So thus far the God of War series is proving to be one of those series where the games get better with a new release. Case in point, God of War. This game takes place after the first obviously and Kratos is already having issues with the rest of the Gods. He has turned his back on them, though he is now a God, because they would not remove the pain of the memories of his past. In short, he's really pissed that he still has nightmares about his wife and children. The game goes on from there and the story unfolds eventually into something that opens the door for the 3rd and final game...and what an ending it is.
Now I'm not going to take too much time going over things like the last review. You know what God of War is by now. Hack and slash, magic powers, etc. There are 3 weapons this time around instead of 2, but I find myself not really liking the extra weapons. I guess they're kind of useful when you want something a little more powerful, but they just don't stack up to the chains. It probably also helps that this time around, I immediately spent all points towards the chains so that I could make them really powerful. I'd recommend this; obviously you use these more than anything else. As for these extra weapons you get an annoyingly slow hammer and and bo-staff kind of thing that is powerful. I used them both now and again, but they simply aren't as useful as the chains. In one on one battles they have their place as they are more powerful, but ouside of that, they're not particularly helpful.
A most of the magic powers are kind of rethinkings of the original powers. Instead of hurling lightning bolts, you get a bow and arrow. Instead of Poseiden's Rage, you get a move that throws up balls of lightning in the air that attack a couple enemies around it. There's a REALLY bad ass earthquake move that you get eventually. This move sort of replaces Poseiden's Rage in terms of sheer ridiculous power. You can take people out with this thing and man is it fun to use. Once you've upgraded it a couple times, you can hammer the circle button to send rocks flying everywhere. You also end up killing another Gorgon and they didn't even attempt to change this move up. Same move progression with upgrades, same effects. That's fine though; if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?
I am also quite happy to report that all the previous gameplay issues (i.e. THE GIANT ROTATING TOWER OF DEATH), have been addressed. They must have seen people freaking out all over the internet about the level in Tatarus and actually, as crazy as this sounds, listened. Take note of that, BUNGIE, we don't like playing the library over and over again in every goddamn Halo game. Take note of that the rest of you developers that make me do mundane shit over and over again in every sequel you make no matter how much you KNOW that it pisses me off. It's rare to see a game developer take something to heart so quickly. On the other hand, I think that kinda stuff slipped through because they didn't play test it enough. It's funny because I was reading a preview on God of War 3 and the developers were joking with Game Informer about how obnoxious the whole Tartarus level was and that when you go back again this time, there won't be any spinning blades. That's right there won't be. I will drive to your headquarters and shove the game...well...you get the point. No one liked that part and someone there should be kicked in the teeth for being sadistic enough to put it in. All the annoying things from the first game are gone, for the most part. The platforming took on a more fun turn. It really did. There is still a little plank walking here and there, but I can definitely see they saw us all go “Alright, enough already!” and scaled it back a bit. I also found some of the puzzles were a little more elaborate as well. Some of them took me a bit of time to figure out. Of course that may also be because I'm quite unobservant. That being said, the game was nearly perfect in this respect as far as the platforming type gameplay is concerned. Thank you Sony. Thank you for not making me want to throw my controller through my TV again. I appreciate it and I know my TV does too.
Again the graphics get another bump. You definitely notice the difference. This game looks amazing for a PS2 game and it should. They released it like right before the PS3. If you want there's also a special hidden HD mode (hold L1, L2, L3, Square, Circle and you'll see a pink screen at one point) and it doesn't do a HUGE amount of stuff, but it definitely makes text and things a lot less jaggy. Basically this game is just pretty. I really can't wait to see God of War 3. That game is going to be gorgeous. I'll also note there was hardly any slowdowns and load times were quite short (mostly nonexistant...god I love this game) just like the last game. The fact they managed that and it looks THIS awesome is pretty impressive.
So, what is the final verdict? Nearly perfect game. Only gripe I honestly have is that those extra weapons were worthless and quite honestly, I can't be bothered to do the bonus content. It's not worth the ridiculous amount of time I'd have to spend going through God mode. That honestly doesn't matter that much though as far as I'm concered...so the final verdict...
Rating:
A+
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