God of War: Chains of Olympus

CONCLUSION

So, how does Chains of Olympus tie in to the rest of the God of War storyline? Well, the game hasn’t made much of a ripple in the series, but its effects can be seen here and there:

• We now know exactly why Atlas was so mad at Kratos in God of War II, although his reason was entirely explained during their dialogue. Atlas helped Kratos almost immediately afterwards, proving that even though someone had chained you to the world and forced you to bear its weight for all eternity, you shouldn’t burn bridges.
• In God of War III, Hades was still bitter about Kratos killing his wife. Then again, Hades did list a lot of other reasons why he hated Kratos.
• As mentioned before, Helios appears in God of War III. He tells Kratos that he hasn’t forgotten about his rescue from Atlas. Kratos proceeds to violently murder Helios.

Basically, Chains of Olympus had a negligible improvement on the overall storyline; God of War could have arguably been the same without it. On the other hand, Chains of Olympus did add a bit more confusion to the original game in the series:

• 

  In God of War, there’s a large area of the Temple of Pandora known as the Challenge of Atlas. Inside, there’s a statue of Atlas, depicted as a guy with a robe and a beard, holding a giant sphere. Now, I could ponder whether or not the world in God of War was actually flat, but that would be beside the point. If you examine the statue, it is described as “ancient”. Kratos served the gods for 10 years, and made Atlas bear the world during that time. I don’t think “less than a decade” is synonymous with “ancient”.

• Hades helps Kratos out in God of War, giving him the ability to summon an army of souls. At this point in time, Hades seemed really cool with the fact that Kratos killed his wife.

Because this prequel had barely any impact on the rest of the series, I find it to be unnecessary; it’s as gratuitous as Eos’s nipples. The game plays more or less the same as any other God of War title, but it is nowhere near as engaging or cathartic. I can see the appeal: if you’ve enjoyed any of the other God of War games, then you’d probably want more of the same. If that’s the case, then I’d recommend that you play one of the other games on a harder difficulty setting, rather than play Chains of Olympus.

TROPHIES!

I’d like to conclude my bloated rambling for this game by discussing trophies. When Chains of Olympus was ported over to the PS3, trophy support was added. Trophies are, of course, little awards dispensed by the PS3 whenever the player accomplishes certain feats. Chains of Olympus frequently doles out these accolades, even when nothing is accomplished. Furthermore, the names given to these trophies suggest that they were written by a college intern, or one of the programmers’ kids. Here’s a selection of some of the trophies that can be awarded: