"Who needs anger management? Just buy God of War 2!"

Oh Kratos, only you can make dismembering body parts look so adorable. Okay adorable isn't the word I should use for this bloody action game. This hack and slash action game will consume your soul. Is God of War 2 better than the first game? Read on my friends.

STORY
Taking place a bit after God of War, we find Kratos once again unleashing his vengeance. This time as the new God of War. Because they failed to rid him of his painful memories, Kratos unleashes his wrath on all of Sparta and uses his power to create an ever lasting war. Despite fellow Goddess Athena's warnings, Kratos continues to do whatever he wants. This ultimately leads to the king of gods, Zeus, betraying Kratos and taking his power away from him. He takes his new godly powers away and slays Kratos, casting him into Hades for all eternity. Or so he thought. Now with the aid of the Earth titan Gaia, Kratos is on a new mission. To find the Sisters of Fate and change his past. To Kratos, revenge is a dish best served cold. And that's the game in a nutshell. Of course the story is just as beautifully told as the original, so fans won't be disappointed here.

GRAPHICS
How's the game look? Spectacular. All of the temples and locations that Kratos travels around are simply put: breathtaking. These graphics are on par with what some of the next gen games have been offering. Great lighting effects, beautiful locations, amazing cutscenes, brutal gory violence, and the best part? There's practically no load times at all! Are you kidding me? Every game developer should find out what the guys at Sony are doing cause that's just incredible.

SOUND
And as good as the game looks, it sounds even better. The same actors who provided the voices for Kratos, Athena and the narrator all return and do their spectacular jobs once again. The voice acting is great, and they even got Micheal Clarke Duncan doing a voice this time around. He's been in a lot of games now...but I digress. The music? Once again unbelievable. The music is all orchestral and it rivals the quality of most big epic movies. Seriously, it's so awesome to listen to you'd think you were listening to a Star Wars soundtrack. The music's great, the voice acting's awesome, and all of the sound effects do their job as well. Amazing presentation overall.

GAMEPLAY
But games can't rely on good looks to succeed. They need a good engine under the hood to keep this ride going. So is the game fun? You read my score, of course it is. For those who aren't familiar with the gameplay, to simply put it, it's an action game. You are Kratos, a spartan warrior with unique knives that are held together with chains attached to your wrists. This means you fling these blades in circles and unleash your deadly wrath upon warriors and monsters of the like.

You'll explore temples, solve puzzles, gain new weapons and abilities, kill anything and everything that gets in your way, and fight the occasional boss too. What seems like a simple hack and slash actually has a lotta depth to it. With each enemy you kill, you collect red orbs which are used to upgrade your powers and weapons. Basically that means that you'll never get tired of the combat because not only is the enemy roster big and diverse, you'll be constantly picking up new combos and toys to play with.

And in case you haven't heard, this game is violent. VERY violent. Kratos stabs people, cuts off limbs, rips out eyeballs, he'll do whatever it takes to kill his enemies. So it's best you put the kids to sleep before you play this one. Cause it isn't for kids. Not at all. The way you perform the crazy violent combos like ripping out eyeballs, is to beat your enemy to the point of the giant circle appearing over their head. When you push circle you actually engage in a mini-game of sorts, pressing the buttons that appear on screen while Kratos brutally murders his victim.

If you played the original game, you'll be happy to know that game remains the same with the only changes being the situations Kratos is put in. The controls are still smooth as butter, and the action is non-stop. In fact this game is an impatient person's dream game. You're constantly on the move, and climbing ladders and ceilings and stuff is super fast. This time around Kratos can actually use his blades to swing off hanging ledges, much like Tarzan or Spider-Man or something. The swinging is a fun little addition that makes the game all the more awesome.

And another nice addition is Pegasus. Yes I mean the mythological horse with wings. It becomes a ride for Kratos and you can actually battle in the air at certain parts of the game, and that is just freaking awesome...especially when you see what you can do to the enemy birds. Did I mention this game isn't for kids? The game isn't too long and you should breeze by it in a day or two. But with all of the different difficulties, challenge modes, and extras to unlock, I dare you to play it only once. In my opinion this game far surpasses the original and it's one of the best PS2 games you can play.

IN THE END...
God of War 2 succeeds. I liked God of War, but I found it got repetitive a little. This game never felt repetitive. I had to keep playing more and more. The game looks amazing, it sounds incredible, and it's just ridiculously fun to play. I love this game and I recommend you all buy it. Though judging by the sales of the first game, you will. Amazing game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/07