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God of War IIReviewed by Jeb Haught
Unbeknownst to the mighty Spartan, the gods were conspiring against him. During his visit to earth, Kratos is betrayed by Zeus and his immortality is put to the test…unfortunately, he fails miserably. In order to exact revenge, Kratos must change the very flow of time by visiting the Sisters of Fate. Along the way, the exalted potentate will battle the usual assortment of Greek monsters such as Cyclops, Medusa, and Minotaur as well as skeletons, armored Orc-like creatures and plenty of ungodly fiends that are sure to haunt your nightmares. The original God of War was applauded for offering an epic adventure, and the sequel builds upon this concept with twice as many boss battles and larger enemies. Similar to “Shadow of the Colossus,” some enemies are so…err…colossal that only a small portion of them can be shown onscreen at a time. Needless to say, these encounters are fairly lengthy and require split-second timing to pass, but there is an incredibly rewarding feeling to defeating enemies that are large enough to blot out the sun. Part of the fun of the original title is figuring out the most stylish way to defeat enemies with the plethora of ultra-destructive moves at Kratos’ fingertips, and the sequel ramps up the action with more weapons and magic maneuvers. Now players can skewer hordes of enemies with a deadly double-edged spear, a magical bow and arrow, earthquake blasts, and the most gruesome two-handed hammer to ever grace a TV screen. But that’s not all, as Kratos can now use his dual blades to climb walls or swing horizontally and vertically on marked hooks. Both of these additions are not only fun to use, but also let him get to areas that are otherwise unreachable. Perhaps the most noticeable new ability is flying on the back of Pegasus while simultaneously battling monsters. These sections are reminiscent of the Panzer Dragoon series, with the player mostly controlling his or her sideways and up/down movement and the computer controlling forward movement. Kratos can perform his normal melee and magical attacks while mounted as well as slam his mount sideways into enemies. Wear an enemy griffon down enough and Kratos can then gracefully jump from his mount to the back of the flying beast, slay him, and then leap back to his mount. Cool! God of War II looks unbelievable for a PlayStation 2 title. I actually have it playing on my PS3 in widescreen with progressive scan on a high definition television and it looks better than some ‘next gen’ games. Just like its predecessor, this title sports ultra-stylish art design, great voice acting, and a fantastic musical score. My only gripes deal with the sometimes-awkward camera angles that cannot be adjusted in any way. They can easily lead to unforeseen deaths because a ledge or bottomless chasm is blocked from view. Also, randomly changing camera angles can lead to maddening instances where the character changes direction on its own. This is because pushing up may make the character go forward in one area, but when the camera angle changes, the character is suddenly going another direction. Fortunately, these issues are few and far between. What’s it like being the king of all Gods? Play God of War II and you’ll find out! More Screenshots:
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The God of War franchise is immensely popular, selling millions of copies of both games soon after their release. With such strong support from Sony, this franchise is set to continue its dominance of the action-game genre, and one can only imagine the potential of God of War 3 on the PlayStation 3.
