Title: God of War: Chains of Olympus
Company: Ready At Dawn
Platform(s): PSP
Rating: M for Mature

Set five years before the first God of War game, Chains of Olympus is a prequel of sorts that brings the excitement (not to mention the blood and gore) of Kratos’ adventures literally into the palm of your hands with the Sony PSP. Halfway through his servitude with the gods, Kratos must choose between following the orders of the gods and doing what is best for himself.

The story begins as Kratos starts the game standing on the deck of a ship off-shore of the city of Attica, where the gods have sent him to help defend against the invading Persian army. Moments into the game, Kratos is fighting a basilisk, and from there, the action never stops. Anyone familiar with the first two God of War video games will easily slide right into Chains of Olympus. All visual and audio elements of the game are familiar to players, from the graphics to the sounds of battle, not to mention the unmistakable sound of Kratos’ voice.

Like in the previous games, Kratos collects red orbs to power up his skills and weapons, and items to power up his magic and health. The controls are also very similar to the previous God of War games, the major difference being that, due to the fact that the PSP has fewer buttons, the player uses both shoulder buttons along with the analog stick in order to dodge. Thankfully, Chains of Olympus features less of the tightrope-walking sequences, which were always my least favorite part of the previous games.

The graphics are beautifully rendered on the PSP, but there is a downside to this; as battle becomes more intense, the frame rate seems to slow a bit as the game engine is pushed to the max, and this causes the game to seem choppy and sluggish in some places. The story is also much shorter than the first two God of War games, but as this is a prequel with back story to help flesh out Kratos’ past and the events that led him to what took place in the very first God of War game, it’s understandable. I was able to beat the game in about eight hours.

Of course, there is some replay value to the game, and the shortness of the game may make it more easily replayed. There are four levels of difficulty: Mortal, Hero, Spartan, and God (which translate to Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard), the last of which is only unlocked after beating the game. This allows the player to replay the game with more difficulty if desired; not to mention that as the game is mostly hack-and-slash with a few puzzles thrown in in-between, players can enjoy the mindless violence, blood, and gore whenever they feel like it without having to put too much focus on the story itself. Beating the game in Normal mode unlocks concept art, a video, and a bonus costume; as well, you can attempt to complete the five tasks in Hades’ challenge, which adds another fun and challenging element to the game.

Overall, God of War: Chains of Olympus is an excellent game. It’s filled with nonstop action, adventure, and violence, all wrapped up in a pretty package of excellent graphics and sounds with an interesting story to boot. It’s definitely a must-play for any God of War fan–or any fan of hack-and-slash games in general.

My overall rating for this game is 9.0/10.

As children, we’re told the story of the ugly duckling who grows up to be a beautiful swan. In the comics industry today, there is no company that fits the bill (so to speak) of this story quite like IDW Publishing.

Most people, whether or not they are fans of comic books, are familiar with Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Others will easily recognize Dark Horse Comics, known for their classic comic Conan and more recently Buffy Season 8. Founded in 1999, fledgling IDW Publishing, which is a division of Idea and Design Works, is considered to be the fifth largest publisher of American comic books; but very few people immediately recognize their name.

In its earliest years, IDW was mainly known for its horror-themed comics such as 30 Days of Night, Wake the Dead, Horrorcide, and Dawn of the Dead. Over the years, however, IDW has grown immensely in the past nine years. IDW now publishes a wide variety of comics, including various Transformers titles, Doctor Who (featuring the 10th Doctor) and Doctor Who Classics (featuring the 6th), Joss Whedon’s Angel: After The Fall, and some peculiar, if not interesting, titles by Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS such as House of Horrors, Zipper, and Dominatrix. The company hasn’t lost sight of their horror roots, however, with an official movie adaptation of the movie Shaun of the Dead, Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward, and the delightful tale of Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons.

One of the greatest assets that IDW has to offer is its solid relationship with CBS/Paramount. The company now owns the rights to many CBS-owned TV shows such as CSI, Ghost Whisperer, and the ever-popular Star Trek.

In fact, it was the publishing of Star Trek comics that first made me take note of IDW. Marvel and DC have both made Star Trek comics in the past, but none have stood out so much as IDW’s recent runs. The first non-Marvel comic I picked up in quite some time was Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1. The Space Between is a six issue mini-series that starts in the first season of TNG and literally tells stories of the Enterprise D’s exploits between episodes of the show. Here’s the clincher: from the first issue (taking place in the first season) to the last issue (taking place in the 7th), all tie together. The story is beautifully done, all of the characters are spot-on in characterization, and Casey Maloney shines as the artist.

The Space Between wasn’t IDW’s only Star Trek-related comic. After this first mini-series, many more Trek stories have followed. Klingons: Blood Will Tell shares the story of some original series Star Trek Klingon encounters from the point of view of the Klingons themselves. Star Trek: Year Four continues the original Enterprise’s five year mission right after the end of the TV series’ third season. Alien Spotlight focuses on a new Trek alien species every issue. The newest series, Mirror Universe, tells the story of how the Captain James T Kirk of the ever-popular “Mirror Universe” rose to power as captain of the I.S.S. Enterprise while also telling the stories of lesser-used characters from said episode, such as Doctor McCoy, Scottie, and Uhura. There are ten different mini-series in total, some currently ongoing still and others available in trade paperback, and the comic book reader and avid Trek fan will be thoroughly satisfied with what IDW presents.

If all that IDW has to offer isn’t enticing enough, there are new series on the way to look forward to in July and August. Buffy and Angel fans, keep an eye out for Spike: After The Fall, Transformers fans will shiver with anticipation for All Hail Megatron, and Doctor Who fans should look for The Forgotten.

IDW Publishing has grown quite a bit in the nine years since its creation, and from what I can tell, there’s only more to look forward to as time goes on.

For more information on IDW and where to buy some of the fantastic comics mentioned in this article, please check out http://www.idwpublishing.com.

Title: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Company: LucasArts and Traveler’s Tales
Platform(s): DS, Wii, XBOX360, PSP, PC
Rating: E for Everyone 10+ (Cartoon Violence)

In the same vein as the LEGO Star Wars video games, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a retelling of the movies as performed by lego figures. Indie and his pals (and quite a few unlockable characters) make their way through the Temple of Doom, the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Last Crusade as you battle bad guys, hunt for treasure, solve puzzles, and use LEGO blocks to build all sorts of objects that will help you along your way, from bridges and ladders to barricades for protection.

The controls are very easy to master, and the game play is mostly simplistic. Each character is useful in his or her own way. Indie himself can reach far-away objects or swing over chasms using his whip, Marion can jump higher than any other character, Short Round has a shovel to dig up treasure, Henry Jones Sr. can read and translate ancient hieroglyphs, and so forth. The puzzles range from easy to medium difficulty–none too easy, and none too hard–and, overall, the game is fun and enjoyable. The cut-scenes, bits of the movie reenacted by LEGO characters, are cute and often humorous, and the music throughout the entire game is spectacular. As David Letterman once said, “Everything is better with Indiana Jones music,” and this game is no different.

The most valuable asset of this game is the ability for replay. Once a stage is completed in any of the three stories, it is available for “free play”, which lets the player go through the level again and search for treasures missed or complete puzzles that couldn’t be done before. As an example, there are hieroglyphs in the early stages of the Temple of Doom story that can’t be translated until later on, when you get Henry Jones Sr. from the Last Crusade storyline. There are many examples of this all throughout each story. Playing with different companions brings new things to each level that might have been missed before. It should also be noted that the game’s stories don’t have to be played consecutively. You can go between any three story lines at any time, returning to Indie’s office at Bartlett college at any time to switch to another storyline.

Overall, LEGO Indiana Jones is hours of entertainment. It’s great for kids, but good for adults, too, when one needs a break from more intense or challenging games such as GTA4 or MGS. I highly recommend picking up this game on PSP or DS, as it’s better used as a portable game than an at-home gaming console.

My overall rating for this game is 8.5/10.

Title: Iron Man
Company: Sega
Platform(s): PSP, XBOX 360, Wii, DS, PC
Rating: T for Teen (Alcohol reference, mild language, violence)

Iron Man is a video game that capitalizes on the successful movie based on the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man. Tony Stark, billionaire industrialist and military munitions manufacturer (try saying that three times fast!) is captured and near-fatally injured while showing off his new weapons in Afghanistan. Stark’s near-brush with death leads him to a change of heart–now, instead of letting his weapons be used by terrorists and villains, Stark seeks to destroy the weapons he created and right the wrongs he’s caused while donning a high-tech suit of Arthurian armor as the Invincible Iron Man.

The game itself has only a small amount of story line related to the movie; this may throw off players that have never read any Iron Man (or to a lesser extent Marvel) comics, but it’s a treat for true fans. Subplots include such Iron Man favorites as the Maggia, Whitney Frost (also known as Madame Masque), and Titanium Man. The bulk of the plot involves A.I.M., which any Marvel Comics fan will recognize as a radical underground group that seeks to overthrow governments worldwide through technological means.

The story is good, the graphics are more than fairly decent, as is most of the voice acting. Tony Stark is much more brash and cocky than he is in the movie, and even I was surprised by some of the things he said (this from a long-time Iron Man/Tony Stark fan of many years). There are also plenty of unlockables to keep players busy. Using weapons of three different types (repulsor, gattling gun, and rockets) unlocks better weapons, and progressing through the game unlocks different armors; there are, of course, the Mark I-III armors of the movie, plus the “Golden Avenger” armor, the classic red and gold armor, stealth armor, and the Titanium Man armor. Other unlockables include “death races” where you fly through marker beacons as fast as possible while avoiding enemy fire and “speed kills” where you see how many enemies you can defeat before time runs out.

The drawback to this game (at least on the PSP) is the way the player controls the game. The controls are very uncomfortable and took me quite a bit to get used to, especially the flying mechanics. There is no option to change or rearrange the controls to make them easier to use. Using the [_] X O /\ buttons to control the camera and the analog stick to control forward/backward motion was very uncomfortable for me–especially since pushing up on the analog stick makes you walk or hover forward, but moving into flight mode makes pushing up on the analog stick actually makes you go crashing down into the ground (whereas pushing down on the analog stick makes you pull back up). I suppose in a way this makes sense, but the sudden reversal of the controls makes flying a pain, especially since you wind up running around and then jumping into flight a lot. It took me two run-throughs of the training level to get used to the controls, and even after 13 levels of play, I’m still hindered by the awkward controls. I have heard from others who have played the XBOX version that the controller problems are universal.

Overall, Iron Man is a fun game. The controls, however, definitely detract from both fun and function. If you’re a die-hard Iron Man fan like I am, this is worth having in your collection. However, if your knowledge of Iron Man is based solely on the movie, I wouldn’t bother with more than renting it unless you wait for it to hit the bargain bin.

My overall rating for this game is 6.5/10.