God of War II Complete

Well folks, I finished up God of War II a few days ago. I wanted to take a couple days to digest the game, the ending and everything else before writing about it….but all in all it took me about 8 days of casual gameplay (no 5 hour marathons) to beat it. So here is my end analysis of the overall GREAT title:

- Moves, magic, environments, OH MY: SCEA looks like they listened to their consumers when adding in things like Typhon’s Bane (a magic bow and arrow) because it was useful and necessary to beat the game…unlike Zues’ Fury in the first installment. Running around the Island of the Fates was incredible…far less “dark” than the first game’s scenary by a longshot. Also, the addition of some other magic moves, (one pictured below) were a refreshing change from the first game.

- Puzzles Galore: The puzzles involved in GOWII were simply uncomparable to the first title. While I loved running around constantly mawling and maming the “bad guys” in the first game, the puzzles left a bit to be desired. Let’s see now, what was a puzzle in the first one? Oh yes, blood sacrifice for Hades….no no…that’s still fighting. Wait, I got it….blood sacrifice (by burning) for Poseiden….damn, still just fighting. Perhaps murdering the “3 Sirens” to find my way through the Desert Sands…..GRRRR still freaking fighting. Come to think of it, there really weren’t many non-blood puzzles in the first game.God of War II, however, was chock FULL of amazingly interesting puzzles. Kratos was often left scratching his head as he had to figure out how to jump over enormously high fences with the use of his wings (“borrowed” from Iccarus, not my favorite part of the game), slow down time with a magic amulet to ascend a set of stairs before times runs out or figuring out how to free the Steeds of Time (4 horses chained together and blinded). Now THOSE were fun!

- Get a GRIP!: SCEA finally found a way to include a grappling hook without it being too much of a center point, while still making it fun. Kratos is now able to fling himself here and there as long as a grapple point is available. In fact, one entire scene consists of Kratos bouncing between grapple points as a massive ruins…well becomes totally ruined.

- World’s Best Boss: No not that kind of boss. Gamers were quick to point out after God of War one, that the game simply didn’t have enough bosses (how awesome was the giant Minotaur though?). While I personally didn’t mind, I did notice a slight monotony that came with the killing droves of orcs. But MAN did SCEA turn it up in GOWII, though. From the moment you start playing the game (like literally 5 mins into the game), you’re already hitting the mattresses with the Gods of Olympus. I really did enjoy most of the bosses in the game, but could’ve done without some of the more awkwardly placed ones, such as the random stone things that just spun around…they didn’t really do it for me. All in all, the boss’ were fantastic. Clever, challenging and fun (not a whole lot can be more gratifying than figuring out how to beat the sisters).

- It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye: Alas it had to happen, at some point I was going to beat the game. I was a little disappointed to see how short the game was, though. This is the only point of serious contention that I have with the game. I expected this to take a good 20-30 hours for me to beat…not 18. I know some guys who tackled this in less than that. Internet guides/walkthroughs were already up only 5-6 hours after the game was released. SCEA…take all the time you need…but in the third and final installment…let’s make it lengthy.

In the end, I have to give this title a 9 out of 10. I was tempted to give it an 8.5, but it really is too fun to slap in the face like that. If the game length had been a bit longer and the bosses had been less awkwardly placed…I would’ve likely hit ‘em with a 9.5 or higher.In my sadness following the completion of the game, I decided it was best to start it again. Pick up some of the missed extras, try to max out my weapons and power a bit more, etc etc. So yes, back to work with Kratos I go. Soon I’ll be turning my attention to either Super Paper Mario or the new Prince of Persia…whichever grabs me.

Until then…fare thee well…

~ by eastcoastboy on March 24, 2007.