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Coming off the heels of two epic adventures, God of War: Chains of Olympus has a lot to live up to, and although it has its shortcomings, it's a worthy entry in the series, serving up the brutality and epic storytelling you've come to expect. And since I know you're wondering it, yes, the threesome minigame is in there too.

Chains starts off with Kratos helping to fight off the Persians at Attica; sadly, Leonidas and his 300 are nowhere to be seen. Anyway, the opening of Chains continues the series tradition of starting things off with a bang, as you're chased by an enormous fire-spitting Basilisk throughout the level. From there, Kratos is sent by the gods on a mission to save the world, with some unexpected twists along the way.

The game's graphics are absolutely amazing. Only a few rough edges remind you that this thing's on a hand-held rather than the PS2. This thing definitely pushes what the PSP is capable of, and for the most part does so with no load times, though there were a couple hiccups here and there.

The sound design is just as good as its big brothers, with the gutteral battle themes and sweeping epic mood-setting pieces all present and accounted for. Every impact is crystal clear, with some very satisfying effects for when Kratos eviscerates or clobbers some poor creature, and believe me, he'll be doing that a lot.

Which brings me to the controls. Obviously, since the PSP has two fewer shoulder buttons, one less analog stick, and no L/R3 button, the developers have had to adapt, and though certain things take some getting used to (namely roll-dodging), the game plays great. In fact, the magic system of this game is, in my opinion, better than the one found on its PS2 brethren. Like the recent Marvel beat-em-ups, your spells here are activated by a combination of a shoulder button and face buttons, which lets you use the different spells in combination with eachother in a way you couldn't with the old system. The timed-button minigames also return, and are somewhat more forgiving than in the last game.

The story is also very well put together. The last two games have shown us that Kratos is an angry, angry man, but this one gives us a good look at his softer side in some poignant and heartbreaking scenes from his past. It also includes references to one of my personal favorite myths, which made it even more enjoyable for me. The story retains the epic feel of its predecessors, and really is a great exploration of Kratos's character.

As good as the game is, though, it's almost criminally short, clocking in at under six hours for the first run-through. But it's a great ride while it lasts, and definitely worth picking up if you're a fan of the rest of the series.

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