Chains Of Olympus Only 5 Hours Long, But Worth It

Ben Dutka from PSX writes:

"At last week's Game Developers Conference, it became abundantly clear that independent developers favor quality over quantity, which means we reviewers shouldn't be putting so much emphasis on length. One developer said the lasting impact a game has on the player is far more important than the amount of time it took to finish the title. Basically, if the experience is worth the price of admission, what difference does it make if it's 5 hours or 50 hours?"

[decapitator]

Ok here is the thing. This is not a ******** console game. The maximum size on the UMD is only about 2GB. Best Graphics on the psp up to date.

My point ? People reviewing this should review the game as a portable game and not a freaking console game. Reviewers comparing the game to the freaking PS2 console games is batsh!t biased. They should review the game for what is offers and bring to the portable arena. I would not give a *&$# even if the game was less than 3 hours.

Thanks.

[Mr_Kuwabara]

The thing is that I haven't actually seen a review that talks trash about the game. (Or at least give like a 6/10 or something just because of the hours).

If there is one that talks negative about the 5 hour length and give a bad score because of it, then show me plz.

[rogimusprime]

maybe its 5 hours if you play it on easy without DYING. I didn't even get an xbox until september and I can beat Gears in under 4 hours on medium.

It's just another way to hate and raise doubt and speculation. Pubishers still can't admit that the PSP actually has decent games worth playing and buying. People need to get off their knees and stop worshipping the DS so much.

they said this about call of Duty. I'm pretty decent at that game and it took a bit longer than 4 hours to play on Hardened.

Quality is always better. as long as the story gets to where it needs to go, and has direction

[mighty_douche]

5 hours of excellence or 10 hours of mediocre meh...?

5 hours please... everytime.

[DiabloRising]

Does anyone else think this generation people are talking about game length way too much? I don't know, maybe its everyone is looking towards perceived value now since games have jumped to $60, but I don't remember people talking about how many hours to finish game back in the PS2 days outside of RPGs.

[mighty_douche]

With games getting so much better so much quicker (serious i think some ppl should go play PS2 or xbox1 sometimes... crap!) they're less negatives for ppl to run with, and being negative is eeeeeasy! So they use length, loadtimes,sales #s, anything, just to moan.

Money-wise, $60 is NOTHING for a good game, how many hours have you spent on CoD4 or halo3 (or your game of choice)? i bet its lots!
Oh and lets not forget how much these games cost to produce/market!

[Kain81]

but an awesome game, its like a Movie

[Regret]

Great game! I can't wait for HS2 or Folklore 2. These games are so underrated.

[redwingsrock]

personally i don't see myself starring at my psp screen for 5 hrs straight so i know i'll spreed the time out to play this plus i still got my big stack of 24 (+ whatever i buy tomorrow, big payday yay maybe some rock band is in order) PS3 games to play through :)

[rofldings]

This game has high replay value too. And I got my copy off Amazon preordered for only $35, thanks to Sony sending me a $5 off Amazon preorder code. :)

[meepmoopmeep]

i'm going to wait for the bundle.

[Xeikon]

Like Heavenly Sword this game is mediocre at best. That is why people are complaining about it.

People could excuse criminaly short games if they are in fact exceptional like portal but God of War PSP and Heavenly sword are not and are expensive for 4-5 hours of mediocraty.

[DiabloRising]

Oh you played it?

[heyheyhey]

i doubt he did Onslaught

he hates everything Sony related so it is natural for him to say things like "mediocre" about these games

although i am kinda pissed that he called an installment in the most epic, enjoyable and engaging (alliteration FTW!!) gaming series of all time "mediocre"

but then again he IS a blind fanboy so why should i care about what he thinks

[Xeikon]

I am not a fanboy.

[heyheyhey]

what is worse than a fanboy?

one who can't admit he is one

i can admit that im a fanboy- why can't you?

if your not a fanboy then why do you always talk sh!t about ANYTHING Sony related without logic or reason and flame a lot of Sony articles

i see your in denial about a lot of things mate

[Iron Man 2]

I beat both Gears Of War and BioShock on my bros 360 in under 5 hours each,go figure

And how exactly is God Of War:Chains Of Olympus mediocre? It has gotten many good reviews from different websites and the demo was mindblowing,I can't wait to pick up this gem for my PSP next month!;)

[Armyless]

O RLY? Let's take a sample from some of your recent N4G posts, shall we?

----------
"I am not a fanboy."

"I have never had any 360 retail game freeze up on me."

deleted by mod

"Maybe it's because there are no good films available on Blu-ray."

"Sony once again treating Europe like a 3d world nation."

deleted by mod

"Someone should tell Sony the Dark Ages ended over a thousand years ago"

"I think Microsoft is smarter"

"Phil Harrison is an Arsehole."

deleted by mod

"Question: What Causes Game Delays? Answer: The Playstation 3"

deleted by mod

"Michael Bay is an idiot."

deleted by mod

"Killzone 2 will send AI back to the dark ages."

"The 360 will dominate software sales in 2008."

"I just hope that Besethda do not delay the 360 version because of technical issues with the PS3."

"Motorstorm has the worst loading times of any game this generation."

"Load times on the 360 were a couple of seconds."

[CrazzyMan]

Armyless, Nice work. =)

about topic,
Looking at review scores
http://www.gamerankings.com...
Looks like EVERY minute of those 5h DEFINETELY is WORTH every $. Great! =)

[heyheyhey]

same goes for Heavenly Sword

this sucks though- after the HUGE 14-hour GOW2 this will seem like a small appetizer

but then again it is a PSP game so all is forgiven

[PS360WII]

That's one thing that happens when you go for intense visuals in a handheld game. A short game. Does it matter? Heck no! How short was Silent Hill Origins? Pretty short was it fun to play? Yes it was.

I'm still buying this game for sure.

[timmyp53]

if there is another GOW PSP game I think it might be very interesting what they do with the UMD.

[Bleucrunch]

it doesnt matter because I will soooooooooooo be getting this game.

[solidboss]

i totally disagree. gow is a fun series but this day and age we are paying from 60-70 dollars on games and im the type person who wont waste money on a game i know i wont play in the future. take cod4 for ex. sure its single player is short but its on of the best single player fps out there and the multiplayer alone is enough to keep coming back. gow isnt a multiplayer game so the single player better be damn good if im gunna pay $40 for it. Not that im cheap i was gunna buy it simply because im a fan of gow but if ur going to make a short game give it a short price. its not worth all the money for a "half assed" title

[va_bank]

If 5 hour games become acceptable, then soon that's all you'll ever be getting. It's already started. Halo 3, COD4, Heavenly Sword and now this.

So just keep feeding them excuses - GoW a PSP game, COD and Halo has multiplayer, HS - quality over quantity, blah blah blah....

[kira989]

I beleive 5 hours is acceptable for a handheld game... Although i do agree that Heavenly Sword(Although a very good game) was to short to merit a $60 price tag...

But in the case of GOW for the PSP I think 5 hours is substancial enough to recieve a purchase... Now if this game were to come on the console... Forget it!!!

[Silellak]

This is the direction the game industry is going in, like it or not.

Games are getting more and more expensive to make, so shorter games will become more and more common. It will only get worse as games get even more expensive. It just makes more financial sense to release shorter games with little-to-no innovation, since that's what brings in the guaranteed cash.

This is one of the reasons I look toward more "indy" developers for real innovation. Three of my favorite games of the last three years have been Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations 2, and Ultima 5: Lazarus (a FREE Dungeon Siege-based remake of Ultima 5 that is INCREDIBLE).

Unfortunately, most of these indy developers only release games for the PC (especially total conversion mods), but things like Little Big Planet and the upcoming XBox Live Community Games are steps towards getting more indy developers on consoles.

I'm not saying ALL big budget games suck, of course. I loved CoD4, Mass Effect, and GTA4 looks like another winner. But the simple fact is that, the more expensive games are to make, the shorter we can expect them to be and the less risks we can expect them to take.

[solidboss]

see with games like cod4 n masseffect and gta 4 u will get more bang for your buck because all of those have dlc to give to u no matter how long/ short the game is. and personally i dont mind paying $90 for gta4 because i know the developers put alot of hard time and work into a game that they now gamers will play over and over again. not sum 5 hr half assed title

[Diugu]

This game is made for a handheld.

You cant say that the release of a few short games represent a tendency.

[Silellak]

I'm not sure why the "It's a handheld game" thing gets to be an excuse. Jeanne D'Arc was also a handheld game.

I do agree that "A few short games" is not a tendency. However, over the last year we had (off the top of my head):

Heavenly Sword - short
Halo 3 - short
CoD4 - short
Mass Effect - main quest was short(er) than an RPG should probably be
Bioshock - shorter than you'd expect from the game type
Gears of war - short

And I remember reading a number of other reviews of various games that always said "Fun, but short."

It's not just whether or not a game is short, but also whether or not it's short for the genre. You don't expect a FPS to last as long as an RPG, but Halo 3 and CoD4 were short even for FPS games.

I'm also not saying it'll be the death of the industry. Just that it's unfortunate that games cost so much to make these days that I can finish the main quest of Mass Effect - an RPG - in less than 10 hours.

[kornbeaner]

I'm gonna disagree with you on the games getting shorter as the new trend in Gaming. while it is true that games are getting more expensive ,that in the overall sense of development is not the reason why these games are getting shorter.

Lets take CoD4 as an example. we all know how much MP can add to the game so that part is not gonna be talked about. Lets talk about their SP. At best their SP is about 8-12 hours long depending on the skill of the player on the 2 more difficult settings. For the norm the game is no longer then 6 hrs. I can bet it in about 3 hours on the easiest setting, but length of the game has nothing to do with the overall quality of its SP. While the game does nothing really innovated, what it does and does well is immerse the player into it's presentation. The story and the way its presented is so well done that at the end of the 6th hour after that final bullet is shot, you're left wanting more. That is the true mark of a great game. The team at IW is more then capable of making a 15, 20, 30 hr FPS war-fest. But the risk of doing so, is in making the game stale for every hour they tack on. There has to be a certain focus and goal when making these games, you have to leave the gamer wanting more in order to guarantee future success of the franchise or titles made by your dev team.

Length does not = quality. People need to stop saying that it does.

Because you can add that equation to any real-life situation and the outcome would be the same.

Would you rather spend 15 mins driving a Ferrari or 2 months driving a ford focus.

Would you rather have 2 hours with Jessica Alba (before she got pregnant or while pregnant if thats you thing) or 1 week with a fat chick.

Would you rather take your time and have a nice dinner at a great restaurant or have more time at a Home town buffet.

Again if you want more Value for your money that is only human nature, but to say that the length of a game = it's quality. That it a major overstatement.

[kornbeaner]

Since when does length have anything to do with it being a half-assed game? I understand the need to want more for your money, lets take the single player of CoD4, heavenly sword, and GoW for the PSP. These games have a very short single player game if and I mean if you play them through in one sitting, first off you need to get a job. Second these games aren't just start level 1, finish level 1, repeat for the rest of the game. These games are so immersing, almost like being in control of a blockbuster film. Granted the cut-scenes and transition movies are not in direct control of player, but these parts of the game are so good , at times people don't even realize there are not playing the game because they are to hypnotized with whats being shown.

Granted CoD4 has MP and that is enough for most to forgive it's short SP game, that doesn't make it a better game then HS or GoW it just makes it a better value. And it's funny how people complain about length of game for HS, GoW, Ratchet and clank, these games are very well written and designed and there are very few games that can match their overall quality of game. They try something new and get flak for it, but it's these same people who trash these games for being different, that are also trashing EA for being the same. So which is it? Do you want to have developers try something new and different or do you want every game to be the same year after year with only few "Enhancements" thrown in and then being sold to you for full price.

Pick one cause you can't have it both ways.

[Silellak]

Did Heavenly Sword or Ratchet and Clank really "try something new", though? I didn't see either game praised for an over-abundance of innovation.

Gears of Wars gets a lot of "innovation" praise, and I think most of it isn't really warranted either. It's slightly more innovative than either of the above two, but it's hardly genre-shaking material.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

INNOVATIVE enough.

and HS was innovative for how to tell a story w/ a game.

IMO.

[kornbeaner]

I never said those 2 titles do anything new, I said they were very well done. and that fact that most people trash them for being "Short" is a slap in the face of the whole gaming community. There has to be a balance and these titles I think reach that balance as well if not better then most games. What would be the point of playing a 20 hour R&C game if it starts to get stale of the 8th hour.

I will take quality over quantity anytime. But the definition of quality should be the sum of all parts and not just one as superficial as length.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

is the ULTIMATE handheld game.

when you play it, it`s like your playing it on ps2.

it doesn`t feel any different.

bottom line....

if you own a PSP and DON`T buy this game, your CRAZY.

[ryuyasho]

...about guys, but the lengh in games now days can be measure by its difficulty. Back in the day, the game were extremely challenging, thus making you play alot and alot... *.sigh.* Nowdays every game sucks balls. You buy it, play it for couple of hours, go back to the store, trade it, you know it's like recycling glass bottles and plastic products. This is the Recyling Era, not the Gaming Era.

[Gaara_724]

still 2 hours longer than halo 3

[eagle21]

I will cherish every second. And beat it again and again when I am on the go..

[Rice]

Now where did my money go?

[eagle21]

When I finish lovingly beating the first, I will tear off the wrapper of the second...ROUND TWO. Seriously, this game is worth it.

[Z501]

said "If you're gonna make a short game, give it a short price".

Well, i say if you're gonna make a LONG game give it a long price, right.
Seems fair.
They say GTAIV is 100 hours long should'nt that cost more then $60 by his rationale?

[jaja1434]

Generally speaking, I want a game to last around twice as long as it take a $7 an hour working man to make enough to buy the game.
Such as if the games cost 40$, I would want it to last 10 hours and so on.