God of War Chains of Olympus

God of War: Chains of Olympus  is an  action-adventure   hack and slash   video game  developed by  Ready at Dawn  and  Santa Monica Studio , and published by  Sony Computer Entertainment  (SCE). It was first released for the  PlayStation Portable  (PSP)  handheld console  on March 4, 2008. The game is the fourth installment in the  God of War  series , the second chronologically, and a prequel to the original  God of War . It is loosely based on  Greek mythology  and set in  ancient Greece , with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls  Kratos , a  Spartan  warrior who serves the  Olympian gods . Kratos is guided by the goddess  Athena , who instructs him to find the Sun God  Helios , as the Dream God  Morpheus  has caused many of the gods to slumber in Helios' absence. With the power of the Sun and the aid of the  Titan   Atlas , Morpheus and the Queen of the  Underworld   Persephone  intend to destroy the Pillar of the World and in turn  Olympus . The gameplay is similar to the previous installments, with a focus on  combo -based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and secondary weapons acquired throughout the game. It features  quick time events  that require the player to complete game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and  bosses . The player can use up to three magical attacks as alternative combat options. The game also features  puzzles  and  platforming  elements. The series' control scheme was reconfigured to compensate for the smaller number of buttons on the PSP compared to the  PlayStation 2 's  controller ; Ready at Dawn's solutions for the controls were praised by critics. Chains of Olympus  was acclaimed by critics, becoming the highest rated PSP title on  Metacritic  and  GameRankings .  The game's graphics were particularly praised, with  1UP  declaring the game was "a technical showpiece for Sony, and arguably the best-looking game on the system." It won several awards, including "Best PSP Action Game", "Best Graphics Technology", and "Best Use of Sound". As of June 2012, the game has sold 3.2 million copies worldwide, making it the  seventh best-selling PlayStation Portable game of all time . Together with 2010's  God of War: Ghost of Sparta ,  Chains of Olympus  was remastered and released on September 13, 2011, as part of the  God of War: Origins Collection  for the  PlayStation 3 . The remastered version was included in the  God of War Saga  released on August 28, 2012, also for PlayStation 3.