God of War II

God of War II is an incredible example of improving on the first game while not drastically altering gameplay in any major way. The main gameplay elements of visceral combat and challenging-but-not-difficult puzzle solving are just as present as before, but the fact that they feel so much better than the first game make God of War II a game for the ages.

GoW II picks up from the end of the first game: you are Kratos, the ashen-white, bloodthirsty Spartan warrior who has recently deposed Olympian god Ares to become the God of War. The main story involves Kratos' tactics becoming so brutal that the Olympian gods send him back to earth as a mortal again, trick him into giving up his godly powers and almost send him into Hades. Showing up to save Kratos is the titan Gaia, who then informs Kratos that he must seek out the destiny-controlling Sisters of Fate, a feat no mortal has ever come close to accomplishing. If you played the first God of War, the premise should seem similar in that Kratos must journey further and achieve something more difficult than anyone before him, while along the way encountering many characters and creatures from Greek mythology. And how do you manage to do this? By destroying, maiming and tearing apart everything that moves!

The combat remains almost identical to that of the first game. You press X and Triangle to use Kratos' chain-blades and other weapons, but when enemies swarm upon you constantly you can mash buttons for only so long before you have to start learning how to avoid attack patterns and use numerous combos. But for all the things that remain the same, much has changed in God of War II. One addition to GoW II is the presence of sub-weapons, either a giant hammer or large spear, that Kratos can use instead of his Blades of Athena, but much like the previous game you'll pretty much only need the blades and nothing else. There are also new spells this time around, with long-range attack Typhon's Bane (renamed from Zeus' Fury) and enemy-freezing Head of Euryale (renamed from Medusa's Gaze) being joined by Cronos' Rage, a multi-targeting electric attack that will likely be your most-used magic attack, and Atlas Quake, a wide-area ground-pounding attack. The Rage of the Gods also returns as Rage of the Titans and works the same by pressing L3 + R3, except that you can manually stop using it before your meter drains.

Kratos can also use a hookshot-type item to swing from certain areas using the R1 button as well as being able to fly (glide, actually) later in the game. The button-mashing-in-correct-sequence quicktime events return, and ripping out a cyclops' eye or a medusa's head feels just that much more satisfying after hitting a four-button, two-stick combo. There is one place they're even more welcome: opening doors. In God of War, you had to mash R1 to open a door, but in GoW II you have to press R1 and then mash O repeatedly, which is much easier on the hands but can still get extremely annoying when there is an army of skeletons trying to kill you as the spiked roof not-so-slowly collapses upon your head. The other little changes that were made were for the better: you can press X to have Kratos move up ladders now in addition to walls, you can jump down walls as well as up, blocking an enemy's attack with L1 can send the attack back at said enemy if timed right (which comes in extremely handy in later boss battles), and in certain areas you can even stop time for a few seconds, with your time left being shown as a yellow bar below your green health meter and blue magic meter, replacing the red "orb count" meter. You still collect a ludicrous amount of red orbs to upgrade your weapons and spells, though; I got so many from enemies and chests that all spells and but one weapon were at max level by the final battle.

One completely new element in GoW II are the two flight sections early in the game in which Kratos pilots a Pegasus in his journey to the Isle of Fates. Neither lasts too long, but long enough for you to have to fight airborne enemies, dodge fire in slow motion and jump onto an enemy gryphon and quicktime-event particular annoying enemies, all while careening through the darkened sky, and also while avoiding stalactites and beams in the cavern level.

For a PS2 game, God of War II looks absolutely insane. Sony's Santa Monica studio completely tapped the well dry with this game: the varying environments from the snowy mountains and titanic caves to decrepit swamps and sweltering volcanoes are mouth-gapingly gorgeous, and the game isn't afraid to zoom in on the architecture, enemies and characters because they can stand up to very close scrutiny and still look remarkable. Even that there are no load screens save for two or three is amazing because even the hallways Kratos has to run down to disguise them look amazing. The art direction and amount of polish in GoW II is second to none.

Overall, GoW II delivers on all levels. It contains all the things people play games for: gruesomely satisfying combat, simple yet ingenious puzzles, an engaging story and the desire to keep going because everything is just so good. And the best part is that there's so much of it: depending on how much exploring and fighting your do, the game could last from nine to twelve hours the first time through, and there are numerous unlockables and extra modes after the game's completion. There's even a bonus DVD that chronicles the making of the game, and contains many things from interviews and behind-the-scenes meetings to looks at lost levels and voice recording sessions, just to name a few. Whether or not you played the first game, or whether or not you even own a Playstation 2, you absolutely owe it to yourself to play God of War II because it truly is a quintessential video game and should not be missed.