PS2 impressions: God of War 2

by Adams Briscoe { May 10th 2006 at 3:30PM }

I scored some great hands on time with God of War 2, the sequel to one of the best games of 2005. It's hard not to have some expectations after initially picking up the controller, but like all things Kratos, the demo of God of War 2 delivered. Read on to get a short taste of how the warrior holds up.

Returning with all the carnage you would expect, God of War 2 boasts all of those wicked combos and gory moves that the first was famous for. The entire look and feel hasn't changed much, but PS2 owners will appreciate the attention to detail and continued support.

The demo starts out by giving the user a chance to take Kratos through the motions all over again, ripping through baddies and getting a feel for the combat system. If you've played the first one, you know what that's all about. Considering the acclaim that GoW got, more of the same isn't a bad thing here.

Double jumping through the levels and slicing up enemies is as gratifying as ever. There's no shortage of "find the key, unlock the door" routines though. Anyone that played through the first one knows how important puzzle-solving is to the title, so expect a healthy dose of it. There aren't a whole lot of innovations here, but then again, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Tags: E3, E32006, god of war, sony, playstation, ps2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Pip @ May 10th 2006 3:37PM

Not sure why the first God of War was so popular. It looked good, and played good, but the game was just a button mashing action game. It felt like Bad Dudes, but worse.

I guess I just got tired of beat em ups after Altered Beast. Pretty game, tho.

erik @ May 10th 2006 3:40PM

With a complete rip-off of a weapon....where have I have that style of game before but much better?
SOUL REAVER!!!

Kevin @ May 10th 2006 3:43PM

I think part of the reason the first one was so popular was because Mythology is a relatively untapped genre. I know I don't have any other games in my house that are mythology-based. It may have been a simple formula, but it was extremely fun.

I have the original God of War, and I can't wait for the second one.

Chuck Norris @ May 10th 2006 3:44PM

Pip, I kinda agree with you.. I played the game and it was fun but anything innovative at all... but I did had some fun playing the game.

I guess the reason everybody was excited about the GoW 1 was because of its presentation? PS2 finally got the game that game graphics were the same as what was on the ads? I remember playing final fantasy seriese where these games have spectacular cinematic scenes but then the actual game screen was like from Super Nintendo Era...

Well, I don't own GoW 1 but I think I might buy GoW 2.

Eric @ May 10th 2006 3:44PM

Ugh...I thought he was the freakin GOD of WAR now...
Since when do GODS get caught up with finding frickin keys?! What kind of powerless gods do they have in this frickin game? Do they have gods that have trouble whiping their asses and adding 2+2 as well??!

Lame...

KilgoreTrout XL @ May 10th 2006 3:44PM

I'm a Xbox fan myself, but man, I had a lot of facking fun with my roommate's PS2 and God of War. That was a great game.

lizardkng @ May 10th 2006 3:45PM

Any place where we can pick up the trailer online?

David @ May 10th 2006 3:46PM

Yeah...

It was not very hard,
it was not the greatest graphics,
it did not have very many options as far as weapons go,
not much in terms of items either,
bosses were very few, it was too short,
nothing really innovative,
no multi player,
no online play,
no co-op,
not much strategy,
the puzzles were fairly easy,

but...

It did have one thing...it was FUN AS HELL!!!

...some people miss the point of a good game. It is there to entertain.

TheNuggster @ May 10th 2006 3:52PM

1, 2 and 4

gotta love the MS/Nintendo fanboys. If GoW was exclusive on the box i bet the 3 of you would have giant hard-ons right now.

GoW was and awesome game period

Jappleng @ May 10th 2006 3:52PM

Something to look foward to, only when the price drops to $19.95. I don't want to pay full price for this game. Sorry

The New Revelation @ May 10th 2006 3:53PM

Seriously, I think God Of War was probably the best platform action game of all-time. I've been playing video games sense the Atari, as I'm sure a few of you have been, and I never had so much playing a video game in my life.

How someone can scoff at God Of War is really missing out on something. It took me about 4-6 months before I got around to playing it, I was skeptical, but the game redefined gaming for me... Like Joust and Karate Champ :)

sedaris @ May 10th 2006 3:54PM

Never play GOW, but I've heard enough about it to know that it's a pretty good game.

Here's to hoping the higher ups don't pressure the dev team into implementing their half assed tilt technology.

Gonzo @ May 10th 2006 3:54PM

I'll leap to this game's defense. The first was just a well put together game. It had a great combo of violence, platforming, and puzzles. Sometimes we find a game that can get one of those aspects down but rarely we find one that get's everything right. I thought this was one. Sure the game itself wasn't too tough to finish at first but that challenge of the gods was nigh impossible.

Button mashing violence factory... yes, but at least the presentation is beautiful.

puma @ May 10th 2006 4:15PM

I still believe that Devil May Cry 3 is many times better than God of War. The weapon switching system was incredible and it had a good variety of weapons. I'll probably pick up GoW2 sometime since I already have a PS2, but no PS3 for me in the near future.

TVLover @ May 10th 2006 4:16PM

sedaris...GoW2 is for PS2...no crappy tilt functionality included...thank god....

And for the record, I will be missing this game due to my selling off all things Sony in my house...tired of paying out my nose only to be screwed from the get-go.

sedaris @ May 10th 2006 4:30PM

TVLover... oh, failed to notice. Thanks!

YouWantHowMuchForAPS3?!?!?!? @ May 10th 2006 4:41PM

I avoided owning a PS2 for years and stuck by my xbox. 3 months ago, after playing God of War at a friends house and practically not moving until I finished it, I came home and bought a PS2 just so I could play it again. It's that good. I would say it's the greatest action game every made. I didn't even think the PS2 was capable of graphics like that. Even more impressive than that is the animation, very detailed and imaginative. Incredible boss battles. Awesome story. Not difficult enough for you? Play on God Mode. I cannot recommend GOW enough and I look forward to GOW2 more than any other game...and this is coming from an xbox fan.

SuicideNinja @ May 10th 2006 5:52PM

Once you get past the fun of dismembering the enemies, God of War really got tedious and stopped being fun. That was about 3/4's the way through the game.

The combos didn't really give the player the "I'm a badass" like they do in Ninja Gaiden. GOW never really gave a sense of accomplishment either, except after beating the Minotaur.

I'll still buy GOW2, but I'm not getting it at launch like I did with the original.

Kris @ May 11th 2006 2:00PM

5. Ugh...I thought he was the freakin GOD of WAR now...
Since when do GODS get caught up with finding frickin keys?! What kind of powerless gods do they have in this frickin game? Do they have gods that have trouble whiping their asses and adding 2+2 as well??!

Lame...

...I think you're forgetting that we beat the shit out of Aeris in God of War. In all of Mythology, the gods were just insanely strong humans that never died of natural causes, essentially...that's the only things that made them gods. They aren't the same gods as in other religions like christianity, where they are all powerful. If they were all powerful, then the titans (essentially accursed gods) would have already broken the seals, Hades would have broken the infernal seal, allowing his minions to wage war on lower olympus, and the other gods would never fight wars because none of them would have died.

Rip Fantastic @ May 11th 2006 6:32PM

I just finished GoW 1 and loved it. What I didn't like was not having the ability to adjust the camera angles. Does the second one have that function? Do you start with Athena's blades or any of the other magic and weapons?

Herman Allen @ May 12th 2006 10:36AM

i personally loved GoW and cannot wait for the sequel. As long as the game is fun, who cares what it does not have. Not all games were meant to be online. I sure wish Halo 2 had not been, and had stuck to its single player roots or had at least been co-op online. Sorry, got off topic. Cannot wait for Gow on the PS3!