God of War II Review

Recently I played through God of War II on the PS2. I was a fan of its predecessor and was very much looking forward to this game and overall it was a very enjoyable experience. For those unfamiliar with the series the game sees you playing the role of Kratos, once a Spartan warrior but as the game starts now the titular God of War. The game is based on Greek mythology and is an action fighting game with some puzzle solving elements thrown in for good measure.

Kratos is an angry man, and most of that venom is directed at the gods of Olympus. He really does have a right to be a bit hacked off with the gods. Not only was he tricked into killing his own wife and son by Ares, as told as part of the story of the first game, but in this second installment he is fooled into becoming mortal and into losing his godly powers. Thus this is a story of betrayal and revenge as Kratos seeks out the Sisters of Fate so that he can change his own destiny and destroy the Olympian gods.

Once Kratos has lost all of his abilities you're slowly introduced to the various button combinations and as you progress through the game a number of magical abilities and additional weapons become available. These can be powered up using the collected souls of your defeated enemies giving you additional moves or attacks. What you power up really depends on how you prefer to play the game and what you find the most effective. Personally I chose to power up Kratos' default weapon, "The chains of Athena", along with the magical attacks "Cronus' Rage" and "Atlas Quake. What I like about this game is that not only can you string together quite complex combo moves, but you can also get away with a bit of button mashing without being penalised. And in this respect the game finds a good balance for both the casual and hardcore gamer alike.

There are a number of difficulty levels available, however I played through the game on normal and on the whole this is well balanced and provided a good challenge to my limited skills. I did find that the game had the occasional difficulty spikes as you take on a number of the set piece enemies, and just as you breath a sigh of relief you suddenly find that more enemies have just spawned into the battle and finish you off. This can lead to some moments of head banging frustration but I always found that a specific strategy would be required and it's just a matter of learning the attack patterns and not trying to wade into battle without defending yourself. If you die a number of times in a row on a specific section the game humbles you by asking "if you want to change the difficulty to easy". I found this spurred me on rather than face the indignity of playing on easy, but at least the option is there should you and the game come to an impasse. Generally checkpoints are generously spaced so you don't have to repeat vast sections of the game again should the worst happen but there are a couple of notable encounters that left me feeling an additional checkpoint was required.



The game has a rich enemy selection and some of the boss encounters are spectacularly memorable. Once an enemy has been weakened you will be able to perform a finishing move which is activated by pressing the relevant button icon floating above their head. This then launches a series of "quick time" events of button presses and / or joystick movements and if successful Kratos sends them packing to Hades in a number of brutally violent ways.

This game certainly showcases that the Playstation 2 can still deliver graphically and it's still spectacular even by today's "next-gen" standards. Both characters and backgrounds are expertly modeled with some fantastic animation and the level design is of an exceptionally high standard with some great puzzles. I wish I had played the game on a PS3 as its ability to sharpen and upscale the graphics from the standard PS2 resolution for my HDTV would have enhanced what is already an impressive graphical accomplishment. Not only are the in-game graphics excellent but there are some great FMV sections that progress the storyline throughout the game.

It took me about 18 hours to complete the game but there are some extras available once completed including the "Arena of the Fates" and additional costumes should you wish to glean more from the game. Unfortunately the story doesn't really conclude at the finish of the game and leaves the door open for the inevitable "God of War III". I really enjoyed this game and although towards the end of the game I found it difficult in places, I never felt like giving up and always knew that there was a logical solution to tackling the situation. On the evidence of what has been delivered with this game I can't help but look forward to the next installment.