God of War 2 is the sequel to 2005 PS2 excelent adventure title God of
War. Set a couple of years after the end of the original game, God of
War 2 starts during the siege of the city of Rhodes, home of the
wonder, the Colossus of Rhodes. Kratos sent his Spartan warriors to
destroy this city, but after a while, he decided to lend them a hand.
So Kratos, descended from his throne in Olympus and started destroying
what was left of Rhodes.
But Zeus and Athena, afraid of his ambition, tried to stopped him. They
removed him of his godly powers, and later, of his previous powers.
Kratos is left for dead, in the gates of Hell. But, as a good Spartan
warrior, he is not about to give up, and so, he escapes hell and his
quest begins again. A quest to kill Zeus himself. Will he make it? Its
up to you to know the story.
The game starts with some tutorials, given the fact that we have godly
powers, its almost as if we were inmortals, which makes it easier to
practice some of the new techniques, and enjoy the endless slaughter at
times. Gameplay wise, God of War 2 is not that different from God of
War. You can expect to find some old tricks, from the sequence games
made popular by the first one to the usual puzzles scenes. The game
mixes a good amount of puzzle with fighting, which will keep it fresh
and avoid it getting repetitive.
The strongest point in the game comes from the amazing graphics. Though
it had to made sacrifices to achieve them meaning we will see screen
tearing many times, the overall value of it graphically speaking
compensates for such small hindrances. God of War 2 graphics are among
the best we have seen in the PS2 along such games as Final Fantasy XII
and Shadow of the Colossus. The fixed camera, a trait from the past is
the main problem with the title. Though its placed most of the time
were you can see every enemy on the map, there are moments where the
enemies will be outside, and when playing in harder difficulties, it
can become a problem.
The newest inclusion, and a very welcome one is the Bow. Though its
pretty much the same as Zeus Lightning in the previous one, the bow has
some sweet tricks that will give enemies a run for their money.
Alongside the bow, you will find 3 more spells, and 2 more weapons,
which of course I wont be describing to avoid spoiling the game.
The story this time is more focused on Kratos revenge against the
Olympians. He will traverse many mythical places with the main
objective of striking Zeus, king of Gods down. To accomplish this,
Kratos will receive the aid of the Titan Gaia, who will give him a
flaming Pegasus. With the Pegasus, we will do some mini games that
consist of flying sequences were we are going to be taking down
enemies. Its a good inclusion that will add variety to the gameplay.
But places is not the only thing we will meet from our beloved myths.
Characters from them will also appear, and a shadow from the past will
be waiting for our antihero later on in the game.
There is one thing that could make God of War 2 a masterpiece to many,
if not all, and that is its soundtrack. God of War 2 has one of the
most impressive and amazing music in gaming. The main theme will get
our blood pumping, and will set the mood for the kill.
Talking about killing, God of War 2 brings back enemies from the first
one, but includes new ones to; and as expected, the finishing moves are
as brutal as ever. For those new to the series, let me tell you that
after you beat the crap out of your foe, you can perform a finishing
move by pressing circle. This will in some cases will introduce a mini
game, that will let us either remove the eye of a cyclop with out
hands, cut enemies in half or torn their arms and hit them with them.
Gow of War 2 is as brutal, if not more than the first one, and the boss
battles will show you so.
The combat system per se hasnt changed much. This time you will use the
Athena´s Blades which were a gift from Athena to Kratos at the end of
the first title. The Athena´s Blades are basically your old Chaos
Blades. They will have basically the same momements, so veterans should
feel right at home here. New comers will have a hard time to adapt most
likely since the game requires a good amount of defense and dodge.
Defense is carried in the same fashion as in the past, later on in the
game you will be given the chance to counter the attacks with a
precisely timed defense. Dodging is given again to the second analog
stick, aka R3. You can dodge in any way, and it will be your saviour in
many fights, so learn to dodge early on in the game.
Once you finish the game, you wont be left with just a game. God of War
2 comes with a good amount of extras. You will unlock an arena, that
will give you different trials for you to test your skills. After each
trial you will be scored. But thats no all, you will also unlock
different costumes for Kratos, some of them completely hilarious. Among
this extras, you will have the scenes viewer, one for the CG movies,
and another for all the cutscenes in the game. But thats not all. God
of War 2 is a 2 disc set game, the second disc has almost 2 hours worth
of extra content that further explains the process of the creation of
this amazing title, and will also show you character designs, and
levels that were given the axe.
All in all, God of War 2 is one of the best Action Adventure titles to
ever hit a console, with an M rating, not everyone will be able to get
it but those who can, will be received with the same kinky games making
a come back, more brutal and bloody combat, a far more epic adventure
and a wonderful orchestra that will keep ringing it you for years to
come.
Final Score: 9.5
