After having just finished God of War 2 on Spartan mode, it sounds
cliché but my ultimate reaction to this action/puzzle game is just a
very humble, "Wow". God of War 2 has been defined by a few as "more of
the same" and "doesn't tread much new ground", but few can really deny
that this is game is a jaw droppingly polished and incredibly more
focused sequel to one of the GREATEST games of all time. I, for one,
would mark those criticisms for God of War 2 down as a huge win in my
book.
The story picks up almost immediately after the original God of War as
we find our "hero" Kratos still sitting at the throne of the defunct
god of war, Ares, and it becomes immediately obvious that Kratos is
still super pissed. He's taking that rage out on the mortals of the
world by inciting a perpetual war between Sparta and, apparently,
everyone else. The other gods (Zeus in particular) don't like Kratos'
disruptive influence and hatch a plan to rid themselves of him. That's
as far as I'm willing to go with the plot though because the rest needs
to be seen and enjoyed with minimal spoilers.
To say that you're probably never going to play a better looking and
sounding game on the PS2 is, I think, the understatement of 2007. God
of War 2, from start to finish, is a stunning achievement. So stunning
that the number of "next gen" games that look inferior could fill the
Black Sea. For as awesomely grand and epic as the original God of War
looked, you can crank the knob to "11" for God of War 2. If you have
played the first game and you enjoyed things like the battle with the
Hydra, or the way you got that "flea on a dog's back" feeling when you
realized that in order to get into Pandora's Temple you were going to
have to somehow get onto the back of the Titan that was carrying it,
God of War 2 is filled to over flowing with those kind of moments.
Everything about the game, as you progress, just feels far grander that
GoW 1. The levels are bigger, the challenges are more engaging, and the
enemies are more bad ass.
It's also a large testament to the designers on the balance with which
these gameplay elements are rolled out. Instead of having minor
skirmishes, with a flood of minor enemies, then a puzzle, then maybe
another skirmish, this game injects a boat load of boss encounters,
each one more intimidating than the last. If this game has something
about it that helps set it apart from the previous I think it has to be
the overall balance of the fights that just keep cranking it up as the
game progresses. It helps make the game feel more like one massive boss
fight instead of a series of smaller fights leading up to the last and
final action packed slugfest. I loved the first game, but I just felt
that God of War 2, at its conclusion, gave me a more fulfilled feeling.
The feeling that Kratos is this tiny gnat buzzing the collective ear of
a grand, epic, mythological world was much more apparent to me in this
game than in the first.
If I had just one small fault with the game (and it's ever so slight),
I think it would actually revolve around the final boss fight though. I
won't spoil it, but I have to say that I was a little let down with
that final encounter. The final fight in God of War 1 was far more
"white knuckled" in my opinion than the final face off in God of War 2.
The first game practically had me on the ground begging for mercy, but
I actually got thru the final boss in the second game on my first
attempt. It took away very little from the overall experience, but I
think I would have enjoyed it ever so much more if the final boss
wasn't such a chump.
God of War 2 is, without much doubt, one of the singular best action
games anyone is going play on the PS2 and easily one of the top ten
games of the PS2's vast and deep catalog. It's an absolutely fantastic
game to send the PS2 out on also, and after finishing I think I shed a
small tear for all the great times I have had on the PS2 platform (and
maybe even a small tear for what might have been for this old war
horse). I anxiously await the further adventures of our boy
Kratos....don't tell him I called him a boy...
