Whenever discussions of God of War used to come up (I’m talking in the pre-Norse God of War era here, children) one game would almost always come up as the near-unquestioned best – God of War II. Released very late in the PS2’s life cycle – in fact, the PS3 had already been out nearly 4 months by the time God of War II hit store shelves – Santa Monica’s sequel was heralded by players and publications alike as the dependable old PS2’s great swansong, a phenomenal final bow for one of the best game consoles we’d ever had.
God of War II (PS2)
Released Mar 2007 | Developed: Santa Monica | Published: Sony
Genre: Hack and slash | HLTB: 13 hours
We’ve played these games properly out of order for this blog! We’ve already seen the end of Kratos’ first arc as he brings his war against the gods of Olympus to a brutal and bloody end in III, and we’ve seen how his story began when he was tasked with the murder of Ares in the very first game, so I suppose we’d better cover the intervening period as well.
II, then, begins with Kratos having ascended to the role of God of War – there was, after all, an empty throne after Ares’ death at the end of the first game, and Kratos was the best and nearest candidate. However, to Kratos’ disappointment it turns out the job is way more boring than he thought; after a lifetime of bloodshed in the service of the gods, he cannot merely sit in Olympus and receive praise. Just like Ares before him, Kratos’ downfall begins with the siege of a city and a war against the gods.
Our story this time opens with Kratos leading his chosen people, the armies of Sparta, against the city of Rhodes. In defiance of his show of strength, the gods of Olympus band together against him. Tricking him into pouring all of his godly powers into the magical Blade of Oympus, Zeus appears to strike Kratos down and leaves him to die among the massed and smouldering corpses of his Spartans.
Any fan of God of War however knows you can’t simply kill the angriest man in existence. As he sinks to the depths of Hades, Kratos is called back to life by the voice of the Titan Gaia, who charges him with a new quest: to travel to the island of Fate and command the three sisters of Fate to bring the long-imprisoned Titans forward from the moment of their defeat at the hands of Zeus to the present day in order to wage a great war with Kratos at its head. Kratos, buoyed by rage and purpose, pulls himself up from the pits of Hades, returning to life through sheer will and fury, and sets off to change the past.
Already you might be thinking that there’s a lot more going on here than in the first God of War, which was little more than a revenge plot and a tragic backstory. The truth is though that God of War II is all style but very little of it is substantial. Perhaps this is a bit of a controversial opinion about a game often bandied about as one of the best the PS2 ever had, but I’ve always held that God of War II is one of the weakest games in the franchise in terms of its narrative and writing.
There’s a broad school of thinking about God of War’s writing that generally relegates the games to the category of “great to play, but crappy writing”, but I really dispute that, on the whole (and of course it should be noted that this is in regards to the original games, and emphatically not the newest Norse-set titles). Traditionally the first God of War is the only held up as a good example of either plot or character writing, and the rest are a cacophony of “angry man hits god”, shored up by their impeccable combat chops. I don’t actually agree with this fully; I’m of the opinion that there’s actually quite a lot of examples of good writing in the series, specifically (if not solely) for Kratos and that playing the games can be rewarding as you explore more of his grief and guilt.
And yet that can’t really be said for God of War II. This one really is as shallow as you’d think and replaying it now only hammered that home for me, frankly. Kratos cuts a fabulously one-dimensional character in II as he leans fully into his persona as a mere avatar of anger and aggression. At no point does he react to anything before him with anything shy of pure rage, screaming challenges and promising death at literally anyone and everyone who has the misfortune to come within eyeshot of him. None of his supporting characters act any differently either, whether that’s Zeus unleashing a sudden beatdown on our protagonist or indeed any of the classic Grecian heroes like Theseus or Perseus who show up as bosses here; every single one of them launches at Kratos without so much as a “hello”, so one can only assume the water in ancient mythological Greece was about 75% testosterone.
So, the dialogue is a load of bunk, and the plot’s not much better. That’s fine; at this point God of War II feels more like a summer blockbuster movie than anything else, liberated from the need to have strong writing and instead riding on the sheer exhilaration of events. And what events they are! The first God of War sent us traipsing around some cool places but there wasn’t a huge variety between the brown and grey stones of Athens, the brown sands of the desert, the grey stones of Olympus, and the brown and grey slabs of Pandora’s temple. God of War II, on the other hand, seems to have taken that as a personal slight and sends us to some wonderfully varied locations. Our opening takes place in Rhodes, here presented as a stepped city, but before too long we wind up in twisting icy caverns built around the body of a Titan, stagnant bogs, sombre hanging forests, and, of course, vast labyrinthine temples laden with death-traps galore.
On a fairly fundamental level, the combat in God of War II is essentially the same as its predecessor, but if you’ve played II then you’ll know that doesn’t really do it justice. I know the combat mechanics were already fluid and responsive in God of War but somehow the developers managed to find a way to smooth things out even further and as a result I think God of War II might be among the very best hack-and-slash games to actually enjoy playing out there.
So, just as before, Kratos steps out into mobs of enemies armed with his signature blades, two jagged chunks of metal that are wreathed in fire and attached to his forearms by magical extend-o-chains. These get whirled around in balletic, sinuous patterns, carving through groups of mooks with ease. Kratos can switch between sweeping light attacks and more focused heavy attacks with just a button press, and both can often be comboed together to form a plethora of different attack chains, many of which end with huge explosive finishers accompanied by some glorious bullet time to really savour the moment. Weaker enemies can be grabbed and kicked around or torn apart by hand, but stronger and bigger foes need to have their health whittled down first before you can engage in some quick-time event fuelled cinematic kills.
Kratos also gets a range of new spells to wield since he poured all his old magic into the sword Zeus uses to kill him at the start of the game. This time though his spells are boons granted by the Titans, so they at least look a bit different and snazzy, although they do ultimately fit into the same 4 general categories as his magic in the first game: stone beam, quick ranged attack, combo multiplier, and big splashy AoE. Whereas in the first game I found I alternated a lot between the ranged attack (a lightning bolt courtesy of Zeus) and the AoE (a storm called down by Poseidon), I found the mobs in God of War II were much easier to deal with by using Cronos’ spell, a ball of electricity that constantly zaps everything nearby, and I wound up using it every chance I got just to eke out a few more red orbs to pour into upgrades.
A new touch for II this time around is the inclusion of alternate weaponry for Kratos. As you progress through the game you’ll pick up a couple of new options for melee combat in the form of both a massive spiked hammer and a spear that glows with an unearthly light (there’s actually another weapon as well, but it’s a new game+ bonus although that doesn’t stop it from coming with a full upgrade path!). These add a bit more depth to the combat by giving you new options as you fight. The spear, for example, seems to be weaker than the blades but racks up hits very quickly, while the hammer is slow and ponderous but few things survive more than a hit or two from it. I also love that both of these affect Kratos’ ability to dodge; the spear is a bit more awkward than his blades so he opts for a crab-like leap instead of a dodge roll, while the hammer is far too bulky to even try and evade and instead flicking the right stick causes souls to emerge from the hammer and swirl around Kratos for a few extra hits.
You also get a bevy of new tools and toys to work with as Kratos journeys to the island of Fate. While you never really get as much use out of it as you do in the first game, Kratos miraculously doesn’t chuck away stuff like the trident that lets him breathe underwater so you always have that ability; I don’t know about you but I genuinely love it when the protagonist doesn’t forget their bag of holding filled with previously-learned tricks. Some of the standouts that God of War II adds to Kratos’ stash are the Golden Fleece, a full-arm bracer that improves his parry into also reflecting projectiles, the wings of Icarus to add a gliding Kratos bearing down on you to the list of the universe’s most terrifying sights, and an amulet that lets him slow down time in very short and localised bursts.
All of these add up to make a game that feels absolutely wonderful to play. Kratos might have denigrated into a snarling caricature of himself (especially when his actions in this game include crushing an old man’s head into a stone book for the crime of translating some text that Kratos wanted him to translate – twice!) but the gameplay more than fills the void left by the retreating narrative. This is, I think, what earned God of War II its monumental praise when it was released and I think it more than keeps the game feeling extremely enjoyable even today.
6/7 – EXCELLENT.
Games with a touch of brilliance. It might only just miss out on being an absolute favourite, but you should definitely play this.
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