Nov 192018
After finishing the original God of War last month, my marathon through the God of War Saga continued with its sequel.
When we last saw Kratos, he’d reluctantly become the new god of war, still plagued by nightmares of his past. War must have given him some measure of solace, though, since God of War II begins with Kratos leading Sparta into battle… and apparently he’s done this sort of thing so much, the other gods have had enough.
Zeus tricks him into surrendering his power and then kills him, but the Titan Gaia saves Kratos and sends him on a quest to gain the power of the Fates so he can travel back and time to the moment before Zeus betrayed him.
Now, the narrative here isn’t as tight as in the original. I praised the original’s story for how much it felt like a Greek tragedy, but the story in God of War II doesn’t have that same focus.
God of War felt like it could fit right in with Greek mythology, while God of War II feels like a retread of the same basic premise (Kratos goes through trials and challenges to obtain a power that will let him kill a god) with a bunch of mythological figures thrown in. Figures from Greek mythology just kept showing up, and while there’s certainly an in-game reason, it felt a bit like they just wanted to make sure you knew this was Greek mythology.
(There’s also a kraken, for some reason.)
On the other hand, the ending was pretty epic and not what I was expecting at all.
Now, in terms of gameplay, I enjoyed God of War II much more. Combat felt smoother and faster, the same basic system but more polished. And while it still had platforming, it didn’t get close to the nightmarish challenges from the first game.
(Oh, and best of all, no more mashing R2!)
There were also many, many more boss fights than in the original.
What surprised me this time was how much time I spent reflecting attacks back at enemies, especially later in the game, which some bosses that pretty much required it. Zelda games are fond of this, but I didn’t expect it in God of War.
Overall, I found God of War II to be stronger in terms of gameplay, but weaker in terms of story.
What do you think about God of War II?
I remember thinking it looked gorgeous when it came out and it felt epic during some parts, but that screenshot tells a different story of the graphics. x’D
It’s always funny to go back and take a look at an old game and realize that its graphics look much, much better in your memory than they do in reality. XD I think the title screen there has an odd effect because of the close-up, though.
It is so weird and funny. I even remember being blown away by FF7’s graphics when that first came out..xD
You’re right, looking at other pictures it’s actually not too bad looking. Not stunning like it was in my memory, but not bad!
I remember my mom showing me FF8’s ballroom scene and telling me she’d heard that soon even gameplay would look as good as that.
Ha ha your mum had a lot of faith in Square, I guess. xD Funny how some PS1 FMV still look really good even now.
Yeah, they held up much better than the in-game graphics.
[…] last time we saw Kratos (chronologically, since Chains of Olympus is a prequel), he’d brought the Titans forward […]