I know that this was considered more or less the peak of the series before the reboot, but I actually found it to be somewhat disappointing. It’s certainly bigger, but I felt like it was retreading a lot of ground.
The one big improvement was the focus on bosses – there are a ton of them – and given how full of colorful characters and monsters this world is, that was definitely the right way to go.
I’m honestly not exactly sure what it was that I wanted^ from a sequel after being so impressed by the original, but this wasn’t quite it. It’s mostly the same, but it feels a tiny bit less inspired. Still a solid, polished action game, no doubt.
^Oh, I know one thing I DIDN’T want from this game: for it to end on a bullshit cliffhanger.
The one big improvement was the focus on bosses – there are a ton of them – and given how full of colorful characters and monsters this world is, that was definitely the right way to go.
I’m honestly not exactly sure what it was that I wanted^ from a sequel after being so impressed by the original, but this wasn’t quite it. It’s mostly the same, but it feels a tiny bit less inspired. Still a solid, polished action game, no doubt.
^Oh, I know one thing I DIDN’T want from this game: for it to end on a bullshit cliffhanger.
I don't remember this one as much as the first and third ones, but I'm sure it's also fantastic. I do remember the scale of this one being even bigger than the first and being amazed that this game could be on the PS2.
Juegardo, volveria a matar a perseo
Misma fórmula que el primero pero mejorado. Eso sí, le guardo menos cariño al jugarlo ya estando un poco más crecidito.
once the novelty of the first game wears off, the flaws in the game design make themselves apparent. there aren't as many bullshit platforming sections, but there are glaring flaws in the design that make this shit borderline unplayable. the combat is repetitive and shallow. half the game is spent winding up cranks and pulling levers. why does every door have to be opened by button mashing? what was the point of that? like, what does that add? is it meant to be fun? ironically, this game was easier than the first one but i still felt so unfulfilled by the end because the gameplay was so soulless and boring. not to mention how uninspired this story is. i feel like there's so much more you could do with a guy taking on the gods than this. the narrative isn't all bad though. it's got me hooked enough to get the third game and play it. but i guess dark souls kind of ruined hack and slash games for me.
"A Solid Sequel, But One That Doesn't Shake Things Up"
The original "God of War" was a good title, but failed to intrigue me much with its combat at times. I enjoyed the sorrow tale of Kratos and his vengeance against Ares, and liked the representation of some recognizable monsters/places in Greek mythology. It had a solid grasp on most puzzle sections in that they were no too obtuse to become frustrating, but not too easy where they were mindless to solve. While the sequel keeps many of the positives from the first title, it fails to expand on combat much at all, delivers a poorly paced story with unsatisfying plot points, and loses a grasp on its puzzle mechanics far more often than expected. It still manages to be a more setpiece oriented adventure though, which does provide some epic moments.
The melee combat in this title is practically identical to the first game with some slight shakeups. You can now choose between two secondary weapons, one of which is a heavy-focused weapon (Barbarian Hammer) and one which is focused on more precise pierce attacks (Spear of Destiny). I liked the latter well enough, but couldn't stand using the former especially with its incredibly slow attacks and the fact that Kratos cannot dodge while using it. Besides weapons, the Rage of the Titans ability (just the old Rage of the Gods ability reskinned) returns, though can now be disabled in order to save any extra energy you may want for later. Grabs were much more consistent, though still had the same moves available as the previous game (at least it felt mostly the same). Overall, melee combat sees little innovation besides some slight tweaks, and ultimately still failed to capture me.
Magic is where this game sees some improvement over the last title. Magical abilities are retooled to be much more useful as a whole. Cronos' Rage replaces Poseidon's Rage, and is a slightly weaker yet more balanced tool for crowd control. Typhon's Bane is an improved version of Zeus' Fury, something I was happy to use when dealing with ranged opponents. Medusa's Head returns as the Head of Euryale, and serves the same function of freezing enemies into stone (though has an additional flash ability for quick freezes). Lastly, the Atlas Quake replaces the Army of Hades, and while being a bit weaker for direct damage it makes up for it with some awesome visuals and great crowd control. Overall, magic sees an improvement in diverse and useful abilities.
While combat saw fairly equal amounts of growth and stagnation, the puzzles suffer a dip in quality during this title. There are more puzzles that contain some pretty strange solutions, and many don't present the puzzle at hand very well at all. Some items are scattered around the level in odd places, and other times the direction or goal at hand is unclear. At other times, puzzles boil down to simple lever interactions and push blocks that are painfully obvious to figure out, or rely far too often on timed platforming challenges. There are a few good puzzles sprinkled in here and there, though most are on the extreme ends of the "difficulty/logic" spectrum. I found the puzzles to be weaker in design and much more of a frustration to deal with in this game.
However, the presentation and music is actually improved in this sequel, with even greater world design at times, sharper textures, and some powerful tracks for key setpieces. The opening level of this title is pretty memorable, and the eventual battles with both the Sisters of Fate and Zeus himself are impressive to say the least. I have to say it was a nice step forward in this department.
Unfortunately, the plot is worse in this title. I'm generally wary of games which explore time travel, because there are many examples of stories which use that plot point to create illogical holes within the story. This game is one of them. Not only is the end of the journey painfully obvious from the get go (leaving little to be surprised about by the end of the game), but the logic behind it is questionable. The fact that Kratos doesn't just go back in time and prevent his families' deaths appalls me, especially when he instead chooses to just go back to when Zeus' betrays him at the beginning of the game. There are many more important moments in his own life he could have returned to, but for the purpose of the plot he decided on something far too on the nose yet completely ludicrous. Maybe a future title will help justify this move a bit more, but it was just pretty weak. Characters are interesting along the way, but the story felt unnecessary in many aspects.
Besides the plot holes, there was also just a lot of slow buildup in where Kratos had to go. He wastes far too much time opening doors and navigating the world, and there is inconsistency in when he sees some really interesting landscapes. The setpieces that tie many of these areas together try their best to distract, and while they are pretty impressive it doesn't make the journey any less dry at times. Really disappointing considering the first title has less diverse environments, yet felt like Kratos was "supposed" to be wherever he was.
Lastly, the boss battles see an improvement from the first game. Not only are there more, but there is a bit more interaction through creative puzzle design and less total reliance on frustrating QTE segments. Some bosses are smaller and more like "interactions" than anything (Icarus, Dark Rider/Dark Griffin), and some are smaller bosses that pop up here and there (Cerberus, Theseus, The Last Spartan, etc.), but these sections are fairly well paced out in the story. As for larger scale bosses, they are much more interesting to fight against and have better mechanics. The grapple/slow time mechanics during the Sisters of Fate battle is the highlight of all of them for me, and served as the best fight the series has yet to offer to me up to this point.
At the end of the day, I found many aspects of "God of War II" to be creative and forward-thinking, yet felt there were too many missteps to call this sequel a true "improvement". While magical combat is improved, melee combat stagnates. While the presentation improves, the plot weakens. With weaker puzzles and pacing, the game just didn't have much going for it for me to place it above the original. I found "God of War II" to be a fun enough game that I can Recommend, but it feels less like a true sequel and more like "God of War 1.5" or some sort of spin off connecting it to a "real" sequel down the line. Fun in its own right, but just not really much of an improvement.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
The original "God of War" was a good title, but failed to intrigue me much with its combat at times. I enjoyed the sorrow tale of Kratos and his vengeance against Ares, and liked the representation of some recognizable monsters/places in Greek mythology. It had a solid grasp on most puzzle sections in that they were no too obtuse to become frustrating, but not too easy where they were mindless to solve. While the sequel keeps many of the positives from the first title, it fails to expand on combat much at all, delivers a poorly paced story with unsatisfying plot points, and loses a grasp on its puzzle mechanics far more often than expected. It still manages to be a more setpiece oriented adventure though, which does provide some epic moments.
The melee combat in this title is practically identical to the first game with some slight shakeups. You can now choose between two secondary weapons, one of which is a heavy-focused weapon (Barbarian Hammer) and one which is focused on more precise pierce attacks (Spear of Destiny). I liked the latter well enough, but couldn't stand using the former especially with its incredibly slow attacks and the fact that Kratos cannot dodge while using it. Besides weapons, the Rage of the Titans ability (just the old Rage of the Gods ability reskinned) returns, though can now be disabled in order to save any extra energy you may want for later. Grabs were much more consistent, though still had the same moves available as the previous game (at least it felt mostly the same). Overall, melee combat sees little innovation besides some slight tweaks, and ultimately still failed to capture me.
Magic is where this game sees some improvement over the last title. Magical abilities are retooled to be much more useful as a whole. Cronos' Rage replaces Poseidon's Rage, and is a slightly weaker yet more balanced tool for crowd control. Typhon's Bane is an improved version of Zeus' Fury, something I was happy to use when dealing with ranged opponents. Medusa's Head returns as the Head of Euryale, and serves the same function of freezing enemies into stone (though has an additional flash ability for quick freezes). Lastly, the Atlas Quake replaces the Army of Hades, and while being a bit weaker for direct damage it makes up for it with some awesome visuals and great crowd control. Overall, magic sees an improvement in diverse and useful abilities.
While combat saw fairly equal amounts of growth and stagnation, the puzzles suffer a dip in quality during this title. There are more puzzles that contain some pretty strange solutions, and many don't present the puzzle at hand very well at all. Some items are scattered around the level in odd places, and other times the direction or goal at hand is unclear. At other times, puzzles boil down to simple lever interactions and push blocks that are painfully obvious to figure out, or rely far too often on timed platforming challenges. There are a few good puzzles sprinkled in here and there, though most are on the extreme ends of the "difficulty/logic" spectrum. I found the puzzles to be weaker in design and much more of a frustration to deal with in this game.
However, the presentation and music is actually improved in this sequel, with even greater world design at times, sharper textures, and some powerful tracks for key setpieces. The opening level of this title is pretty memorable, and the eventual battles with both the Sisters of Fate and Zeus himself are impressive to say the least. I have to say it was a nice step forward in this department.
Unfortunately, the plot is worse in this title. I'm generally wary of games which explore time travel, because there are many examples of stories which use that plot point to create illogical holes within the story. This game is one of them. Not only is the end of the journey painfully obvious from the get go (leaving little to be surprised about by the end of the game), but the logic behind it is questionable. The fact that Kratos doesn't just go back in time and prevent his families' deaths appalls me, especially when he instead chooses to just go back to when Zeus' betrays him at the beginning of the game. There are many more important moments in his own life he could have returned to, but for the purpose of the plot he decided on something far too on the nose yet completely ludicrous. Maybe a future title will help justify this move a bit more, but it was just pretty weak. Characters are interesting along the way, but the story felt unnecessary in many aspects.
Besides the plot holes, there was also just a lot of slow buildup in where Kratos had to go. He wastes far too much time opening doors and navigating the world, and there is inconsistency in when he sees some really interesting landscapes. The setpieces that tie many of these areas together try their best to distract, and while they are pretty impressive it doesn't make the journey any less dry at times. Really disappointing considering the first title has less diverse environments, yet felt like Kratos was "supposed" to be wherever he was.
Lastly, the boss battles see an improvement from the first game. Not only are there more, but there is a bit more interaction through creative puzzle design and less total reliance on frustrating QTE segments. Some bosses are smaller and more like "interactions" than anything (Icarus, Dark Rider/Dark Griffin), and some are smaller bosses that pop up here and there (Cerberus, Theseus, The Last Spartan, etc.), but these sections are fairly well paced out in the story. As for larger scale bosses, they are much more interesting to fight against and have better mechanics. The grapple/slow time mechanics during the Sisters of Fate battle is the highlight of all of them for me, and served as the best fight the series has yet to offer to me up to this point.
At the end of the day, I found many aspects of "God of War II" to be creative and forward-thinking, yet felt there were too many missteps to call this sequel a true "improvement". While magical combat is improved, melee combat stagnates. While the presentation improves, the plot weakens. With weaker puzzles and pacing, the game just didn't have much going for it for me to place it above the original. I found "God of War II" to be a fun enough game that I can Recommend, but it feels less like a true sequel and more like "God of War 1.5" or some sort of spin off connecting it to a "real" sequel down the line. Fun in its own right, but just not really much of an improvement.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
God of War II gave me a lot more of what I wanted out of God of War. More fights against gods, more exciting combat, an really just an overall better game. I do think I like the story in the first God of War just a bit more, but overall its still a good game.
Man is literally too angry to die.
A solid improvement on the first game but who thought that it was a good idea to end on a damn cliffhanger.
A solid improvement on the first game but who thought that it was a good idea to end on a damn cliffhanger.
I’ve noticed that I played all the GoW games in 2011 but platted them all in 2012 I don’t know why I took a break 🤔
Apparently this is an unpopular opinion on here (which makes sense coming from me lol) but I prefer the first game.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad game by any means, but fuck me it feels wayyy too long. It drags real bad.
This game doesn't really improve on any of the problems I had with the first game, in fact in some cases, it's worse here.
but let's start with the positives.
the combat is been slightly updated to be a bit more fleshed out with more combos and new spells to use, however just like the last game I really only used 2 of the spells and ignored the rest.
ya know actually now that I think about it, I think every positive thing from the first game has been slightly ruined in this one.
Combat is better yeah, there's more weapons, but they're all crap unlike The Blade of Artemis. More spells yeah, but I only ever used like 2.
Also I complained last time about the damage scaling and the fact basic enemies can take forever to kill, it's even worse here, even with maxed out weapons you can be there for like 5-7 minutes trying to take out a wave of enemies, it just gets boring and annoying.
Actually one think that has genuinely improved, the world. The locations you explore are really cool, they were cool in the last game, but even more so here. I loved The Steeds of Time and the whole Atlas area.
The story is... it's not great. It really does feel like JUST the setup to the next game instead of it's own thing. I saw someone on here say "God of War 3: Part 1" and yeah honestly that's the perfect name lol. Also once again, you just spend the entire game looking for one thing, in this case three people. But for the full 11-12 hours it's just "find the sisters of fate" and it gets so tedious and boring.
I did like the ending though, the ending got me hype.
The main thing I complimented the last game for was boss fights, and yeah there are more here, however.... most of them are fairly crap and forgettable. I think the only boss fights I enjoyed were The Kraken and The Sisters of Fate, those boss fights went HARD. but man I dunno, Euryale and the others just were not fun at all, even the final fight against Zeus was a bit shit. I guess the Perseus fight was neat, but I had just watched Clash of The Titans like the day before so I was just excited to see him lol.
Also it's a small thing really but I don't like how they batched the trophies together in this one. In the last game you would get an individual trophy for certain story events or boss fights or weapon pickups but in this they're just batched together, like Boss Batch Trophy 1 and 2 etc. Like i want my cool individual trophies to feel like I'm actually progressing >:((
Oh and speaking of progression, thanks to the games extensive runtime, progression feels slow as fuck weapons and magic wise which kinda sucked.
Overall, I wouldn't call this a bad game like I said, but I do think it's a step down from the original, maybe the fact I played these back to back ruined my experience a bit, I really shoulda learned from Uncharted and KH that marathoning isn't the best idea for enjoyment lol. I'll probably play something else before GoW 3, so I can go into it feeling more fresh.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad game by any means, but fuck me it feels wayyy too long. It drags real bad.
This game doesn't really improve on any of the problems I had with the first game, in fact in some cases, it's worse here.
but let's start with the positives.
the combat is been slightly updated to be a bit more fleshed out with more combos and new spells to use, however just like the last game I really only used 2 of the spells and ignored the rest.
ya know actually now that I think about it, I think every positive thing from the first game has been slightly ruined in this one.
Combat is better yeah, there's more weapons, but they're all crap unlike The Blade of Artemis. More spells yeah, but I only ever used like 2.
Also I complained last time about the damage scaling and the fact basic enemies can take forever to kill, it's even worse here, even with maxed out weapons you can be there for like 5-7 minutes trying to take out a wave of enemies, it just gets boring and annoying.
Actually one think that has genuinely improved, the world. The locations you explore are really cool, they were cool in the last game, but even more so here. I loved The Steeds of Time and the whole Atlas area.
The story is... it's not great. It really does feel like JUST the setup to the next game instead of it's own thing. I saw someone on here say "God of War 3: Part 1" and yeah honestly that's the perfect name lol. Also once again, you just spend the entire game looking for one thing, in this case three people. But for the full 11-12 hours it's just "find the sisters of fate" and it gets so tedious and boring.
I did like the ending though, the ending got me hype.
The main thing I complimented the last game for was boss fights, and yeah there are more here, however.... most of them are fairly crap and forgettable. I think the only boss fights I enjoyed were The Kraken and The Sisters of Fate, those boss fights went HARD. but man I dunno, Euryale and the others just were not fun at all, even the final fight against Zeus was a bit shit. I guess the Perseus fight was neat, but I had just watched Clash of The Titans like the day before so I was just excited to see him lol.
Also it's a small thing really but I don't like how they batched the trophies together in this one. In the last game you would get an individual trophy for certain story events or boss fights or weapon pickups but in this they're just batched together, like Boss Batch Trophy 1 and 2 etc. Like i want my cool individual trophies to feel like I'm actually progressing >:((
Oh and speaking of progression, thanks to the games extensive runtime, progression feels slow as fuck weapons and magic wise which kinda sucked.
Overall, I wouldn't call this a bad game like I said, but I do think it's a step down from the original, maybe the fact I played these back to back ruined my experience a bit, I really shoulda learned from Uncharted and KH that marathoning isn't the best idea for enjoyment lol. I'll probably play something else before GoW 3, so I can go into it feeling more fresh.
An excellent sequel. It takes everything that works from the first game, tightens and improves it, while dropping a lot of the more painful elements. Combat is addictive and cathartic as ever. Traversal and set pieces have improved. Puzzles are less annoying.
The only area it falls behind slightly is the story. As a game campaign, it delivers more epic moments, more fun set pieces. But as a story it feels like connective tissue between 1 and 3, not without its highlights, but not as compelling as the exploration of Kratos' back story, or the showdown on Mount Olympus.
Still, overall I think this is a better game than its predecessor, and an enjoyable action game even today.
The only area it falls behind slightly is the story. As a game campaign, it delivers more epic moments, more fun set pieces. But as a story it feels like connective tissue between 1 and 3, not without its highlights, but not as compelling as the exploration of Kratos' back story, or the showdown on Mount Olympus.
Still, overall I think this is a better game than its predecessor, and an enjoyable action game even today.
Esse é o melhor GOW do ps2, colorido, vivo, e totalmente incrível. Totalmente válido o numero 2 no titulo.
Mas ainda sim tem algumas partes que os playtester só n quiseram jogar.
Mas ainda sim tem algumas partes que os playtester só n quiseram jogar.
god of slowly turning cranks
El mejor GoW de la saga Griega, aunque en lo personal prefiero el 3 por ser el final
Sure it’s better than the first and ambitiously cinematic with a pretty wacky plot and some cool locations but the gameplay becomes extremely spammy as it goes on just like the first
Trophies to get
A serviceable remaster of the PS2 classic.
Just as good as the first one if not possibly better, the world created by the God of War series is so important to me and the gameplay really does it justice. I love the new features in this one it really improves upon the first one combat wise.
Acción visceral y basta, sin muchas más pretensiones; hace bien lo que busca hacer bien, aunque palidece de una dificultad basada en que los enemigos aguantan cada vez más, por lo que algunos combates cansan. Por lo demás bien, mejor que el primero.
Big improvement on the first one, story and gameplay-wise. The mechanics were improved upon and there were satisfying bosses…still hate the grappling.
I'm very impressed by this game. I didn't think that the gameplay of the original aged all too well, so I was surprised to see that the sequel ironed out a lot of kinks that the original had (QTEs require WAY less mashing, the parry window is much more forgiving, etc).
What really impressed me about this game was its plot. You start off with all of your abilities, only to lose them all at the beginning of the game (similar to Metroid Prime), and you end on a cliffhanger that sets up God of War III, but it didn't feel cheap. I won't spoil anything, but it makes sense that this game ends the way that it does.
So yeah, overall I enjoyed this one.
What really impressed me about this game was its plot. You start off with all of your abilities, only to lose them all at the beginning of the game (similar to Metroid Prime), and you end on a cliffhanger that sets up God of War III, but it didn't feel cheap. I won't spoil anything, but it makes sense that this game ends the way that it does.
So yeah, overall I enjoyed this one.
The next chapter in the series "Local Man kills all of Greek Mythology because he's just so gosh darn angry" This was great. Plot wise it was fantastic, learning who the narrarator was in GOW1 was satisfying, and it sets up perfectly for 3. Gameplay wise it was a step up in every area too except the spells, but I did end up liking those after awhile. Not sure why they brought back medusa's head of all of them but whatever. Definitely easier overall too, but I still really enjoyed it.
God of War 3: Part 1 is great. An improvement on 1 in every way.
Much more of a spectacle than the first. Pretty to look at for a ps2 game, but without much of a narrative to drive it forward, it feels like you’re just going from random place to random place solving environmental puzzles and killing hoards of enemies. Like the other games, there’s one or two cool spells that are fun to use and the rest I never really bothered with. Ultimately pretty fun but really don’t see a need to ever replay.
A great improvement to the original in many ways, grand in scope and scale but I love how the game feels like a action packed but crescendoing burn to one of the craziest finales in video games. The last few boss fights are absolutely insane and the narrative resolution just expands upon the original games story in a satisfying way, even with a cliffhanger ending this is easily hands down one of the best cliffhanger in video games that despite my nostalgia still gives me chills. Absolutely loved returning to this despite some moments of frustration... but gonna blame that on my stupidity. This is one of the best sequels in games ever.
Continuing the replay for Ragnarok
It’s a phenomenal sequel that easily tops the original, but like I said in my old review (that I deleted for some reason) it’s not the best in the series
It’s a phenomenal sequel that easily tops the original, but like I said in my old review (that I deleted for some reason) it’s not the best in the series
Replaying God of War II for the first time in 15 years reminded me why I loved this game so much as a teenager and why it is still my favorite of the trilogy. The PS2 has a library of over 1000 games and even so you'd be hard pressed to find many that reach the same heights as God of War II, truly one of the finest games available on the system.
God of War II picks up roughly 13 years after the events of the first game. Kratos is now the new God of War. Shunned by his fellow gods for his destructive ways, Kratos finds a new family in his Spartan Army and starts to lay waste to Greece one city at a time. Naturally this angers Zeus and he takes matters into his own hands by betraying Kratos, stripping him of his godly power and killing him out of fear that Kratos will kill him first. Kratos finds new allies in the Titans who are the sworn enemies of the Gods and after crawling out of Hades itself he sets out on a new quest for revenge against the Gods by journeying to the Island of Creation and seeking an audience with the Sisters of Fate in hopes of turning back time, changing his fate and stopping Zeus' betrayal before it ever even happens.
Running nearly double the length of the first game, this story is just simply epic from start to finish and I love the themes of defying the Gods and taking fate into your own hands. Kratos' quest to change fate itself mostly takes place on the Island of Creation, but the level design is so well crafted, creative and diverse you'd think it was an epic sprawling adventure across the whole world like the first game despite being much more secular in nature. My personal fave area has to be the Palace of the Fates near the end of the game, the way all the individual areas and puzzles are so intricately connected in the Palace of the Fates is just masterclass game design.
The first God of War primarily focused around building Kratos' backstory and giving him character development, but God of War II puts more emphasis on expanding the world of God of War and boy does it do so marvelously. Bringing in many various legends and myths from the story of Chronos and the Titans to the three Sisters of Fate Lachesis, Atropos and Clotho or Jason from Jason and the Argonauts (Shout out to the skeleton enemies that have animations and move similarly to the ones in the 60s Argonauts movie) Icarus, Prometheus and Perseus (Who is also voiced by Harry Hamlin who played Perseus in the 80s Clash of the Titans movie) among others. This game is filled to the brim with references to heroes and legends in Greek myth and so much detail went into making them feel authentic in this world and that's one of my favorite parts of the game. No other game has captured Greek myth as well as God of War II has.
While the combat is mostly the same as the first there are some newly added magic powers and an expanded weapons arsenal adding a couple new sub weapons (although I honestly find those kind of useless), but where the gameplay of God of War II is truly expanded upon is thanks to Kratos being able to grapple onto things alongside getting many items including an amulet which lets him slow time Prince of Persia style or a pair of wings to glide with which add an extra layer of dimension to both the platforming and puzzles that are found throughout the game.
God of War II is a game that takes everything I loved about the first and turns it up to 11 making it more grandiose. Whether that be the higher stakes narrative, detailed world-building with much love for the mythology it represents or expanded gameplay systems, if God of War (2005) set the standard for action adventure games then God of War II redefined it and raised the bar in every way imaginable. A sequel just as iconic and memorable as its predecessor and a journey well worth going on even 15 years later.
God of War II picks up roughly 13 years after the events of the first game. Kratos is now the new God of War. Shunned by his fellow gods for his destructive ways, Kratos finds a new family in his Spartan Army and starts to lay waste to Greece one city at a time. Naturally this angers Zeus and he takes matters into his own hands by betraying Kratos, stripping him of his godly power and killing him out of fear that Kratos will kill him first. Kratos finds new allies in the Titans who are the sworn enemies of the Gods and after crawling out of Hades itself he sets out on a new quest for revenge against the Gods by journeying to the Island of Creation and seeking an audience with the Sisters of Fate in hopes of turning back time, changing his fate and stopping Zeus' betrayal before it ever even happens.
Running nearly double the length of the first game, this story is just simply epic from start to finish and I love the themes of defying the Gods and taking fate into your own hands. Kratos' quest to change fate itself mostly takes place on the Island of Creation, but the level design is so well crafted, creative and diverse you'd think it was an epic sprawling adventure across the whole world like the first game despite being much more secular in nature. My personal fave area has to be the Palace of the Fates near the end of the game, the way all the individual areas and puzzles are so intricately connected in the Palace of the Fates is just masterclass game design.
The first God of War primarily focused around building Kratos' backstory and giving him character development, but God of War II puts more emphasis on expanding the world of God of War and boy does it do so marvelously. Bringing in many various legends and myths from the story of Chronos and the Titans to the three Sisters of Fate Lachesis, Atropos and Clotho or Jason from Jason and the Argonauts (Shout out to the skeleton enemies that have animations and move similarly to the ones in the 60s Argonauts movie) Icarus, Prometheus and Perseus (Who is also voiced by Harry Hamlin who played Perseus in the 80s Clash of the Titans movie) among others. This game is filled to the brim with references to heroes and legends in Greek myth and so much detail went into making them feel authentic in this world and that's one of my favorite parts of the game. No other game has captured Greek myth as well as God of War II has.
While the combat is mostly the same as the first there are some newly added magic powers and an expanded weapons arsenal adding a couple new sub weapons (although I honestly find those kind of useless), but where the gameplay of God of War II is truly expanded upon is thanks to Kratos being able to grapple onto things alongside getting many items including an amulet which lets him slow time Prince of Persia style or a pair of wings to glide with which add an extra layer of dimension to both the platforming and puzzles that are found throughout the game.
God of War II is a game that takes everything I loved about the first and turns it up to 11 making it more grandiose. Whether that be the higher stakes narrative, detailed world-building with much love for the mythology it represents or expanded gameplay systems, if God of War (2005) set the standard for action adventure games then God of War II redefined it and raised the bar in every way imaginable. A sequel just as iconic and memorable as its predecessor and a journey well worth going on even 15 years later.
Awesome cinematic fights, and... yea. 8.9/10
I'm starting to finally get it...
God of War 2 was an absolutely pleasant suprise in my trip through the God of War series, and it helped me to understand why these games were praised. This game in particular feels likes an action-adventure game filled to the brim with varied and interesting levels, suprisingly fun puzzles, bosses each with their own gimmicks and solutions, with a simplistic combat system that is quite mashy. God of War 1 felt more like a half-backed hack and slash game with barely any bosses, not enough puzzles and varied level design, but a magnificient spectacle. I am so glad that the developers went into this direction rather than doubleing down on making combat the main draw.
The combat encounters have been reduced to allow platofrming, puzzles, and bosses to shine, so the combat is no where near as exhausting as the first game. The enemy variety has increased as well, adding a bit more complexity to how to take down enemies rather than your simple square square triangle spam. These levels are fantasitic. Whether be that God of War spectacle with the music and visuals, the tightly crafted tests of the new powers you achieved, or the puzzles that were fun shakeups to the pacing of the game, I was having a blast. I kept saying to myself, "oh, we are doing this now? Cool!" and I could not wait where the game took me next. The bosses were the best part of the first game, so I am glad there are way more in this game. They kinda went all-out with the first boss of the game, which really made a lot of the later bosses feel much less exciting, but still fun regardless. Bosses boiled down into straight up duels, or setpiece bosses with small little puzzle solving to take them down. The best bosses were ones that combined both of these designs, and I hope GoW 3 really plays into that.
I still have my gripes with the mashy combat. Magic is still incredibly powerful, but each magical ability felt viable in comparison to the electric power dominating the first game. Certain encounters feel near impossible (especially aon hard) without magic, and the game never refills your magic automatically at savepoints. Crowd control moves are still the way to go for most of the enemies, leading to yet again juggling and air combos to be left in the dust of the combat loop. I hope they atleast flesh out the grapple you can do with the blades of chaos (Or I guess Athena's blads in this game), because the juggle potential from bouncing enemies is fun, but by no means helpful, as you tend to get swarmed anytime you attempt to use it. The spear and the hammer feel pointless because the Blades of Chaos is much more fun to use, and far more optimal for larger crowds. The game is built around using the Blades, so I felt like I was limiting my moveset by using any other weapon. There may be some enemey speciifc weaknesses that each weapon can take adavantage , but I never had the motivation to experiment.
The story is still solid, but I don't think it is as engaging as the first. The emotional turmoil and how that fuels Kratos's character in the first game was amazing to see, but this game seems to put that more personal look of Kratos on hold as revenge becomes the main focus. I also think this game relies heavily on the third game to complete its story, while the first game feels like a more condensed story that could have ended or continue at its finale. I've heard that the psp games lean more into what I like about the first game's story, so we will see.
I'm a fan of God of War now. I think this game solidified that. On the Ps2 in 2007, I could see why this game was so impactful to the Ps2's library. I cannot wait to see where the series goes from here.
8/10 ;)
God of War 2 was an absolutely pleasant suprise in my trip through the God of War series, and it helped me to understand why these games were praised. This game in particular feels likes an action-adventure game filled to the brim with varied and interesting levels, suprisingly fun puzzles, bosses each with their own gimmicks and solutions, with a simplistic combat system that is quite mashy. God of War 1 felt more like a half-backed hack and slash game with barely any bosses, not enough puzzles and varied level design, but a magnificient spectacle. I am so glad that the developers went into this direction rather than doubleing down on making combat the main draw.
The combat encounters have been reduced to allow platofrming, puzzles, and bosses to shine, so the combat is no where near as exhausting as the first game. The enemy variety has increased as well, adding a bit more complexity to how to take down enemies rather than your simple square square triangle spam. These levels are fantasitic. Whether be that God of War spectacle with the music and visuals, the tightly crafted tests of the new powers you achieved, or the puzzles that were fun shakeups to the pacing of the game, I was having a blast. I kept saying to myself, "oh, we are doing this now? Cool!" and I could not wait where the game took me next. The bosses were the best part of the first game, so I am glad there are way more in this game. They kinda went all-out with the first boss of the game, which really made a lot of the later bosses feel much less exciting, but still fun regardless. Bosses boiled down into straight up duels, or setpiece bosses with small little puzzle solving to take them down. The best bosses were ones that combined both of these designs, and I hope GoW 3 really plays into that.
I still have my gripes with the mashy combat. Magic is still incredibly powerful, but each magical ability felt viable in comparison to the electric power dominating the first game. Certain encounters feel near impossible (especially aon hard) without magic, and the game never refills your magic automatically at savepoints. Crowd control moves are still the way to go for most of the enemies, leading to yet again juggling and air combos to be left in the dust of the combat loop. I hope they atleast flesh out the grapple you can do with the blades of chaos (Or I guess Athena's blads in this game), because the juggle potential from bouncing enemies is fun, but by no means helpful, as you tend to get swarmed anytime you attempt to use it. The spear and the hammer feel pointless because the Blades of Chaos is much more fun to use, and far more optimal for larger crowds. The game is built around using the Blades, so I felt like I was limiting my moveset by using any other weapon. There may be some enemey speciifc weaknesses that each weapon can take adavantage , but I never had the motivation to experiment.
The story is still solid, but I don't think it is as engaging as the first. The emotional turmoil and how that fuels Kratos's character in the first game was amazing to see, but this game seems to put that more personal look of Kratos on hold as revenge becomes the main focus. I also think this game relies heavily on the third game to complete its story, while the first game feels like a more condensed story that could have ended or continue at its finale. I've heard that the psp games lean more into what I like about the first game's story, so we will see.
I'm a fan of God of War now. I think this game solidified that. On the Ps2 in 2007, I could see why this game was so impactful to the Ps2's library. I cannot wait to see where the series goes from here.
8/10 ;)
Kratos sigue sin ir a terapia