God of War: Chains of Olympus

Thanks to Stan for letting me borrow the God of War Origins Collection, now I can finally play the God of War games that came out on the PSP without actually having to buy a whole new handheld. First up was Chains of Olympus, a prequel that sees Kratos back when he was a lackey of the gods, carrying out the tasks requested of him when the gods didn't feel like taking care of it themselves. In terms of gameplay, I didn't feel like anything was sacraficed except game length; this felt exactly like God of War always has, and being remastered in HD meant the game looked just as good as the first two God of War games to me. Kratos still solves giant puzzles, gains and upgrades awesome powers, and fights gods. The introduction had some pretty hilarious moments, including an achievement for walking across the only balance beam in the game, as well as a surprise enemy who beats down the first door you try to open. only to be immediately eaten by an even larger enemy who tears down the whole wall in front of you. Small moments like this had me thinking the rest of the game would cleverly subvert expectations, but the rest of the plot of the game didn't make much sense to me. First off, the world is plunged into darkness and sleep by some god of dreams named Morpheus, and as a former student of the classics I've never heard of this guy. But I was willing to suspend my disbelief! Morpheus has apparently caused Apollo to cause his sun-chariot to crash into Earth, and it's up to Kratos to find Apollo somewhere within his temple to defeat Morpheus. But wait, why did I get an achievement stating that I beat Morpheus before I even got to the temple? Was that weird fog I walked through actually somehow a god? Then when I ran through his temple/chariot, I never actually found Apollo or made reference to him, but instead brought his marble steeds to life. So what happened to Apollo then? Or Morpheus? Eventually the steeds get the chariot moving and dump Kratos off in Hell, a common setting in the God of War games. And then the final boss is... Persophone? Huh? I didn't even spoil it because, who cares? In a series where the plot usually boils down to "Kratos hates and is willing to kill everyone" why were there so many false-starts? At least the little subplot with Kratos trying to save his daughter was consistent. Anyway as I said before the gameplay itself is just as good as the rest of the God of War games, and I still give Chains of Olympus a high recommendation. It might not have made much sense, but I had a lot of fun with it.