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Mar 13, 2007
God of War II is another violent and highly entertaining achievement for the action adventure genre, and it's a fitting closeout to the PlayStation 2 era.
 It's hard to imagine a better swan song for the PlayStation 2 than God of War II. Though it's not destined to be the very last game for the system, it doesn't seem likely that anything else will come along in the coming months to trump what God of War II achieves. As the sequel to 2005's megapopular action adventure set within the basic confines of Greek mythology, it continues the agonizing and rage-fueled odyssey of the world's angriest man-god, Kratos, as he goes on another epic vengeance bender. It's an altogether familiar adventure in many ways, with a lot of gameplay mechanics held over that haven't necessarily been improved in any meaningful capacity, but that's not to suggest the game isn't better overall. God of War II is a brilliantly paced, tightly crafted piece of work that's as intelligently designed as it is thrilling to play. In short, it's exactly what you would want from a sequel to God of War.
God of War II picks up not terribly long after the original game's end (meaning if you haven't played the first game, you ought to before checking this one out, both for story continuity purposes, and because God of War is awesome), with Kratos having exacted his revenge upon the previous god of war, Ares, and assumed his role on Mount Olympus. But even with all these newfangled godly powers, Kratos is unsatisfied. He continues to command the Spartan army and directs them to tear through the known world, conquering city after city. This utter disregard for the other citizens of Greece displeases the pantheon, and Kratos suddenly finds himself on the outs with the Olympians. Betrayed by Athena and seemingly killed by Zeus, Kratos is rescued by Gaia of the Titans, the old race that the gods felled to eventually take power on Olympus. Gaia instructs Kratos that his fate can be changed, but only if he can reach the ridiculously remote temple that houses the Sisters of Fate. What follows is an epic and daunting journey that has Kratos suffering through trials that make his last outing seem like a lighthearted romp in comparison.
It's an interesting tale that God of War II tells, almost more so because so much of it is about what happens around Kratos, rather than Kratos himself. The game spends long stretches focusing on the myths and legends that surround the battles between the gods and the Titans, setting up backstory for the mess that Kratos has gotten himself involved in. In this regard, there's a bit less of an emotional connection to this game. You don't have any of those moments of personal horror as you did in the first game concerning Kratos and his savage past that led him astray--but that's OK. This isn't exactly a game that requires emotional storytelling to get by. God of War II is much more about the journey, the mythos, and the desire to just kill anything that comes within a step of your path.
Fortunately, the game gives you plenty to kill and makes it plenty fun to do so. Apart from the usual array of Cyclopes, minotaurs, and zombie warriors, there's a whole host of new characters to fight, not the least of which are several recognizable figures from Greek mythology, such as Icarus, Perseus (voiced by, of all people, Clash of the Titans' Harry Hamlin), and big-daddy Olympus himself, Zeus. Mind you, the God of War universe doesn't treat the mythology on which it's based with much regard for accuracy. This is basically Greek fan fiction, with the only real goal being to bring together as many characters from Greek mythology as possible and then provide fun ways to kill all of them. On this front, the game doesn't disappoint.
You could easily call God of War II a significantly more brutal game than the last. Though the core combat engine hasn't changed a lick, the action itself feels even more hysterically violent than before. Many of the goriest moves continue to come from context-sensitive button-pressing minigames. Larger, more powerful enemies can often be killed in some completely awesome way by wearing them down until a button icon appears above their head. From there, you press the buttons that pop up onscreen, and Kratos will, for example, yank the eye out of the head of a Cyclops or twist off the head of a medusa like a pop-top, among others. Many of the final blows delivered to the game's bosses follow the same type of formula, and not only are there more of them than in the last game, but they're even more fun to kill as well. The whole game is basically a giggle fest for violence junkies. If you aren't hooting, hollering, or standing up and slow clapping after each elaborate and barbarous kill, you've officially invested yourself in the wrong game. 
With all that said, it's a bit disappointing that more wasn't done to the combat engine this time around. Kratos still looks extremely hardcore as he whips his dual blades around in every direction and murders everything in sight, but at its core, the combat feels pretty much identical to the last game, in that it's prone to button mashing and can be easygoing. That's not to suggest that the enemy fights are breezy, as there are some legitimately tough fights scattered all throughout the game, but there are times where you'll find yourself pining for a bit more depth to the combo system as you hammer on the attack buttons and find yourself making solid progress without much thought or care. Granted, that's only on the bottom two difficulty levels, and you'll more than likely find yourself in grave shape if you try that technique on the higher levels. But then again, most people won't want to put up with the fully sadistic nature of the higher difficulty levels for very long, so that's a bit of a double-edged sword, so to speak.
You do get some new combat abilities in God of War II, including new magic and weapons. Some of these are excellent, such as the earthquake magic that sends everything on the ground flying into the air and large chunks of rock flying every which way, or the giant hammer weapon that's agonizingly slow but delivers incredible damage. But like the original game, God of War II has a bit of trouble making some of these weapons and abilities consistently useful. Each time you earn a new magic, the older magic becomes irrelevant, and some magic, such as the medusa head that turns enemies to stone, is only useful for very specific segments of the game, which are pretty plainly called out. Weapons suffer from a similar fate. While they all do solid damage (especially if you upgrade them), the default dual blades that Kratos rocks from the get-go are just better all-purpose weapons and tend to be easier to use against most enemies. The one addition of real significance is a pair of flying sequences, where you board one of a couple of types of winged creatures and fly to your next destination on rails, while enemies fly in and try to kill you. These sequences don't involve much beyond swiping at bad guys that get close, periodically dash attacking them, and doing more contextual moves, but they're a nice distraction from the standard action. It's just a pity there's only two of these sequences.
While the combat hasn't seen much alteration in the years since the first game, the level designs absolutely have, and for the better. As well paced as God of War was, God of War II is paced immaculately. Every puzzle, every enemy encounter, and every little piece of the game's action feels like it's in the right place. The puzzle designs themselves are even better than the last game, staying tricky while not getting overly labyrinthine just for the sake of causing a headache. The basic puzzle designs haven't changed much, requiring a lot of lever pulling and switch hitting, but you do get some new twists now and again, such as the areas where you have to pick up random corpses and otherwise incapacitated warriors and use them as weights for switches or mangle their bodies in some horrifically bloody way to keep going. At times the puzzle goals feel arbitrary, but as you do spend the bulk of the game navigating this completely insane maze of an island trying to reach a seemingly unreachable temple, it makes sense that a few of the puzzles would just be there to mess with you.
Even the platforming sections feel tighter and more refined in this game. Suffice it to say, there's nothing like those cursed Hades blades from the last game in this one. There's even a new mechanic in the form of swing points that Kratos can latch onto with his blades. You simply jump up near one and press the R1 button to attach, and then hold that button down to swing. There are some really neat sequences in the game that involve this mechanic, and it's a welcome addition all around.
By the end of God of War II's 12 to 15 hour journey, you'll find yourself a mixture of exhausted, overjoyed, and a bit frustrated. You'll only be frustrated in the sense that the game doesn't wrap things up in an especially neat fashion and leaves you hanging for the inevitable next sequel. Again though, that the quality of the adventure is so high makes up for this one indiscretion. Once you're done with the game, there are the harder difficulty levels to attack, as well as a few bonus challenge modes that really aren't all that great. However, there's a bonus DVD that includes a number of neat behind-the-scenes features that give you some intriguing looks into the making of the game. There's no one feature that really stands out like the lost-levels feature in the last game (there's a version of that here, though it's not quite as deep or interesting), but there's a lot of interesting insight to be had overall.
 On the presentation front, God of War II easily matches its predecessor and even surpasses it on several levels. This is another breathtaking game filled with superb art design and immense environments. No joke, the scale of God of War II is really something to behold. It seems like every new area you enter is backgrounded by yet another gigantic structure that you have to trek to, and when you finally get there, the sheer size of it seems even more insurmountable than it did from a distance. It's awe-inspiring stuff, to be sure. That the technical graphics are just as impressive is really saying something. As PlayStation 2 games go, this is one of the most attractive you'll encounter, especially if you run the game in progressive scan and widescreen modes. The character models are equal parts gorgeous and grotesque, the environments are incredible to look at (even when they're not gigantic), and everything runs and animates without a hitch. The fixed-view camera work is once again top notch, almost never giving you any problems during combat and doing a fantastic job of framing the action. The only real visual problem the game has is that you'll see a frequent amount of screen tearing as you run around and force the camera to move quickly. It's not horrible or anything, but it's there often enough to notice.
The audio is just about as fantastic as the original God of War's. Once again, the highlight is the soundtrack, which is the perfect blend of fast, intense orchestral work and soft, sometimes unsettling pieces. It's even more impressive that the music blends so nicely with the action. The choral singing ramps up as each moment of excitement transpires, and then things return to normal almost seamlessly afterward. The voice acting is also all-around excellent, though it's not quite as enjoyable as it was in the last game. Kratos is as gruff and over the top as ever, and some of the supporting performances--such as Linda Hunt as Gaia, the narrator; Hamlin as Perseus; and Corey Burton as Zeus--are top-notch work. On the other hand, a few of the performances feel a bit labored or overwrought. In particular, Michael Clarke Duncan as Atlas feels more wooden than imposing. The voice is right, but his performance is oddly subdued. Still, the few off performances aside, this is another enjoyable voice cast.
You could easily tag God of War II as "more of the same," but while the game definitely feels familiar, there's more to it than just a simple rehash of what made God of War fun. Its tighter, more focused pacing and dedication to creating vast, memorable levels sets it apart from the last game and makes it a better overall experience. Simply put, it's easily one of the best action adventure games of the last console generation, and it even trumps much of what has been shown in the current generation. For fans of the first game, and fans of bloody, violent, exciting action in general, God of War II shouldn't be missed.
God of War 2 Demo Almost Ready
Jan 15, 2007
God of War 2 - Perhaps the PlayStation 2's last hurrah - is almost finished and a demo will be released soon, says director Cory Barlog.
"It will be a NTSC disc that will be sent out to the peeps who responded a while back when I posted about it. Sorry to all who are hoping to get one now, but I am already waaay over the number I originally set out for," Barlog wrote in his blog.
"For the people who are hoping for a PAL demo, I am really, really sorry but with the time frame we have in front of us there just is not enough time to get both a PAL and NTSC demo done. I would love to do that, but I really want to ship this game on time."
It's not all bad though, as according to Sony's latest release schedule we only have to wait until April for more ultra-violent God of War goodness.
God of War 3 Announced
Jul 12, 2006
Among the inner sanctums of game development, David Jaffe is known as something of a paradox--a guy with a knack for both self-deprecating humor and self-promotion. He certainly displayed his dual nature in a post on his personal blog this week, where, after poking gentle fun at himself, he proceeded to talk up his latest project, God of War 2 for the PlayStation 2.
"I can tell you that God of War 2 is shaping up very, very nicely," he boasted in a July 10 post headlined "ESCAPE FROM L.A." "I played a bunch of levels last week and it's really, really fun. The art and music is much better than the first game and there is some damn fine level design going on in the new game. ... This is the second act of a bigger story."
Then Jaffe went on to pique the interest of Kratos groupies everywhere by saying it is looking increasingly likely that there will be a God of War 3. "When you are making a game, you never really know if the game will turn out good enough to merit another one in the series," he said. "But after last week, I can say I am very confident of our chances to be able to complete the God of War trilogy."
Jaffe was quick to qualify his comments by saying, "You never know, but that's me just putting it out there." However, his statement is further indication that a third chapter in the series is being planned, planned, at least by Jaffe. Sony had not commented on its plans for the franchise beyond God of War II, which is currently slated to hit PS2s in February 2007.
God of War II Hands-On
May 10 , 2006
LOS ANGELES--Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few months, you know by now that God of War II is coming in 2007, and it's coming to the PlayStation 2. Many wondered why, exactly, Sony would let one of its biggest new franchises remain a PS2-exclusive months past the launch of the company's brand-new console, the PlayStation 3, but considering the millions of PS2 owners out there who already have systems in hand, it does make some sense. Not to mention that the God of War engine is already done and ready-made for a relatively quick sequel. God of War II is on display at Sony's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006 booth, and featured is a relatively lengthy, very detailed demo that gives a very good indication of what you can expect from the game; namely, much of the same brand of violent, epic action that made the first game so amazing, and a few new twists to boot.
The demo begins with a very short introduction showing the kinda, sorta hero of our story, Kratos, once again descending from some great distance at rapid speed. A bit of voice-over comes on, featuring the voice of the same narrator from the original game. This doesn't last long, however, as Kratos immediately drops in on an in-game level. A bit of exploration reveals this level to be something of a dark, ugly jungle environment, with an ancient temple of some sort taking up the bulk of the real estate. This temple is falling very much apart, and various vines and other forms of plant life strangle the architecture. The main doorway to this area is blocked off by a large stone door equipped with a huge Medusa head that turns you to stone if you get too close. Much of the level design revolves around you trying to reach a nearby platform that seems just too far out of reach. On the platform sits a fleece that can reflect any enemy attack.
In typical God of War fashion, you'll find yourself running back and forth through various corridors, fighting off horrible creatures, solving some intuitive puzzles, and then fighting even more horrible creatures. Like the first game, God of War II seems very much combat driven. Unfortunately, none of the magic attacks or alternate weapons for Kratos were available here, but once again, we were armed with the fabled blades of chaos, the twin blades that are seared via chains to Kratos' arms. Many of the combos looked pretty familiar from the first God of War, but we caught a few new juggling attacks and spins that seemed new to the game. Generally speaking, the combat controls felt just as they did in the first game. That is to say, you can basically get by with mashing on the attack buttons, but to do the best and most devastating combos, you've got to pay a bit of attention to what you're doing.
We ran into a number of new and unique enemies as we went along, as well as a few old favorites. Plenty of the undead soldiers from the original game were around to make for good blade fodder, but we also encountered a new type of skeletal warrior that doesn't exactly die when you think they will. As you attack them, the skeletons will crumble to the ground after a short bit, but after a few seconds of lying prone, they'll reassemble themselves and attack again. You can kill them eventually--it just takes a little while. Another new enemy was a dual-axe wielding, pig-looking demon creature...thing. Seriously, we have no idea exactly what these things were, but by themselves, they weren't much tougher than the average enemy. However, these guys didn't just attack in the usual groups. Every now and again, a massive Cyclops would rear his exceedingly ugly head, and when it would, one of these pudgy little jerks would grab it, sink an axe into its arm and another into its shoulder, and basically hack its way up the creature and then sink both axes into its shoulder blade, using its weapons to steer the Cyclops.
These Cyclops riders could be taken down via the type of contextual rhythm-game attacks found for larger enemies in the first game. After you do enough damage, you simply had to press the circle button, and Kratos would use his blades to grab onto the rider, then by mashing on the same button, you'd yank the rider off. Killing the Cyclops required yet another contextual attack, and in it, you'd essentially climb up the thing, sink your blades right into its eye, and yank it out, killing it. Brutal, no? That's not even the half of it. During our time with the demo, we ripped plenty of undead soldiers literally in half, snapped necks, sliced off arms to beat the former owners with them, and even went up against a three-headed beast, whose heads we promptly yanked off one by one by one.
Ah, but it's certainly not all about wanton violence in God of War II--well, actually, it sort of is, since even the puzzle-solving elements of the game seem to take on a similarly violent tone. One puzzle of note presented us with a room with three locked gates and two switches, one of which was behind a gate. A single corpse lay in the middle of the room, and a ladder leading to a lever sat nearby. Using the first corpse to act as a weight to hold down the first switch, we opened the second gate, which led us to the other button. But alas, without another corpse to situate on this button, we could not hold the exit gate open long enough. But then there's that lever--pulling it revealed the aforementioned three-headed beast, but once that thing was dispatched, another corpse sat behind it. You can basically figure out the rest from there.
Also, there were a lot of really good random moments during the course of our demo. We ran into a sub-boss of sorts at one point, with a gigantic pile of rocks blocking our path. After getting close to inspect the rocks, the thing suddenly (and we mean very suddenly) leapt to life, taking the form of a gigantic stone Minotaur. Similar to the Minotaur boss in the first game, this one was huge and required some contextual button presses to finally kill, but after leaping around all over his huge, stone body and finally sinking our blades into his chest, we found ourselves immensely satisfied. Perhaps the coolest moment of all was the revelation of how exactly we would get ourselves to the fleece. After drop-kicking a weighted box down a considerable distance, we leapt down and found ourselves on a platform that tilted in either direction, depending on where you stood on it. By moving the weights over to the ledge facing the platform where the fleece sat (guarded by a vile pit of bubbling, gross liquid), the thing tilted over, revealing a ledge on the other side that we could grab onto. A bit of button-mashing later, and Kratos lifted the whole platform up and sent it crashing into the pit, giving us a section to leap over. Once we grabbed the fleece and used it to reflect the Medusa door's attack, we busted in to find a seemingly innocuous looking book sitting on a pedestal. Immediately after inspecting it, a gigantic Medusa (uglier than ever before) bursts in and shrieks a horrible scream. And then...the demo ended. Talk about a cliff-hanger.
The basic conclusion to take away from the God of War II E3 2006 demo is that Sony is making a sequel that will be immediately accessible to anyone who played the original game, as it retains many of the gameplay qualities of the first game, as well as the same sort of epic aesthetic presentation and mean-spirited tone. We had a blast playing through the level on display and are vastly looking forward to more opportunities to check out more of the game between now and the game's February release date. You can bet we'll bring you more on the game soon.
Sony shows off its sequel to the acclaimed, mythological PlayStation 2 action game.
Apr 24, 2006
Given the critical and commercial success that God of War enjoyed last year, it's something of a no-brainer to assume that a sequel would be on the horizon. Following Sony's official announcement of the title last month, the publisher had a press event in Los Angeles earlier this month to show off the follow-up to the cracking original title. Today we bring you the first of two impressions from that event, which offers an overview of the game's development and some early info on what to expect. In early May, we'll bring impressions from a demo of the game in action.
The press event opened with David Jaffe, now creative director of Sony's Santa Monica studio, who brought those in attendance up to speed on the particulars of the first game and how the team set out to create a sequel for it. Jaffe noted that over the course of making the original game, the development process was almost as much about figuring out what the game should be, the team dynamics, and the overall mechanics as it was about making the actual game. As such, by the time the Santa Monica team wrapped up work on the original title, they all felt as though they finally had everything figured out on how to make the game.
Obviously, despite the team's obsessing over aspects of the game it didn't feel were perfect, the original God of War did alright for itself. When talk turned to the sequel, there were a number of logistical issues to iron out. The most significant was Jaffe's promotion to creative director of the Santa Monica studio, which left the director position on God of War II open. After a period of time where the idea of finding someone else in the industry and bringing them in to fill the position was entertained, the decision was made to go with Cory Barlog, lead animator on the first game. With a director in place, work began on the game in earnest so as to make use of its hard-earned experience and include elements that didn't make it into the original game.
In approaching the sequel, the team is aiming to avoid the sophomore jinx by making the game a proper follow-up to the original God of War, and the story picks up where the original left off. Kratos, a newly minted god, will be dealing with his new stature in life and the headaches that come with it. Unlike American Idol winners, the life of a new god, especially one in the Greek pantheon, isn't a whirlwind of photo opportunities and public appearances. As anyone who has read Greek mythology can tell you, a god's life on Olympus is surprisingly close to the later episodes of Survivor, where everyone is trying to figure out how to jack everyone around them. Though this way of life doesn't do much to help Kratos find the peace that's eluded him in his life, it does make for a meaty game premise. While the entire story hasn't been revealed yet, what has been revealed so far is that Kratos finds himself on a quest to change his destiny, which will send him on a butt-kicking spree across land, sea, and air. And based on the trailer that's been released, it will involve a whole lot of killing.
The gameplay will take the same approach as the game's story and build off of the original-game's mechanics by including new ways to murder your foes, as well as all-new mechanics such as the flying levels seen in the trailer. Look for more on God of War II May 9, when we'll bring you impressions of the impressive game in motion, followed by our Electronic Entertainment Expo coverage later in the week. God of War II is currently slated to ship in February 2007, for the PlayStation 2.
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