God of War II Review
By Jose R. Vega

In 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment along with David Jaffe released God of War, a game that defined the full capabilities of the Playstation 2. It's story, graphics and gameplay were by far one of the best. Two years have passed and now the sequel has been released. The only question is if this game truly is the swan song or last great game of this great console? Let's find out.

Here's the story... it takes place after the first game in which Kratos became the God of War after sending Ares' rear end to Hades. However, he isn't happy about being a god and orders his Spartan Army to attack city after city. It angers the gods a lot especially Athena who helped Kratos become a god in the first place. Kratos heads to the city of Rome to deliver the final assault only to have his god powers stripped and was forced to defeat the Giant Statue of Rhodes without it.

Here is where things get interesting and trust me it does. Zeus offers Kratos the Blade of Olympus, a weapon that ended the titan war. He uses the blade to destroy the statue only to end up being mortal which... sucks monkey fuck. Zeus takes the blade back and then kills him leaving him to rot in Hades. That's when the titan Gaia stepped in and decided to help Kratos do something about the king of Olympus. She saves Kratos from death and helps him find a way to defeat Zeus. The only way is by the Sisters of Fate, they are the weavers of the fabric of time. Only they can be able to turn back time and give the Spartan captain a second chance at revenge.

Anyway, the gameplay is similar to the first one where everything is smooth to the center. However, they made a few changes this time around to differentiate from the first one. They balanced everything between puzzles, combat and exploration giving the player a perfect opportunity to experience the entire game. There is also more varieties of enemies for Kratos to slay and take down from the simple soldiers all the way to taking down those Cyclops with the huge eyes. Even with the enhanced difficulty settings can put you on your toes for quite a while.

Also what's new is the magic and abilities you can acquire through the game such as Typhon's Bane which can fire wind-generated arrows and Atlas Quake which lets out a powerful destructive earthquake with each step. Now you can move while doing it giving you more strategy when you battle. There are also the weapons which provide even more fun to destroy like the Barbarian Hammer that can let out souls with the right Analog Stick and the Spear of Destiny which can send your enemies airborne with a certain strike. Of course, in order to unleash their full potential you need to use Red Orbs and like the first game, it's still cool.

What is more interesting this time around is the boss battles and God of War II seriously piles on the boss battles. You will be going up against various legends that will stop you from reaching the Sisters of Fate such as Theseus, the Barbarian King, Perseus, Euryale, Icarus (<- Don't ask me why), the Sisters themselves which are named Atropos, Lakhesis and Clotho and it will all lead up to one nasty final battle against the King of the Gods himself... Zeus. There is also a lot more contact sensitive moments which will require you to be on your toes just like Resident Evil 4 where you need to press certain buttons to move the story, it's basically the same thing and in battles against giant cyclops or minotaurs, it's kind of fun but if you get careless you'll be one step closer to Hades. There's also the camera angle which always gives you a perfect view and that's good which is a cinematic view nonetheless and it gives you a good view of the action when you are using your Blades of Chaos to slice and dice your enemies that want a piece of ya.

Basically, this is what I think. If you thought God of War was gonna give you a challenge well guess what... you are wrong... I am dead fuckin serious. Either way, this game is gonna give you a nightmare when you think about it and... when you make it all the way to the end... you know it is worth it. The only thing I can say is that this game kicks ass! Hell, it's even better than the original but nonetheless, if you can handle spending a few days going through a longer game with a lot of different weapons, bosses that want you dead and a whole lot of secrets that can keep you in the world of the gods... then this is it. God of War 2 is known to be the greatest of all PS2 games and it is a perfect swan song to have it end with a bang.

Graphics: 10.0
Graphics for the game are like the original and make ya feel like you are in the world of Ancient Greece.

Sound: 10.0
The orchestra is incredible and with each song puts you in the right scenario. I also love the opening theme which kicks ass too.

Gameplay: 10.0
Gameplay is simple but sometimes repetitive. Even so, with new weapons, magic and a whole lot of secrets... how can you refuse?

Fun Factor: 10.0
The only thing I can say about this is that this game defies everything on what the PS2 should be about. If you own this game, be grateful you do but if you don't I only have four words to say... get this game NOW!!!