kratos' adventures in his 10 years of servitude under the rule of the Gods of Olympus. He'll go "where no man has gone before" as the Ghost of Sparta, bearing the sin of having killed his wife and daughter for all eternity? Think him as the evil Hercules, the twisted hero you despise, the bald and bold man you hate and admire? consider him the evil twin of Hitman's main character. Does it sound appealing? Have you played the first two games?
Chains of Olympus versus Blades of Chaos It's virtually impossible to compare the latest God of War instalment to the previous ones, since they're so different. It would be like comparing Master Chief with a Metal Gear robot, although I can't really tell who'd win the battle? Chains of Olympus stands for the period of time when Kratos was "chained" and he bowed to the Gods, being their champion. As such he'll fight the Persians, as you'll see in the demo of the game. In case you've watched "300" and you're fond of Greek mythology and history, you'll surely know that the Persian Empire was the Greeks' greatest enemy and all the tribes from the peninsula united in order to stop the barbarian threat from invading Europe.
This time we're not dealing with the heroic death of 300 brave Spartans, but with the brutal way of life of one single blood thirsty warrior: Kratos. He wields dual swords attached to chains, named the Blades of Chaos and he'll pierce any Cyclops or Persian who stands in his path. In Chains of Olympus, the control system is exactly the same as it was in the first two titles, so fans of the series will feel right at home from the first combo they'll perform.
The tendency to keep mashing the same buttons and combine the press of the circle, square and triangle buttons in order to trigger sequences of moves is still present, fortunately. Press the circle for a brutal grab and kill, or press the square for a standard attack. Jump by using the X button and combine the jump with various moves resulting in even more destructive combos. In case you were waiting for yet another series of dangerous combats with legendary creatures and huge beasts, you'll be happy to find out that they're included too. I loved that Basilisk fight and the new dodging mechanism that gives you a great edge as you use those L and R buttons pressed at the same time. The L button also allows you to block and parry the strikes of your enemies.
There are certain environment-based actions you can perform, like lifting huge wooden gates, pushing ballistas or firing them, breaking doors or activating all sorts of contraptions and traps. What I loved the most was the moment when I could ram into a door by using a specially designed battering ram on wheels to demolish a huge wooden gate. Back to those ugly beasties, they'll be taken out with the standard button mashing to the point when the minigames kick in and you'll have to be agile enough to start those trademark cineractives.
If the word doesn't ring any bell try to imagine all of the latest action games, like Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider and even Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and its Jackanisms. Figured it out yet? Basically, you're part of what we gamers call cutscenes and besides watching cool things happening, you'll get a chance to control Kratos while he smashes the head of the Basilisk with a pillar or pierces its eye with his blades. After battling the Persian king, Kratos will also gain a magical power, so he'll be able to summon Eefret, a name that's pretty familiar for the folks who've played a Final Fantasy title.
It's some sort of pagan deity, the symbol of fire, heat and flames, perhaps another one of devil's shapes, or simply a deity of blaze? Anyway, this spirit will help you by releasing incandescent attacks on all the surrounding enemies. That's all we know for now, regarding the magic you'll be using in Chains of Olympus. As usual Kratos must collect blue orbs to replenish his magic points, green orbs to replenish health and red orbs to gain enough points to unlock new abilities.
Battle of Attica "Battle of Attica" is the name of the official demo, made available by Sony for those fans who had registered for a special UMD copy of this version. It includes about 10 minutes of pure action and gameplay plus a developer's diary. Well, Attica sure looks nice, surprising even, judging by the looks of the demo version?. You won't be able to tell that we've been "dumbed down" to a PSP and who can tell that, since the portable console's graphics have almost surpassed the quality of the visuals delivered by the dying PS2. Just look at Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the latest God of War?
Kratos looks as good as ever and his enemies are as similar as ever, being the clones of a single foe, which has been duplicated in order to give our good Spartan the chance to add a couple more victims to the body count. Don't fret, because we've already got used to fighting clones of the same warriors and the lack of variation of units is not our main concern. The AI is a much bigger problem, specially for those die-hard GOW fans. It's only logical that a fanatic of the game knows Kratos' moves by heart and he'll finish the demo in 5 minutes, while the average noob will have a hard time adjusting to the controls. However, the game seems rather designed for the first category of players, forgetting about minor things like tutorials and teaching youngsters how to play. I, for one killed all the minor enemies for fun and took out the bosses in my first attempt, so I'm a bit disappointed with the AI for now, though I'm still waiting for the game's full version in order to deliver a proper verdict.
Back to the looks of the game, it seems that the producers have put a lot of work into the environments, trying to build a raging atmosphere, where it smells and looks like war and it sure sounds like all hell is loose. Giant Persian ships are fighting in the background and shooting their flaming charges toward the Spartan walls, while soldiers are fighting on the walls of the citadel to their last breath. After defeating the Basilisk, the huge lizard-like creature will always be roaming in the background, eating people alive, tearing down towers and walls and setting things on fire.
Kratos' weapons and attacks are as spectacular as ever, although they haven't changed as much as we would have liked to? Let's hope that we won't get to witness some recycled set of attacks in the latest instalment in the GOW series. Those summons and magic attacks are a nice addition to the ones we already knew from previous titles and I've heard that we'll be wielding new weapons as well in Chains of Olympus.
This action-adventure hack and slash title sounds as nice as it looks and the music I listened to was superb, being worth a comparison to the OST of "Gladiator" and "300". Oriental and Greek tunes are mixed with action music, spiced up with howls, growls, calls for battle, screams and Kratos' deadly taunts. His manly voice splits the skies and reaches the Gods of Olympus, as the brave demigod faces his enemies and mocks the Persian King like he was a common beggar. Feast on that cutscene when Kratos refuses riches offered in exchange for the Persian ruler's life, choosing to crush his head instead?This is what Kratos is made of! This is Sparta!
Spoils of war God of War: Chains of Olympus will come out in March 2008 and the wait seems infernal, as we've yet to wait for winter time, before starting a new year filled with promises of new and great games. The God of Death and destruction will land on our portable consoles in the season of rejuvenation and love?ain't it sweet? Only a console freak could understand such an analogy and since GOW is a true work of art, let's allow those artists to work in peace, during hibernation time, in order to deliver another one of Kratos' adventures to us, aspiring Spartans.
