3.5/5 ★ – stk_kreations's review of God of War II.

[This review contains spoilers] Another enjoyable experience of gutting and dismembering Kratos' enemies on his journey to destroy a God. Kratos is the new God of War (attained at the end of the first game), but the other Gods aren't too pleased that he killed their brother...in vengeance of events unfolded by his own hand, really... So, Zeus decides it's high time to put an end to this mortal-made-God, and thus the new journey begins...with the Blade of Olympus being ripped through Kratos. There's still some who support Kratos and one such being helps him return so he can search out the Sisters of Fate and rewind time to before Zeus' betrayal. ::::: I have to say, after watching the preview/promo stuff included on-disc before beginning this game, I was highly disappointed that Kratos' brother was not mentioned once. There's one video that is dedicated to talking about this brother and his hatred for Kratos. But, no brother. sigh Aside from that this was another great entry in the series. Gameplay is the same as the first, so there's an easy transition from game to game. Only a couple glitches, as opposed to GoW1 being riddled with them. Cutscenes are again gloriously done and really bring you into the story while watching. The magic is a bit better this time around, though I still never used the Medusa-type spell. You receive your spells from the Titans this time, rather than the Gods from the first game. Poseidon's Rage has been replaced by a lesser version -- I much preferred the former. The projectile spell this time is a magical bow, so that's really cool. Then there's a earth-shaking spell that's a great crowd controller. There's cooler sub-weapons this time, including a giant warhammer that belonged to the barbarian leader from the war that led to Kratos selling his soul to Aries. The other is a double-headed spear, but it's quite useless. Actually, compared to the Blades of Chaos, all the sub-weapons are useless. On the Blades, there's some really cool 'auto' combos you get by upgrading. These are the strongest combos, yet all you have to do is hit two buttons. The only downside is once you execute one there's no backing out, so often times your enemy will just counterattack as if you're just standing there. The wings of Icarus are awesome. The Pegasus interlude moments are irritating. There's a lot of chests you can't get to unless you play a second time. There's also a lot of hidden items you can get but they're only accessible if you play a second time. Sorry but, unless it's an rpg with loads of extras I'm likely to never replay this type of game just for a few items. Like the first game, there's plenty of "Are you freakin' kidding me?!" moments when the YOU DIED pops up on the screen. But luckily it doesn't take away from the fun. At one point a Kraken just pops up outta nowhere and you have to fight that monster. That was oddly thrown in there just to be thrown in I think, as there was no setup at all. Soundtrack is superb. The voices can be really low at times and easily drowned out by the music, so I didn't actually hear maybe a quarter of the dialogue. Think that's about it. Great game. Great fun.