"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)