"Perfection has been improved upon, with Kratos looking better than ever."

Wow, just wow. If ever a game has come so close to perfection, it's this one. It has the graphics, the main character, and most of all the fun factor. God of War 2 is so perfectly executed that it spits in the face of other half-done action games. A wonderful combination of button-mashing, odd puzzles, magnificent boss battles, and just a touch of storyline bring God of War 2 to the top of my favourite games list. So, without further adieu, my review of God of War 2.

I just sliced off your Griffin's wings...
The gameplay is just fun, period. Running through levels, racking up orbs, and doing some sweet attack combos has never been more interesting. Maneuvering through these so very well designed levels is as easy as can be. Not only do the simple controls let you wander around levels and stare in amazement at the architecture or a giant Titan sitting in the background, but they allow you to pull off 100+ hit combos with ease. The combat, usually somewhat dull in an action game, has been very well designed. Leveling up different weapons, unlocking new techniques, and acquiring some very unique magic adds to the variety and makes combat different every time. Boss battles are what won me over. Most bosses have multiple forms and a wide array of attacks. After the boss is killed, a special move will most likely need to be performed, by pressing a string of simple button commands. But what your character will do now is amazing. Finishing off a boss battle by slamming his head in a door or cutting off an enemies arm to use his own sword to impale him is always a crowd pleaser. The gameplay is simply stunning.

A shiny new paint-job.
A blend of computer generated cutscenes and game engine created cutscenes tell most of the story here. And while sometimes listening to an off-camera person tell the story may be boring, watching a battle take place in the background is what it's really about. The amount of detail put into the graphics through the game engine sometimes left me wondering if it was actually a computer generated scene. The character models are also wonderfully made. Kratos looked real, as did the sword that just sliced the head off of that life-like soldier. The environments are really make you feel as if the places you visit are real and the lighting only adds more to this effect of realism.

So, where are we going?
Probably the most flawed part of God of War 2 is the story, which at times, seemed almost non- existent. About half way through the game, is realized that I was still doing the same thing as I was at the beginning of the game. Searching for the Sisters of Fate is basically the story, and it may seem boring just going toward the same thing through the whole game. I really think Kratos could have completed his whole journey just by flying his Pegasus-like creature all the way to the sisters. But, alas, he didn't, which is fine. Going from one unique environment to the next is totally cool, because we get little snippets of the story along the way, and find out some useful information. I only wish that the creators would have extended the story to include, I don't know, maybe an end? The cliffhanger ending didn't really suit the game, but I guess that's how you make money.

A masterpiece of instruments.
The music is gorgeous in this game. And it is completely time appropriate as well. A nice Gregorian Chant is all I need from time to time. Epic battle scenes are complimented with beautiful music, and cutscenes are blessed with fantastic voice acting. Voice actors clearly knew what they were doing here, and of course Kratos has the same bad-ass voice over as last time. Not much to say in the sound department, but it was hit right on the spot.

A Next-Gen game, on a very old platform.
This game has all the qualities that I would want on a new Xbox360 game, and it looks like one of them too. The graphics are so ahead of their time, that I was surprised that this game wasn't released(not yet at least) on a next-generation system. God of War 2 kept me wanting to play right until the very climactic end, and maybe a bit more after that. The rewards, or bonuses, at the end are enough to make me play again. Even if you aren't a huge fan of action games, such as myself, you will love this game. Perfection has never been attained so closely as it is with GOW2, and it probably won't be achieved for a long while again. With the end of the PS2 age coming to end, it's nice to see that we still have a few good games for us.

10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/07