God of War II

God of War II
And of Stylish Armor.

Plotline:
After the events of the first God of War, Kratos takes up his rightfully earned throne on Mount Olypmus, dishing out war and mayhem to any that oppose his rule as the true God of War. The other Gods don't take as kindly to his... "MY SPARTANS CONQUER ALL!!!" mentality, and conspire to outcast him back to his own mortality, sapping the powers of the Gods from him. Zeus himself delivers a "helping hand" to Kratos, but can he really be trusted? Better yet, can anyone with a beard tied in braids be trusted? This is a question we should all ask ourselves...

Review:
ALRIGHT. Three, count them, three beat-'em-up games in a row, for yours truly. You all know me. This is like torture, playing the same genre three times in a row. But I suffer through it, my adoring fans. I suffer through it for you. All 8 of you. You really mean that much to me, truly. Absolutely fantastic. *thumbs up*... Seriously though. Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate playing the same genre continuously. It starts to get stale, and causes a slight amount of boredom in my mind, thus making the game harder for me to complete, as it no longer holds my attention as well as the previous games.

I am proud to tell you that this is not one of those cases. God of War II picks up what seems like a few months/possibly years after the first one, where Kratos has decided to unleash hell, and help his Spartan army conquer his enemies. First thing you notice when you start the game is that... Not a whole lot has changed. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The formula for the first game was pretty spot-on, so why fix something that wasn't broken in the first place?

The first thing you'll notice once you get into the game itself, is that the controls have remained solid. Button presses are exact, the controls respond perfectly, and the combat system from the first one is intact. In fact, you start with everything you ended the first game with. Of course, you can't stay that over-powered the entire game, so it's sapped away from you in the first level, thus why you quest the entire game to retrieve your power/exact your revenge. And if there's anyone suited to dish out some God-loathing justice, it's Kratos. I mean, the guy flat out reamed Liam Nee-... Ares. AND THERE IT IS, FOLKS. I use the word "ream", once more. From now on? Kratos doesn't fight. He doesn't attack. He reams. REEEEEEEAM.

Anyway, continuing forward. The new powers in the game are pretty nifty. "Cronos' Rage" sticks out, which replaces the Poseidon magic from the original game. It's essentially a stationary Charged Bolt spell, like you'd find in the Diablo games. Very nifty for large amounts of enemies. And "Medusa's Gaze" has been changed to "The Head of Euryale". What a friggin' buff. This attack was absolutely useless, in GoW, but holy hell, it is absolutely epic this time around. You can charge it, and unleash a DOME of long-lasting petrification. This, coupled with the Blades of Athena, can take out an entire room of enemies in seconds. However, that's the other problem. Aside from the Blade of Olympus in "Bonus Play", after you beat the game, the rest of the weapons you unlock through-out the game, (The Spear of Destiny, and the Barbarian Hammer), are pretty much useless. I used them for the sections you gain them in, and then never again. It's really sad to have such awesome weapon models collecting dust.

The game has bosses. (NO RLY?!?!) However, they're extremely simple, and easily dispatched. The first boss is a pretty fun little fight, as it's multi-tiered. You actually go inside him, at one point, and finish him off from there. But very few boss battles in the game are that intense. The final boss of the game, this time around, is an absolute pushover, even on God Difficulty. My fight with him consisted of... "Cronos' Rage, Cronos' Rage, Cronos' Rage, Rage of the Titans, C-C-C-C-COMBO."... And bam. He was dead. I'm also disappointed to not that there was no equivalent to Pandora's Temple in this game, which made yours truly quite the sad little man. And this sequel suffers more so from the same issue the last one had; Certain battles drag on, and get obscenely boring, especially at the mid-point of the game. You find yourself having memorized all the combos, and just never losing a bit of health or magic, due to Context-Killing all your enemies.

I will state, however, that the context-based kills in this game get pretty damn brutal. One in particular involves a mace-wielding, armored soldier. You dig your blades into his shoulders, flip over his head, and yank. Long story short; decapitation. It's one of those scenes you never get tired of. However, it also refills most of your RotT meter, making the game even easier. It's a mixed bag, really. You start to feel a bit challenged, the game starts getting almost cinematic? And out of nowhere, they throw in some extremely easy moments.

On the graphics side, the game looks just as good as the first. Not the absolute best the PS2 has offered, but awfully close. The upgrades to certain effects, and animations, are welcome. The locales of the game are as beautiful as ever. The level design is spectacular, but sometimes underwhelming in terms of "Why would they design it that way in ancient Greece??". The magic effects, and stylized camera moves during boss fights and context-based attacks are still absolutely top-notch, with one sticking out in particular. A fight at the Palace of the Fates, involving a silhouette of you and your opponent fighting against the backdrop of a stained glass window, from a 2D perspective. It was a top-quality scene, and whoever had the idea of doing it in a 2D perspective deserves a god-damned raise.

Audio is better than ever, with the sound effects ringing out perfectly. Everything makes the sound you'd imagine. From Kratos' Blades, to the minotaur snarl. Even the creepy, almost gag-inducing sound of the Kraken tentacles slurping on a surface. Ambiance in the game is a lot more noticeable this time around. Nature in the background, gears rotating and chains clanking together. Everything is done to great detail. The score for the game is nice, as well. The track that plays during the ascension of Atlas is absolutely golden, in terms of providing atmosphere. You really feel like you're scaling a Titan, as opposed to a brick wall.


Summary:
The game has it's moments. Disappointing boss battles, and sometimes tediously long combat aside? The story manages to entertain, the animation is fluid, and the characters always seem to drag your imagination further in. It's not perfect, but it's worth the purchase. The graphics are good, but not astounding. The level design is fun, but could be better. The audio is as perfect as you could expect, and the "Bonus Play" feature makes subsequent playthroughs more and more enjoyable. If you liked the first game, you'll like this one too.


What the ... :
Gaia. Leader of the Titans. "Mother" of Zeus... HAS MAN BOOBS. I say "man", because her face model is manly, and she has a tree-mullet. Yes. Read that again, if you have to; TREE-MULLET. Also, this one requires absolutely no description: Cod of War.


Story
5

Gameplay
3

Graphics
4

Audio
5

God of War

God of War
Spartan of Fashion!!!

Plotline:
You play Kratos, the ex-leader of a Spartan army. During a battle with some barbarians, he prays to the Gods for power to finish his fight. His prayer is answered by Ares, God of War, in exchange for his everlasting obedience, and the fabled Blades of Chaos are fused to his arms permanently. Shortly thereafter, his family is slaughtered, leaving Kratos on his own, his only remaining purpose to serve the Gods. Ares goes on the warpath, due to Athena gaining Zeus's favor, and begins to rough up her city something wicked. And guess who the Gods expect to stop him?... That's right. Kratos. So you embark upon a journey of danger, excitement, and extremely adorable Cerberus puppies.

Review:
Well, after playing the prequel on the PSP a few days ago, I just could not resist taking the time to blast through this game, as well. As before, I went through on Spartan difficulty, so any issues I may have may be a bit easier to handle with Normal. First, let me start by saying that this game series started off, and if the PSP iteration proved anything, has continued with an amazing control scheme. I mean seriously? The days of missing platform hops, and attack delays? Over. This game is by no means the most amazing on the planet, don't get me wrong. There are some others that reserve that title, in my mind.

*COUGH*Star Ocean 2*COUGH*

Anyway! The control scheme is ridiculously simple to learn, and stays consistent through-out. Never do you find yourself pushing the wrong button to switch to a different magic spell, or messing up a combo. If you START to ream an enemy? You're damn well justified, as Kratos, to finish reaming them. And you'll ream them good. Really, I'm just looking for any excuse to use the word "ream". It's a wonderful way to say... "MESS YOUR FACE UP ROYALLY". So, the controls for the game are great. And unlike the PSP version, never caused me an ache or cramp through the entire sitting. I played this game from beginning to end in about 7-8 hours, on Spartan Mode.

Now, here's the thing you have to understand about this game. The combat? Is great. The story? Fantastic. The enemies? Great designs. But, Sweet Hermes in a Nike Shop, talk about some cheap AI. Enemies patterns are RIDICULOUSLY easy to learn. There were only two enemies in the game that gave me trouble, on a normal basis... The Satyr's, and the Sickle-wielding Legionnaires. Now, the reason these two gave me such trouble? They are the only two re-occuring enemies in the game with random blocking patterns. I tried to find some sort of tell-tale sign of them being TOTALLY open? But it eventually came down to me tricking them into heavy hits to stun them, following up with harder hits to keep them out of the fight. Aside from those two enemies, the rest are damn easy to dispatch. However, here comes my big complaint. Yes, I'm playing a game called "God of War". Yes, I've got blades attached to chains. But why... OH WHY... Are some of these battles so tedious? They aren't even tough. They're just... Long.

Here's an example. One of the bosses you fight (I won't say when, as to prevent spoilers), is a Giant Minotaur. This battle is intimidating as hell, when you start? Until about 30 seconds in, when you realize he only has 4 easily dodgeable attacks, and you have to widdle off his armor through 4 mini-games before actually killing it. This fight takes about 7 minutes, if you do it right. It was just annoying. There are random enemy encounters during levels that just seem to drag on, and on, and on... I didn't think the game would have this issue, but I keep forgetting that Chains of Olympus was the most recent. Combat would sometimes be epic, and seriously enticing. But othertimes, would just bore the hell out of me on the way to my next puzzle. And I won't get into my love for this game's puzzles. I'll say it this way; If I had to rate this games level design, and the enjoyability of it's puzzles alone? It would get a perfect score.

Kratos has got to be one of the best game character in the past few years, exhuming this amazing amount of charisma and power, while still avoiding the stereotypical "Chosen Hero" mind-set. The man has some demons. And we're not talking... "Oops, I forgot to turn the stove off", here. This man has some serious skeletons in his closet. I'm not sure if I mean that literally, actually. Does Kratos have a closet? Does Kratos have a house!? DOES KRATOS EAT?! DOES HE DRINK!? DOES HE EVER SLEEP!? I swear to god. There's a part in the game where the narrator says... "Kratos climbed the rockface to the temple's wall for 3 days."... 3 days. 72 hours. And no mention of... "He stopped to take a nap near a vultures nest.", "He popped a squat around Kronos's head"... NOTHING. The man is a beast. He doesn't slow down, he doesn't give up... Did I mention the 3-foot wide stone spike? Oh, nevermind. You'll find out for yourself.

The bosses, as in Chains of Olympus, are pretty awesome. They're a bit lacking in the numbers department, however. Now that I think about it, there were only about 5 boss battles. 5 of which being near the very end of the game. With one of them being less of a boss battle, and more of an exercise in making you wish you could rip your hair out. You think Kratos is a badass? Yeah. Wait until you're fighting him. Not enough for you? How about 5 of him. Ok... How about 12? That's right. 12 Kratos', coming at you continuously. Whilst you guard NPC's. The final battle itself is fun, but suffers from the same issue the rest of the games enemies have; Pattern. After 30 seconds or so, you know every move in their repertoire. Not to mention, Kratos can somehow manage to block/parry just about anything.

Another small issue I have is with the use of some of your equipment. Two things in particular, actually. The "Medusa's Gaze" spell, and the "Zeus's Fury" spells. Medusa's Gaze is great, early on, and allows you to dispatch bigger enemies quickly. However, it's use dwindles later on, due to the amount of enemies, and if not properly leveled, it's insta-cast freeze ability is out-of-reach. Zeus's Fury is awesome, and your only TRUE ranged attack. But even when leveled to it's maximum, it can't take out an enemy archer with a fully charged bolt, so it falls short of my expectation for the King of the Gods power. There is one amazingly overpowered spell, late in the game. "Army of the Dead". This power saved me the trouble of bashing my head into my desk, during the Kratos Clone-fight. Leveling this spell was the best thing I could have done, to prep for the end.

The graphics were ahead of their time, for the year the game came out. Some of the locales, and the scale, are just phenomenal. Effects on Kratos' blades and powers are absolutely top-notch, and one area of the game in particular makes the game worth the purchase alone. (Pandora's Temple). I never experienced a hint of slowdown, even on my Fat ol' refurbed PS2, and never had a single graphics glitch the whole game. So it does a good job. However, some of the enemy textures could have used a bit of work. The Cyclops, in particular, never actually looked much like a cyclops. More like a troll, or ogre.

The audio is great. Again, the sound track manages to impress, but never invade your senses to the point of tearing you away from the game itself. The sound effects for all the weaponry, spells, and "metal-on-metal" are absolutely superb. Enemies sounds and reaction noises are great, but a few - such as the Harpies and Cerberus Pups - could have used some work. Voice acting is quality, and the narration is absolutely riveting. You never feel like you're watching a movie, or playing a brainless Hack & Slash. The game reached a good balance, with it's gameplay and storytelling.

Summary:
In the end, this is one of those games you'll pick up if you're a fan of the genre. However, I highly recommend it to anyone with a like for a good story, and challenging gamplay. The game truly is one of the shining gems of the PS2, in terms of overall value. Even with it's flaws, the game never fails to impress, or suprise... ("Uhm... Am I in Hell?)... And by the end of the game, you leave without feeling you've wasted a single moment of your time. The graphics are good, the sound quality's nice, the voice acting is terrific. Combat can be a mixed bag. Always responsive, but sometimes gets boring when enemies start showing up en masse.

All in all, a great story, great main character, and wonderful stages and combat system make this game an absolute must-rent, if not a buy.


What the ... :
Alright. Glaringly odd observation here... But am I the ONLY person who noticed that Ares resembles Liam Neeson? I almost wanted him to go Darkman on Kratos. Would have made for one helluva sight.


Story
5

Gameplay
4

Graphics
4

Audio
4

God of War: Chains of Olympus

God of War: Chains of Olympus
Because mythology is only half the battle!


Plotline:
As Kratos, the legendary "Ghost of Sparda", you're charged by the Gods to rescue the Sun-God Helios from the clutches of the Titan Atlus, lest the Gods be put into an eternal slumber, and the world shifts into everlasting darkness. All while conquering Kratos's inner-demons, passion for combat, and his absolute inability to find a snazzier costume. Come on man... A loincloth? What are we, here. Barbarians?


Review:
Alright. Lets start by stating that I'm not too huge on Hack & Slash. I like story in my games. I LOVE story in my games. Even if it's convulted, odd, supernatural stories involving Fire-Ghost Pyro's and Exploding Men covered in bees. Usually, I shy away from any game that has more "Press Square!" than "Speak to..." in it. This was an exception. I was going through my catalog of PSP games, when I came across this. I popped it in to give it a test, as I'd just reformatted my Memory Stick.

The game starts, the story sets up an attack by the Persian army, and BAM. Thrust into battle. I was a bit underwhelmed, until the first boss battle. See, combo's in the game are easy to manage. But they can also be abused. Even on Spartan Mode, I was finding it EXTREMELY easy to interrupt my enemies attacks, and even counter/parry, WITHOUT the skill in my repertoire. That's not to say that isn't nice though, since it's great to have the ability to adapt your own playstyle. Me? I go for cinematic kills, and trying to group enemies into combo-able little messes. It's fun to watch.

The first boss battle rolls around, and you're fighting a Basilisk. This thing is a beast. The pattern was easy to memorize, but the battle itself was what was great. You fight this thing on a bridge, and keep pushing it back with your attacks. Each time you push it back, it spouts a stream of fire you have to dodge. If dodged, you can continue to whail on it/block, and push it further back. Simple boss, but it IS the first boss of the game. After you push it back enough, that's where the real fun begins. It hops on the wall, and you have to make a bee-line for it's leg while it's spouting fireballs like an artillery cannon. Once you get close, you tap the "O" to initiate the most badass thing about this game, the context minigames. (Think Kingdom Hearts 2's Reaction Commands, if you're puzzled.)

I proceed to stab this thing's leg, shove my blades into it, hop off, and then I have to twirl the Analog Nub to YANK it from the wall. When it hits the ground, I then yank an entire chunk of the bridge down on to it's head. You repeat this process a few times, and the final context action occurs. It starts to charge a fireball in it's mouth, so you jump up it's arm, onto it's neck, swing your chain blades around it's neck, and have to start closing it's mouth before it can fire. If successful, it blows it's own head open, and the battle is over. It's these moments that truly make this game stand out. The interactivity in the actual cinematic destruction of a boss. There are some glorious moments. (IE: A sequence involving launching chains to contain a giant). However, there's a non-minigame portion of the final boss battle that seriously feels like a rip-off from the Zelda series. Those of you who've played both will know what I speak of.

The game itself suffers from one glaring issue, however. This game is, for all intents and purposes, a PS2 game on the PSP. As You know, the PSP is about a 3rd of the size of a standard PS2 controller. This, mixed with a button pressing intense game? Leads to your fingers cramping. A lot. I had to take 5 minute breaks every hour or so I played. That's the other glaring flaw. The game is too short. On the Spartan Difficulty, (Which is the second only to God.), I beat the game in under 5 hours. It's way too short. The game sucks you in so greatly with it's combat and story, that when the final battle happens, you're left feeling a bit confused as to if you're supposed to keep playing. It's slightly disappointing, as this would have made an amazing 10-15 hour game.

Next, the Graphics. Like I said. This is essentially a PS2 game on the PSP. The graphics reflect that flawlessly. The cutscenes are on par with Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core's, in area's. The in-game graphics actually EXCEED the former, in terms of smoothness. And the animations for Kratos' attacks are absolutely flawless. When he launches into a combo, all you can think to yourself is "OH SHI-", before he's turned the room into something that resembles the inside of a blender after a "Strawberry Smoothie" binge. One of the simpler combo's, "Rampage of Furies", is so ridiculously intense that you wanna scream like a little girl when you do it on accident, even if it means getting your ass handed to you in the process. We're talking "Super-intense Jump Roping in Middle School" awesome, here. And yes, that's a joke. The move is wicked, though. Graphics wise, there were only a few hiccups I encountered. A SEVERE slowdown in one fight near the end of the game, and some issues with enemies appearing without their "Blazing Hole" entrance showing as well. But these could have just been the PSP reacting to the stress of being played in one continuous burst.

Audio is a mixed bag. The sound effects are nice, and such. But as with most PSP games, the audio quality, expecially during cutscenes, is quite tinny without a pair of earbuds/headphones. Aside from that issue, the sound itself is pretty top notch. Voice acting is damn good quality, and the music is very good at setting the mood, without being to invasive. The best sounds come from Kratos' blades, however. The developers were smart to focus on the "Oh Hi, prepare to have your ass kicked." sound of his blades ringing out. From the chains clanking, to the swords making contact with other metal, his weapon sounds are top notch. Between God of War, and Crisis Core, there is no doubting that the quality of PSP games can be on par with a PS2-quality game.


Summary:
When it comes down to it, even with it's short play time, and ache-inducing controls, the game is absolutely a must-play for any PSP owner. The simple difficulty makes it accessible for most players, and even allows a certain amount of leniency in learning how to dodge/block. The story itself is great, mixing mythology with other influences, and even going so far as to introduce amazing artwork and realtime renditions of classic myths. The graphics are absolutely stunning for a handheld title, and can be considered some of the best this console has put out since it's release. The gameplay is solid, offers plenty of rewarding moments with the context sensitive actions, and the boss fights are absolutely amazing, even if the finale is a bit disappointing in terms of difficulty. The audio quality is absolutely top-notch with earphones, but can suffer from the standard "Tin-can" effect when without.

I highly recommend this game to anyone with a PSP, and the cash to toss out for this.



WTF?!:
- Alright. There's a weapon in the game called the "Gauntlet of Zeus"... Now, I loved this thing? But damn, if it didn't feel like a Hellboy rip-off. I mean, it flat out acts the exact same way. Breaks through just about anything, stops enemies in their tracks.. It's actually a bit overpowered, when fully upgraded.

- Persephone. Why are you SO damn easy!? You're the final boss! Why are you the polar opposite of Abaddon from Castlevania?! It's like... "OH HAI, I'LL COPY GANNON AND MAKE THIS EASY FOR YOU. =D"... Seriously. It's almost insulting to go through the game on the second hardest difficulty, and not even be challenged when it comes to killing the final boss.

Story
5

Gameplay
4

Graphics
5

Audio
4