Probably the best Fantasy Action Adventure on the system.
THE GOOD:
THE BAD:
FINAL WORDS:
Without a doubt this is a fantastic sequel to an already superb fantasy action-adventure game (possibly the best of this sub-genre on the PS2). If you loved the first God of War you will probably love this second chapter at least as much, if not more. Although it lacks in gameplay innovation, making it feel a bit too familiar to play, that is more than compensated with:
- a bigger campaign, both in size of the levels and in overall length;
- better level designs that feel less linear and more epic;
- puzzles that are a bit more ingenious;
- a greater number of fun and challenging bosses to defeat;
- and an excellent pacing along the entire adventure.
It's a very entertaining game to play from the beginning to the end, that leaves you eagerly awaiting for the sequel.
--------------------------------
SCORE: ((( 9.0 / 10 ))) => (in a scale of 0.5 increments, without a formula)
--------------------------------
Gameplay ---- ( 9 )
Graphics ----- ( 9 )
Sound --------- ( 9 )
Value ---------- ( 8 )
--------------------------------
- Controls are as responsive as ever;
- The combat system, although similar to the previous game, is still very satisfying and has some new moves and weapons that, if you learn to use them correctly, can keep it fresh enough;
- Greater number of different bosses than in the previous God of War, all of them fun and challenging to beat;
- Like in the previous game, you battle with numerous enemies, sometimes while trying to avoid or overcome some deadly obstacles and traps - providing a great challenge without feeling unfair;
- Less linear level designs, some of them impressively bigger than any of those found on the previous game, with some hidden secrets for those whiling to explore;
- Excellent pacing, with the right amount of great puzzles to give you a break from the fast paced action;
- Amazing graphics, with some beautiful character designs, a great artistic design and an unbelievable draw distance in certain levels, particularly when the camera pulls back to give you the sense of how massive the scale of the level really is;
- Outstanding orchestrated scores and a high quality sound design overall;
- The "Challenge of the Titans" unlocked when you finish the game, other good extras to unlock and the expected "Hard" and "Very Hard" difficulty levels (beating them is the only way to unlock some of the extras), give the game a significant replay value;
- The cut-scenes don't have as many unnecessary adult elements on them as in the prequel.
THE BAD:
- The gameplay, at it's core, is fundamentally the same as it was in the first God of War, which makes it a bit less exhilarating to play than it was in the prequel;
- The combat continues to feel a little button-mashy, especially if you use the "grab-button" often;
- The story is not as memorable as the story in the first God of War and has a cliffhanger ending that will only be resolved in God of War III;
- Although the puzzles are more ingenious than the ones in the previous game, most of them are still a bit too simple for my taste and some of them can be prone to cause confusion, for a few minutes, about what are you supposed to do;
- The challenge mode, is not as fun as it was in the previous entry in the series;
- None of the extra video content is as cool as the "deleted levels" in the first game;
- As it happened before, because the game demands so many fast button pressing combinations, some less-hardcore gamers will prefer to watch others playing instead of playing themselves (this isn't really a counted as a flaw, it's just an observation that I tough was relevant to point out).
FINAL WORDS:
Without a doubt this is a fantastic sequel to an already superb fantasy action-adventure game (possibly the best of this sub-genre on the PS2). If you loved the first God of War you will probably love this second chapter at least as much, if not more. Although it lacks in gameplay innovation, making it feel a bit too familiar to play, that is more than compensated with:
- a bigger campaign, both in size of the levels and in overall length;
- better level designs that feel less linear and more epic;
- puzzles that are a bit more ingenious;
- a greater number of fun and challenging bosses to defeat;
- and an excellent pacing along the entire adventure.
It's a very entertaining game to play from the beginning to the end, that leaves you eagerly awaiting for the sequel.
--------------------------------
SCORE: ((( 9.0 / 10 ))) => (in a scale of 0.5 increments, without a formula)
--------------------------------
Gameplay ---- ( 9 )
Graphics ----- ( 9 )
Sound --------- ( 9 )
Value ---------- ( 8 )
--------------------------------
