Review: God of War II - bloodthirsty swansong to PS2

Mike Bantick
Monday, 07 May 2007 17:28

Opinion and Analysis

Like a encore by a band that you love, Kratos returns for what will be the one of the most memorable PlayStation 2 games of all time. 

God of War II
	Developer	Sony
	Publisher	Sony
	Rating	M
PS2

What an absolutely gore driven hoot the first one was, as such God of War received the accolades of (mature) gamers the world over.  Game-play, although reasonably derivative, delivered the action at a pace that felt thick and fast as Kratos ascended to the gods after defeating Ares the war god.

Picking up where the original left off, Kratos is dissatisfied and continues to direct his Spartan armies in a berserk ravaging of Greek cities, much to the displeasure of the Olympian pantheon.  Stripped of his powers, Kratos must once again embark on an epic journey to seek the Sisters of Fate, defeat Zeus and regain his rightful throne.

Epic is the key word here, witness the, literately titanic cut scenes of Gaia and Chronos help Kratos during his quest.  But it is not only the cut scenes that threaten to burst from the screen, the in-game set pieces are just as impressive - the high-light for me being the Steeds of Time, four gigantic horses which must be battled over in order to get to the island of "The Sisters"

Sometimes the immense size of God of War II feels like it will overwhelm the poor old PS2 as sets such as cities and ruins are rendered in spectacular fashion, only to be one up'd by a striding Titan or Colossus.  In fact God of War II almost out "gigantics" Shadow of Colossus in its scope.

Essentially though, God of War II steers a safe path by not changing an unbroken formulae.  In fact the worst moments of GoW II are the new parts.