The End Begins!
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
