God of War II

"2007's Best PS2 Game. By Far."

2005's God of War was a unique game. For starters, it combined an impressive looking game with a great combat engine and a decent storyline that made the protagonist, Kratos, the biggest badass in recent gaming history (ranking him amongst Dante from Devil May Cry). However, God of War was not a perfect game, suffering from some faults that did hurt the game. So the question for Sony was ‘how can we top God of War?' Simple, by giving gamers practically the same game, except upping the ante a thousand-fold. That sentence may seem like a bad indication, but make no mistake; God of War II is easily one of the best games you'll play in 2007, and despite being ‘last-gen' can easily be compared to anything that can be produced on the Xbox 360 or even Sony's own Playstation 3.

The game begins immediately after the conclusion of the first game, where Kratos has slain the demented God of War Ares, and became the new God of War. However, Kratos has little interest in the other gods, instead preferring to help his fellow Spartans defeat his enemies. During a routine ass-kicking of the Rhodesians at well, Rhodes, he is betrayed by the Gods, and after fighting off a possessed Colossus of Rhodes (which, by the way, is as epic as it sounds), a weakened Kratos is killed by Zeus. From here, Kratos is determined to change his fate, and pursues something that was almost as impossible as his task from the first game, to go to the Island of the Fates and ‘persuade' the Sisters of the Fates to change his destiny. Without giving too much of the story away, the game is a non-stop bloodbath from beginning to end.

If you were to match up the original God of War and the sequel, aside from the obvious differences visually and aurally, you'll notice that both games play practically the same as one another. This is by no means a bad thing. In fact, it's almost like the design motto for this game was “bigger, better, badder”. The signature violence and carnage that was a part of the first game is still in this game, except it's bloodier than ever. Ripping enemies in half, impaling enemies with their own weaponry, it's all here. The controls remain the same from the original, and aside from some minor changes (such as using the R1 button to activate the opening doors mini-game, then mashing the circle button, instead of repeatedly hitting R2), you'll have no problems re-adjusting to the control scheme. This is good to see, given the original God of War had some great control and a great combat engine.

The biggest new addition to the gameplay from the original God of War is the inclusion of boss battles. While there were some in the original, they were too few and far between. While this doesn't seem like such a major addition, they add some much needed variety to the gameplay. Most of these battles pit you against famous Greek legends (such as the Sisters of Fate, Persueus, and Eurayle, the sister of Medusa), and just like their legends, the battles are epic. These battles also show off some excellent examples of the Quick-Time events that God of War is known for, and make an already epic battle far more cinematic. Each battle concludes with Kratos brutally killing off each boss, and although violent, is amazingly satisfying to watch.

In fact, the biggest problem with the gameplay is that there hasn't really been anything changed. Sure, you get new powers, but then you realize that the majority of them are just basically the same powers from the first game except given a new name. As well as this, the infamous platforming sections from the first God of War have returned, and whilst made slightly easier, is still the most frustrating element of the game. However, when you've got a great combat engine and a hell of a lot of activity going on, the game is at its best.

In terms of visuals, this game excels. If you want an example of Sony pushing their seven year old black box of wonders to breaking point, God of War 2 shines. The scope of this game is enormous, be it the possessed Colossus of Rhodes trying to destroy as you make your way across the war torn city of Rhodes, or traversing the cavern of the gigantic icy titan Typhon as he talks to you, whilist you're moving in the cavern. Best of all, there isn't any slowdown when these events are on, and all of these events in the game look crisp and sharp. Though the only real graphical flaw is during the cutscenes, where the footage looks kind of blocky and slow, at least compared to the High Resolution cutscenes which don't happen enough (and look gorgeous).

Despite this, it's easily one of (if not the) best looking Playstation2 game ever.
Aurally, however, the game disappoints. The music and sound-effects have pretty much been lifted from the first game, which is really disappointing, but during the midst of an epic, frantic battle, you won't be paying too much notice of this. What you will take notice of, however, is the voice-acting. Much like the first game, the voice acting is excellent. In fact, the returning characters from the first game also have the same voice-acting, and they still sound as enthusiastic as ever. Kratos, who already acts like the guy you don't want to mess with in a million years, still sounds like the uber bad-ass he was in the first game. The other voice actors also sound great, and definitely give life to each of the characters they portray.

Overall, God of War II, from start to finish, is nothing short of a modern day classic. The game essentially takes the successful formula present in the original game, and perfects to a whole other level. However, the biggest flaw in the gameplay is that it seems you're just basically playing God of War 1.5. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but for a sequel, more of a change would've been good. Visually, you're getting one of the best looking games to appear on the PS2, perhaps the best looking ever. Aurally, there's some disappointment in the fact of the re-used music and sound effects, but this is forgiven with the excellent voice acting. That being said, God of War II is easily one of the best games you'll have the chance to play all year.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07