The ancient Greek way of life was rather brilliant and probably the most enjoyable ever, provided of course you were born a man, and more precisely a free man, in which case you’d probably spend your life fighting some non particularly lethal battles, philosophizing, not working, thinking, creating art, eating healthy stuff and having lots and lots of very imaginative sex. Kratos, on the other hand, being less of a historical figure and more of a product of an americanized view of Greek mythology, chose to go for a more slaughtering everything vaguely humanoid lifestyle, though admittedly he still bothers himself with a bit of sex here and there. Apparently, the ladies love him.

Other than that, Kratos also tends to star in hugely popular and incredibly polished video games for the PlayStation 2 and has just made the jump to the PSP, which you’ve probably noticed. The God of War: Chains of Olympus was, after all, one of the more heavily hyped games of those last few months. Well, in Greece it was.

What’s really impressive about this game though, is the fact that the hype was almost justified, or, to be fair, as justified as these things go. Chains of Olympus is an excellent addition to the PSP game library, and if you’re into this sort of action-adventure fetish, I guess you could easily say this is the best PSP game released to date. Now, I would disagree and go for Pirates! or Lemmings, but I’m a retro gamer at heart and a grumpy one at that too. Still, even I have to admit that Sony’s effort really is impressive. Very impressive, actually.

First of all, you see, Chains of Olypmus is a worthy addition to the God of War series and can easily be considered on par with the ultra-successful original God of War on the PS2. It might be on the shorter side of things, but it sports the same level of gore, atmosphere, excellent gameplay, fantastic set-pieces and rudimentary puzzles, all tweaked for gaming on the go and made to fit in one of those tiny UMD discs. Then there are the graphics. They are easily beyond what you thought the PSP was capable of and beautiful from both artistic and technological points of view. Happily, the same thing applies to the audio.

Oh, and it’s even got a decent though quite banal plot. Something having to do with Kratos murdering a bit, then seeking absolution, then murdering some more, cursing the gods, murdering, spicing up his erotic life, murdering and finally killing something truly big. But really, who cares for detailed stories when you got such a polished, fun and addictive game? Hmm…