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God of War II

Published: Tue 17 Jul, 2007 | On:

Violent video games are becoming all too common in our day and age. Manhunt 2 is showing us how to effectively chainsaw somebody for no reason at all, F.E.A.R is teaching us the art of crapping ourselves on scare, and The Darkness is encouraging us to eat the hearts of our friends using our old rubber snake toys. But none of these games have managed to integrate more than half of the seven deadliest sins and make it regretfully fun, like God of War II has.

As fans of this Greek tragedy will already know, God of War II follows the story of Kratos, a fallen god who killed Ares the former god of war (hence the name) out of revenge and became a god himself. But the other gods are going awall at how many cities Kratos, the new god of war is destroying. So to cut a short beginning even shorter Zeus takes away Kratos’ divine status and kills him. Because of Zeus’ betrayal Kratos vows to kill him (killing a god is becoming daily practice for Kratos these days).

God of War II boasts a brilliant storyline that is all about epic proportions. Your charged with killing Zeus! The King of Olympus for crying out loud, that’s one tedious and almost impossible task if you look at it from a tiny mortals view. This most recent entry in the series however, seems to have a bit less emotion when it starts off because of the epic scale of the game taking most of the spotlight. But the plot will still surprise you with sudden surges of sensation brought about by engaging plot points and cutscenes. So just when you thought the game was getting lost in its own vastness, it hits you on the head with a well placed scene filled with emotion and desire.

What people wanted more of in the first game were more boss battles. The original God of War had few of these and even when they did show up, I found them extremely maddening (I almost lost my sanity fighting Ares). God of War II fixes this problem though with a handful of interesting boss fights. Now most of these aren’t exactly large, but they’re definitely more fun and you actually look forward to the next one. The bosses actually link to the story as well, and they’re not just an excuse to balance out the gameplay, they actually push the narrative forward. That said, they are a bit easy. Even the final showdown with the last boss is a bit mediocre. Its good that they’re not frustrating and there is quite a creative challenge with figuring out the pattern of killing some of them. But overall, they’re not too difficult.

We’ve all heard of it somewhere, and we all love it, God of Wars disgusting, unruly, vicious, brutal, murderous, revolting, cruel, malicious, sickening, ferocious, inhuman, ruthless, cold-blooded, heartless, merciless and unpitying gameplay. The mechanics in God of War I were well praised and this addition is no different, it’s extremely fun. Santa Monica Studios (God of Wars developer) hasn’t really changed the gameplay but rather made it better. They’ve kept the same basic play style that the 2005 game had but have made slight tweaks to the way you play. The combat system remains the same but with a few new combos and special moves, their actually useful now. The mini-games which God of War is known for have made their way to the sequel and really give a lot of depth to the title. The developers have incorporated them in so many innovative ways that you’ll even be interacting with cutscenes, smashing a mans face into a book. The mini-games have been given some new controls. So instead of tapping circle in order to throw a 5 ton axe at a monster covered in man boobs, you’ll roll the left analog stick as fast as you can to throw a 5 ton axe at a monster covered in man boobs. Or just say you’ve proposed a divorce to your wife whose 9 feet tall and you find yourself caught in the crushing grip of her intimidating huge hands (I’m saying this from experience), you would then rapidly tap both the L1 and R1 buttons alternately to get away from her grasp. The more basic mini-games which have made a return to God of War II look something like this X…square…triangle…X…circle…circle. And while that may not exactly be revolutionary stuff and looks rather boring on paper, it’s definitely fun to watch what your making Kratos do to his enemy. This normally involves an eye gouge or two followed by a quick prod to the head.

On a somewhat more difficult note, God of War II is one of the only games that forces you to burst your veins trying to open a simple door. You constantly have to tap circle like an angry man just to open up that simple gate. Something which I give credit to Santa Monica Studios for successfully doing, finding a simple task in a video game and making it tough. Not just for you but for the poor face button your beating the day lights out of.

Not all of the gameplay consists of fighting though. The game usually goes through a set routine, the player will have to fight through a squad of enemies and then be given a mental challenge. The gameplay alternates through both of these and surprisingly it doesn’t get repetitive. Don’t mistake these puzzle tasks for naughts and crosses either, God of War II has some very unique puzzles and often requires you to think a bit more than you would like. No brainteaser is ever the same (except when your turning a wedge) so there’s a lot of variety in that part of the gameplay. The developers also effectively manage to mix together combat and puzzle elements at the same time too. At some points you will be forced to solve a problem within a time limit while fighting off a horde of beasts as well.

As for god powers and new weapons which made their debut in the first game, the god powers have evolved into titan powers since the gods themselves no longer help you. So you’ll be given new powers altogether. The same goes for additional weapons which you’ll find and be able to upgrade using red orbs. Bear in mind though that the amount of times you’ll be able to upgrade has been extremely decreased as you find no where near as many red orbs. Maybe it’s just my sloppy sense of exploration and laziness that stopped me from looking around that odd corner in curiosity of maybe finding another chest, but nevertheless by the time I finished the game only one of the weapons and powers I had was at full strength and that was my Blades of Athena. And the amount of red orbs you get from killing dead foes is probably the same amount of gummy bears your parents used to give you before dinner...and like parents, they just don’t want to give em to you because apparently its spoils your dinner…apparently!

As for the games looks. I would go as far as saying that God of War II has the best visuals of any PS2 title. Its graphics are well up there with Metal Gear Solid 3. The level of detail in cutscenes is awesome and has been cranked up greatly since the first game. Something that God of War did great was water, and it looks even better in the sequel. To top it all off, the game features almost no hitch in the framerate whatsoever. There is the occasion or two where slow-down does occur in highly active areas but this will not be noticeable to most.

The trademark music that made God of War’s soundtrack actually worth buying has returned and thank goodness not much here has changed either. A feeling of nostalgia will overcome you as you hear the same tunes you first heard two years ago when you used to listen to them all alone in the toilet (in fact, the first two paragraphs of this review I wrote in the toilet). The sound effects remain just as dominant as ever…with large tribal bells ringing throughout the menu. The voiceovers could not be more spot on and are right up there with Final Fantasy XII and other great games known for their awesome voiceover work.

But whats going to give you your replay ability in this game is all the unlockable content. Once you finish the title, you’ve got access to an even more difficult mode (bad tempered gamers be ware) which unlocks even more content once you beat it, new costumes, access to any of the games cutscenes and a special challenge mode.

Looking back, there isn’t much that God of War II could have done to make me more impressed than I already am. The gameplay was as awesome as it’s ever been with extra tweaks thrown in to make it more fun. The graphics are top of the line on the PS2 (please don’t compare with next-gen). The story is even better than the original and leaves you crying for God of War III, and all the unlockables at the end of the game give you a reason to come back. In the end, God of War II may be about as inappropriate as a horse, but that doesn’t stop it from being pure fun.