God of War II: Divine Retribution

God of War 2 was launched only last year in 2007 with the first debuting in early 2006. With God of War 3 on the horizon I thought I would come back to one of the Play station 2's smash hits. God of War has been claimed to be one of Sony's flagships and the second game is no exception, dripping with blood and screaming in pain. But as we peer deep into the chasms of chain hit combos and boss battle action sequences we can find out how good of a game it is.



Fans of the series will undoubtedly know the ending of the first game but for those of you new to the series; God of War is based on Greek mythology and a certain individual named Kratos. Once a captain of the army of Sparta who owed his life to Ares the God of War and then after slaying Ares he became the God himself. Now that Kratos is a God he abuses his powers to carry out his own petty skirmishes upon the innocents of Greece but is told by his follow God, Athena (the goddess of wisdom) that his actions will not be tolerated by Olympus. However he continues his fight in Rhodes when all of a sudden Athena descends from Olympus to put a stop to his brutality. She animates the statue of the colossus which attacks Kratos who tries to fight back but his weapons are useless. Then Zeus descends from Olympus, insisting he is there to aid Kratos fight Athena. However when Zeus gives Kratos the blade of Olympus (he only weapon that can destroy the colossus) the blade drains his life and magic power. As Kratos is limping around for his life, his godly armour peels off of him and he becomes a mere mortal again, the life being sapped from him. Zeus thrusts the blade in Kratos and leaves him for dead.

However as Kratos falls into the abyssal pits of hell someone calls out to him. In his mind he witnesses the presence of the titan, Gaia who was betrayed by Zeus herself. She offers to help Kratos by telling him to locate the sisters of fate who will enable Kratos to back in time to when Zeus killed him in order for Kratos to kill Zeus. Kratos accepts and somehow manages to escape the palms of hell. With his eyes on the sisters of fate Kratos only has one thing in mind'¦ to kill the king of the Gods.



As much as it is very nice hacking through hordes and hordes of undead soldiers and Cerberus puppies it can somewhat get tedious and feels like each stage of the game is a task more than it is a game. It's true that God of War's Gameplay has hardly changed since the first game but in my opinion the first game's Gameplay was good enough to satisfy me in the second. The structure for Gameplay in God of War is to button bash whilst casting lethal magic and evading attacks. It sounds simple but can get very intricate with the amount of upgrades, spells and weapons at your disposal. With all this being said however, God of War II has added many new features to the game that are superb and are definitely worth a mention.



First off is the amulet of fates, when fully charged it will allow you to slow down time for a short period in which you can evaded lightning fast traps, dismember enemies with ease or find a way around the most difficult of puzzles. However you can only use the amulet when you are in the presence of a statue of fate which is a minor let down but makes perfect sense. The amulet is mainly used for puzzles in which you will need to slow down time to evaluate the situation. The second feature is the new spells including Typhon's Bane which allows you to shoot arrows out of a magical bow, Kronos' rage with triggers a lethal earthquake, the head of Euryale (which works in the same way as the head of Medusa) and also a few additional spells. Equipment is also a new thing in God of War II, excluding the amulet, there are many items that can be found which are a necessity to progress in the game including the most useful which is the golden fleece, this will allow you not just to block but to reflect spells or attacks. Sometimes using the chains as your only weapon can get tedious but I wasn't so bothered in this game. However God of War II finally gives you the chance to use three other weapons including a hammer, spear and blade. Fans will be more than happy to know that action sequences are back and they are more epic and brutal than ever including beheading, dismembering and eye gouging.




Let it be known that God of War II displays some of the most wonderful graphics on the Playstation 2 console. It paints out lush locations with plenty of gore to fill in the more prissy gaps in the game design. Each location is reminds the player of ancient Greece and the horrific tales of mythology. Kratos returns with a little more human like appearance but his realism still isn't spot on. Enemies are designed to perfection but I couldn't help noticing that a few of the old enemies from the original snuck back in. The visuals are mindblowing and the CGI sequences add the wow factor to the game. In my entire time of playing this game I never experienced a single freeze screen but there are plenty of invisible walls to go around but it is a platform after all. The only thing I could slag God of War II off about in design is the choice to keep the fixed camera angles, the aren't too bad but when fighting hordes of enemies it helps to have the camera in the player's control to give them the tactical edge. The audio of God of War II is excellent too. Every blow delivered is followed by the sound of gushing blood and metal hitting stone. The music is appropriate and adds a more sinister and brutal edge to the theme of the game. Voice acting is also a thumbs up with the return of the original voice acting cast and a few additions.



God of War is great fun, it may not have much replay value but the content provided is more than satisfactory to both the hardcore and casual. I wont spoil the ending for readers but what I will say is that it leaves us on a cliffhanger that will be concluded in God of War III and it will be some epic gaming.



My top three highlights of God of War II:

1. The jaw dropping cliffhanger.
2. The boss battles.
3. Finally getting to use a weapon that wasn't the blades of Athena.

Graphics: 4.7/ 5.0 -- Really pushing the PS2 to its limits but the CGI could have been tweaked a little.
Gameplay: 4.8/ 5.0 -- Left unchanged but it was definitely for the better.
Sound: 4.5/ 5.0 -- Epic music scores and battle noises. Perfect.
Story: 4.9/ 5.0 -- Plenty of twists and turns to keep players interested but can confuse them at times.
Design: 4.8/ 5.0 -- Characters, enemies and locations are authentic yet fascinating.
Online: N/A
Lifespan: 4.0/ 5.0 -- Extended by the challenges of Hades but could have been longer.