After finishing up Ragnarök, I felt an intense nostalgic desire to replay the old God of War games again. Since I already played all of these games multiple times, I decided to play through the series in chronological order this time. Unfortunately, my emulat- I mean, completely legitimate Sony PlayStation 3 System, just couldn't run Ascension. So I started off with the next earliest in the series chronologically: Chains of Olympus.

The worst thing I can say about Chains of Olympus is that it definitely feels like a PSP spinoff title. It's short, I was able to finish the game in under six hours on hard mode, and that's counting all the times I died later in the game. I was also surprised by how I managed to upgrade all of my health and magic before even hitting the three hour mark. Though if you're getting burnt out by games always been forty hours or more nowadays, this will be a great break from that.

The story might be the weakest aspect for some people. You can either view it as an interesting look into Kratos' past as a champion of the Gods and a look into Kratos' personality (specifically his relationship with his family). On top of that, this game has strong uses of foreshadowing, pitting Kratos against an enemy who reflects who he will one day become. It's something I never noticed before, but it's done surprisingly well.

Or, on the other hand, you can view it as "A thing that happened." And in all honesty, I think both are valid viewpoints. The game has plenty of interesting elements in regards to Kratos' future and the world, but since this is a spinoff made almost entirely to explain that one line Atlas says to Kratos in God of War II, it can feel a little empty at times. Ultimately, I don't think there would have been too much lost if Kratos' journey to save Helios from Atlas was just kept as background lore, something to be explored in a cutscene or novel.
But the elements that do keep the narrative interesting, like the aforementioned foreshadowing, the depiction of Persephone, and the interaction between Kratos and a particularly important character from his past more than make up for that in my eyes.

I personally don't think the game gets as engaging as its mainline counterparts until halfway through, but when you do reach that point, the game feels amazing. Aside from a little padding in the last hour of the game, and a frustrating first phase for the final boss, everything feels just like a God of War game should, though not as over-the-top as the mainline games. It's still fun as hell to ruthlessly obliterate hundreds of enemies before you, and that's all that really matters. Though I do with there were more boss fights, I think there were only three or four by the time I finished the game.

Overall, while I do believe Chains of Olympus is the second weakest in the series, right behind Ascension, it still does everything it needs to do to feel like a strong entry in the God of War series. If you love the other games for their combat, Greek Mythology, and crazy intense violence, then you'll most likely love this one as well. Just so long as your expecting a PSP spinoff and not too much more, you should have a great time.