The quest feels a bit arbitrary in this game. The main goal of reaching the Fates never changes after the tutorial level, but our progress feels halted on a whim. Kratos literally flies to the Fate's lair but ends up stranded on an outcropping island (the boss that caused this ended up crashing closer to our goal than the player). Kratos deactivates a portal preventing him from the path forward, but is then kidnapped by a Barbarian. Upon returning, Kratos decides not to proceed with the original path, so he has to deactivate a second portal in order to continue. After all of these detours (not to mention the visits to two separate Titans) the player finally end up at the Fate's temple.

Aside from this, GoW II is a massive improvement on everything from the original. The new weapons and magic are nice inclusions, and the Rage meter is properly useful.