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The PS2 goes out with a bang. The first God of War was applauded for pushing the PS2 to new heights and being a darn fun game to boot. God of War II further pushes those boundaries. We’re looking at perhaps the most technically accomplished game on the PS2. God of War II does improve on the gameplay and story, and even though it doesn’t have the freshness that its prequel did, the game is undoubtedly one of the last great titles for Sony’s aging console.
God of War II begins right after first game ends. You’re better off having played the first game but if you haven’t, God of War II does summarize what happened in the prequel. In GOW II, Kratos has defeated Ares, the god of war, and is leading Sparta to conquer various cities. Kratos is eventually betrayed by Athena and nearly killed, but is rescued by Gaia who tells Kratos that he needs to reach the Sisters of Fate to save his life. God of War II is the epic journey that follows. GOW II places more emphasis on the larger Greek mythology than its prequel and less emphasis on Kratos’ character development but it’s nonetheless hard to complain of the story.
God of War II still places a lot of importance on combat. The actual engine is more or less the same, although it has been refined and feels nimbler than it used to. Most of the wow moments come from context-sensitive cues in the game. For instance, as you fight Medusa, the game will display a button onscreen—press the button and Kratos will pull off a devastating move on Medusa. The action is quite gory and ultimately very deserving of its M rating. Although there is a lot of strategy in the game if you’re looking for it, it’s just as easy to button mash and go along for the ride at the default difficulty level. The game offers many big-name characters from Greek mythology including Zeus, Icarus, Perseus, as well as dozens of zombies and Cyclopes to fight.
That’s not to say that the game doesn’t offer new weapons, abilities and magic. It does but the new abilities are often used at specific moments in the game. You’ll find many new weapons as you play the game, some of which are quite cool and powerful if you upgrade them, but Kratos’ default dual blades (that you begin with) are just fine and more versatile than the game’s other weapons. The magic is similar in that it is often used for a particular sequence and you won’t really need to use it again.
In addition to the combat, God of War II has great platforming and puzzles. The platforming segments are tightly integrated into the game, and thanks to Kratos’ new ability to hang on ledges there are less accidental deaths. The puzzles are fairly similar to the previous game in that you’re still pushing down on a lot levers, hitting many switches, and occasionally rearranging stuff (or corpses) so that you have a weight on a specific item. Nonetheless, the puzzles have just the right blend of making you think and not causing you to go insane. The game even throws in some on-rails flying sequences where you are on top of a winged creature and have to defend yourselves against enemies. They aren’t the most involved sequences but do offer a welcome change of pace.
On a purely technical level, God of War II is one of—if not the best—looking PS2 game available. The character models are all intricately detailed, especially Krato who looks vicious yet moves with great agility. The environments are all outfitted with very detailed textures and are just enormous in breadth and scope. The framerate surprisingly keeps up with all of this, too. The technicalities alone would have made GOW II a great looking game, but Sony Santa Monica has also made it artistically impressive. The game has a distinct sense of style that oozes out of every boss fight and level design.
The game’s audio component is also top-notch. The game’s voice acting is superb all around. Kratos is as off-the-wall as ever, but the other characters all received great treatment from people like Linda Hunt and Corey Burton. The highlight of the audio is the dynamic soundtrack. It picks up as you head into chaos then slows back down so flawlessly that you can’t help but be wowed. The actual soundtrack is made up of an epic orchestrated score.
God of War II doesn’t have the same freshness that the prequel did. That’s a given. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but for some 12 hours we’re seeing tighter, nimbler combat, fantastic level designs, and great gameplay. GOW II is undoubtedly better than its prequel and ultimately one of the best games on any last generation console. Even gamers with a PS3 should be picking it up since the scope of the game is still very impressive, even considering new-gen competition. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Apr 5, 2007
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