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.

Reviewed on Nov 16, 2022


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