- In the beginning, there were Titans...
Clash of the Titans is a 2010 Hack and Slash action game developed by Game Republic, based on the movie of the same name, with a format loosely inspired by the God of War series of games (much like the movie itself).
Like the film, set in ancient Greece in a time when humanity renounced their Gods, Perseus, a demigod son of Zeus raised by a mortal fisherman family, discovers his lineage as the descendants of the gods while on a quest to prevent Hades, the God of the Underworld, from unleashing the Krakken.
The game follows most of the movie's plot (besides integrating parts from the earlier 1981 film), while adding elements borrowed from Greek mythology to expand its number of stages (probably to ride on the coattails of the then-recent God of War), where players are in control of Perseus on an ass-kicking voyage from Argos to the underworld while recruiting allies of his own to aid his quest. It was released concurrently with the movie for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Perseus: Are we setting sail today, mother?
- Actor Allusion: Perseus' attempts at subduing Pegasus isn't exactly the same as his movie counterpart's, where he needs to perform a freefall jump, snag the Pegasus' mane in mid-air and wrestle it into obedient submission. Getting some Toruk Makto vibes here considering Sam Worthington was both Jake Sully and Perseus...
- Adaptational Badass:
- Perseus in the game might as well be a Kratos expy - he's already a revered ass-kicker in stages before his family's demise, praised by the village where he's their hero for slaying a siren whose minions are endangering their beaches. He's also a Multi-Melee Master that swings axes, maces, bows, spears and other equipment with better efficiency than in the film and can unleash Shock and Awe abilities owing to his heritage as Zeus' son and does it throughout the game, something demonstrated by his film counterpart once.
- Prokopion and his cultists in the film are only a threat when they're roughing up the unarmed Andromeda to be sacrificed, quickly dispersing when Greek soldiers appeared. Here, they stage riots, and actually puts up a fight when confronted by Perseus.
- All the assist characters in the game are based on the movie's characters, but partakes in more fight scenes and kicks way more ass. Kucuk is notably pretty acrofatic, leaping here and there and easily keeping up pace with Perseus, while Draco is an immensely helpful assist in multiple boss battles (Centaur Slayer, Calibos, etc) until he's killed by Medusa like his film counterpart.
- Adaptation Expansion: The game expands the movie's plot by a significant amount, adding a lot, a lot of details mostly lifted from Greek myths.
- There's an early stage where Perseus needs to slay a siren who had taken over a beach and is threatening the fishermen community with her skeleton army.
- While Perseus' quest in the film begins almost instantly, here he needs to prove his worth to King Kepheus by completing a bunch of additional quests and fight through a gladiatorial arena which takes up an entire hour of gameplay.
- Hades' appearance in the King's banquet lasts longer than in the film, to the point where there's a whole stage requiring Perseus to defeat animated statues Hades teleported into the hall before the game catches up with the movie's confrontation scene.
- To obtain the Djinn's help, Perseus needs to complete a stage where he helps them battle Satyrs, enemies somehow immune to the Djinn's magic, unlike in the film where the Djinn's alliance happens without a hitch.
- Multiple stages are made up just for the game so it contains more action scenes, like a cruise down River Styx, hunting down the Sand Serpent infesting a desert, exploring the depths of the underworld (with plenty of enemies in the way) to find the Stygian Witches' hideout, and all that.
- Instead of facing Medusa in her lair immediately, Perseus needs to fight his way through a gauntlet of different monsters lifted from Greek myths, to justify having an increased amount of bosses compared to the film.
- Perseus needs to seek Charon for a passage to the underworld, and later confront Apollo who turns out to be Perseus' half-brother, a complete god who mocks Perseus' half-human lineage, stuff which are made up just for the game.
- Adaptational Villainy: Zeus, unlike his film counterpart as played by Liam Neeson, isn't a benevolent deity who opposes Hades' plans to unleash the Krakken, but is totally in favour for allowing the monsters to wipe out humanity to restore faith in the gods. After slaying the Krakken, Perseus' final cutscene sees him confronting Zeus, who turns into an Archnemesis Dad who attempts frying Perseus with a thunderbolt despite knowing Perseus to be his estranged son, until Perseus defeats Zeus and holds him at swordpoint. Even at his defeat, Zeus spends the entire final cutscene threatening Perseus for siding with the humans until Perseus gives him a Shut Up, Hannibal!
- Ascended Extra: Perseus' adoptive parents Spyro and Marmara had way more lines compared to their movie counterparts (who died before the first act even starts).
- Assist Character: Characters in the film like Draco, Ozal, Kucuk, Io and unnamed Greek soldiers occasionally tags alongside Perseus in battles, where they are surprisingly capable and competent in fighting off lesser enemies.
- Bad with the Bone: Perseus' first alternate weapon to his trusty sword is a powerful Skull Hammer, with a spine as it's handle and a massive tip made from some giant avian skull.
- Basilisk and Cockatrice: One of the bosses is a Basilisk fought in a cavern, that looks more reptilian/insectoid instead of the avian depiction in Greek Myths. It alternates between trying to claw Perseus and expelling a poisonous cloud that drains health on contact.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: The game contains centaur enemies lifted from Greek Myths (absent in either film versions), where all of them are hostile by default. They also look different from how they're usually portrayed - a human body with a horse's lower half, whose head is also a horse's.
- Classical Chimera: One of them serves as a boss, who resembles closer to the ones from Greek myths (a goat's head stacked atop a lion's, and a serpent's head as its tail) than the eldritch-looking one from Wrath of the Titans released later.
- Colossus Climb: A deviation from the film, Perseus needs to actually fight the Krakken from up close (one of the harpies stole Medusa's cranium from him, just like in the movie) by leaping on its claws as the monster tries taking a swipe at him, and running alongside the Krakken's monstrous body before stabbing and slashing the chest, torso and face. The Krakken will send Perseus flying (who touches ground via Three-Point Landing), spam more harpies at Perseus, and after killing enough enemies the Krakken will attempt another attack up close. Rinse and repeat until Perseus managed to reclaim Medusa's head.
- Coup de Grâce Cutscene: Most of the bosses, and even normal mooks, are executed via cutscene where Perseus hacks them apart in Bullet Time. There's roughly a dozen different cutscenes dedicated to the multitude of enemies exclusive to the game.
- Cyclops: Polyphemus the cyclops from the myths shows up as one of the many newly-added, game-exclusive bosses, depicted as a brown-furred, horned giant with one eye who repeatedly tries roughing up Perseus with it's mighty club. Like the Chimaera, it looks closer to the ones from Greek myths than the one from Wrath of the Titans.
- Death by Adaptation: Played with Io's death - she dies in both the game and movie, in the exact same way, but due to Zeus being a villain the entire game she's not resurrected after the final battle and stays dead in the game.
- Dem Bones: Animated skeletons are a recurring mook that shows up everywhere, which is strange considering neither the 1981 or 2010 films has these enemies. Though it could be a nod to another Sword-and-Sandal classic, Jason and the Argonauts.
- Desperate Object Catch: The final confrontation between Perseus and the Stygian Sisters isn't a boss battle, but for Perseus to catch the sisters' sole eye that they passes around. When Perseus finally get his hands on said eye, the following cutscene depicts Perseus grabbing it mid-jump, snatching it in the air before the sisters can get it.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Spyro and Marmara gets the Doomed Hometown treatment here. Perseus returns at night after his quest in the mountains, only to discover the fishing village in flaming ruins and his adoptive parents under burning rubble, different from the film where his adoptive parents were killed while on a boat.
- Queen Cassopeia was cursed by Hades for being foolish enough to challenge the Gods just like in the film, but rather than dying from Rapid Aging onscreen here she simply passes out in King Kepheus' arms where she's mentioned to have died off-camera in a later cutscene.
- Prokopion dies in the finale, but unlike his movie counterpart where he's crushed by debris from the Krakken's petrified hand he's instead snatched and devoured by the Krakken.
- Dual Wielding:
- Energy Bow: Perseus' equipment in the game includes a bow without any arrows, where by drawing the bowstring he then generates an energy bolt that he can unleash on mooks.
- Fauns and Satyrs: One of the enemies exclusive to the game, resembling goat-headed humanoids on hooved forelegs and simply referred to as "satyrs". They appear frequently in the game's second half.
- The Ferryman: Perseus, Draco, Io and a few assist characters needs to enter the underworld by summoning Charon from the myths (also absent in the movies), who then charters them across River Styx. There's an entire stage where Perseus needs to remain on deck and battle flocks of incoming harpies.
- Frog Men: Perseus encounters amphibian-based monstrosities, simply referred as "Frog monsters" by the game, where the green ones happens to be the weakest enemies (dying in just one concentrated slash). There's a red variant that's larger and more durable. They're not in either versions of the film and doesn't seem to be based on any pre-existing creatures from Greek mythology.
- Gashadokuro: The Skeleton King boss is a giant skeleton where Perseus and the other heroes stood up to its kneecaps, yet another King Mook enemy.
- The Great Serpent: When Perseus confronts Hades for the first time after discovering the ruins of his village, Hades summons a giant serpent to attack Perseus as a Mini-Boss. Perseus needs to face a similar giant serpent later on, and an absolutely humungous Soul Serpent boss in the underworld large enough to constrict Charons' entire ship.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Among the supporting heroes, Draco, Ozal, Kucuk, Suleiman and the regular Greek soldiers backing up Perseus uses melee weapons. Meanwhile Io uses throwing knives.
- Harping on About Harpies: Much like the film, harpies are a recurring enemy for Perseus and his crew. They look furrier and much more feathered than their movie counterparts however, and the gold harpy enemies look more like something from Chinese Myths than Greek ones (the latter can fire Feather Flechettes from their wings).
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: The Mallet of the Forge is a hammer whose handle is taller than a man and disproportionately thin compared to the head whose size is half of Perseus'.
- King Mook: A number of bosses are sized-up versions of their mook counterparts, using the same attack animations while being far more durable. Notably the scorpion, centaur, and sand worm (which has two boss counterparts).
- Living Statue:
- The game contains animated statues of Greek warriors sent by Hades as a recurring enemy, as well as towering effigies of Greek Gods capable of firing Eye Beams at Perseus.
- Apollo, Perseus' half-brother, shows up to taunt Perseus over his human lineage, but only in the form of reanimating a statue of himself.
- Mirror Boss: Captain Draco, the King's head of guard and Perseus' last obstacle to prove himself worthy of his quest, being a human armed with a sword and shield like Perseus and their subsequent battle being both of them hacking each other into submission.
- Non-Lethal K.O.: In stages where Perseus is forbidden from killing anyone (restraining Prokopion's followers, taking down fellow soldiers in the arena's battle training) Perseus has a special move where he flips over an enemy and subdues them, leaving them unconscious on the floor for the rest of the stage.
- Oculothorax: Perseus and crew needs to battle giant floating eyeballs with spikes throughout the underworld, something absent in the films (original or remake). Some of them are larger than Perseus, but he can attempt a Go for the Eye.
- Pivotal Boss: The Sand Serpent is fixed in the middle of a valley, extending its head in the background trying to chomp Perseus who runs circles around it.
- Sand Worm: Running out of monsters to pick from Greek Myths, the game instead borrows a page from Dune and dispenses large numbers of oversized, tunneling worms with circular maws full of fangs throughout the desert stages. Whose sizes range from larger than humans to a King Mook (simply identified as "Sand Worm" in the boss fight) to a gargantuan Sand Serpent that takes up an entire valley.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the game, due to the rest of the cultists fleeing when the Krakken devours Prokopion before the Krakken boss fight begins, the entire town square is empty when Perseus petrifies the Krakken, unlike the film where there are dozens and dozens of cultists squashed by the monster's petrified hand. Additionally, the game left Kephus' fate ambiguous unlike the movie where Prokopion stabs him onscreen.
- Truer to the Text: In some regards, the game has a few minor elements closer to the 1981 film than the 2010 remake...
- The inclusion of Bubo (as a Save Point - just approach it and press action to save Perseus' progress), compared to the film where it's a random prop with mere seconds of screentime.
- In the film, those scorpions are kaiju-sized monstrosities that towers over the heroes, while the game sized them down where the most common scorpion mooks are slightly larger than humans but by no means a behemoth, much like the original film (though a large scorpion does show up as a boss).
- The Krakken is light green and has visible Ear Fins, resembling a revamped version of the 1981 version instead of the greyish monster from the remake.