How to sequel a franchise properly.

God of War 2 pretty much improves on every aspect of the already perfect first game. The graphics have more details and better light and shadow effects. The score is the best in the franchise. The gameplay is the same but more polished and the story builds up alot of new lore to the series, especially with the whole Titans vs. Gods conflict of the great war.

This is the game though that turned Kratos into the meathead most people know him of. It sure makes sense though, since the gods gave him empty promises and refused to free him from his PTSD. It wents so far that it turned Kratos into an anti hero with some slasher villain characteristics. He uses innocent people as objects to overcome certain obstacles just so he can reach his goal to get revenge on Zeus, despite it being "mostly" possible to find other ways around them.

The story is more or less as good as the first game since its the one that builts alot of new lore as mentioned before. Finding out more about the Gods and Titans was really interesting. Also worth mentioning is that this games story feels the most like a true adventure. Mostly because during Kratos' travel he finds all kind of different people that like him search, or either work for the Sisters of Fate so those that search for them can change their destiny, but of course Kratos can't let that happen.

The gameplay as mentioned before is a lot more polished now. Cyclones of Chaos for example is much better to use than in the original game. You get a lot of more weopon and magic variety and you don't lose your Mana that fast so you can use magic attacks more often. The platforming has been improved and reduced offering more replay value for those that dislike them. Enemy variety has also been increased giving some new and old enemy typed to fight. The game has more boss fights and the one in particular against Lahkesis and Atropus is the best in the franchise. It offers the perfect mix between music, enviromental combat and boobies to witness.

The score and levil design are also the best in the franchise. Exploring the Isle is my favorite piece of music in the game. The levels offer far more variety than in the first game and are far more color friendly.

It's easy to say that this the T2 of video game sequels. Kratos adventure to the sisters of fate is pretty much his most epic adventure and the best in the franchise. It offers the right variety between story telling, fast paced gameplay and puzzle solving.

10/10 3 meter tall goddesses with nude boobie.

"If all on Olympus will deny me my vengeance, then all on Olympus will die! I have lived in the shadow of the gods for long enough, the time of the gods has come to an end!"

God of War II is a perfect follow-up to the first game, with grander set pieces, improved gameplay, and an even better story. Not to mention how incredible this looks for a PS2 game, this is a huge technical achievement for this system, they absolutely pushed the limits here. The amazing pacing, super fun puzzles, grand bosses, and endlessly satisfying action make God of War II one of Sony's finest creations to date. Easily one of the coolest and most exhilarating games I've ever played. The ending gave me chills

Kratos will rip out Atlas' ballsack with his pinky in the cutscenes but needs to solve a dumbass puzzle to open a door he can't break. Everything on this game was made to pad out the run time which was also true to the first, but this one is a constant reminder that you are playing a slightly more refined GoW1 with less iconic bosses, worse level design and writing for 10 hours to undo the first half our of the game's events. It's probably the most inconsequential story ever made for a video game.

Over each generation there's always a trend around certain game design aspects and 2023, the year this review is being written, feels like the ultimate result of the "cinematic vs arcade design" debate. There is no such a thing as a consensus; looking at the Hi-Fi Rush reception, "a game that just wants to be a game", the new Zelda with its extremely emergent mechanics and FFXVI focusing on spectacle... all of these games are being compared with "the PS2 era", regardless of whatever this means. And I have a problem with that.

That's why I don't blame "cinematic games" too much– they're experimental, even if overwhelmingly safe– "PS2 era games" aka "gamey games" trend is a punk reaction to the success of such games as The Last of Us and Red Dead Redemption, which is, on paper, a good thing! But in my books, this is both a bless and a curse.

And that leads us to God of War II; an interesting and ironic case of being "too much cinematic" and "too much gamey" at the same time. While it's an admittedly result of japanese inspirations (see: Onimusha, ICO, Devil May Cry), it's also one of the most influent series of PS2 era: cinematic setpieces and quick time events being the most notorious components; it has a lot of arcade design in its DNA as well.

It's a good adventure with a great combat design, well-crafted enemy encounters and some cool setpieces, but I can't help but go back to the line "I don't blame cinematic games too much", because hell, the cinematic component in this game is, unfortunately, more welcoming than the gamey one. And I say unfortunately because the spectacle in God of War is not my kind of thing.

The Wonderful 101 trying to be as gamey as possible: good
God of War II trying to be as gamey as possible: bad

For every cool fight in GOW2, there is a "push the box to the next switch" kind of puzzle; it feels like the game is afraid to develop its progression further to an extent of being even more cinematic, but it doesn't... for the sake of the "gamey design". And I also don’t like most of the puzzles; I remember that in the beginning of the first God of War, there was a part where the game teaches you that you need to push the box to point B and use it to platform to the next section, while you’re defending yourself against enemy archers WITH the box! That's neat, that’s creative, and I’m disappointed that a lot of GOW2 puzzles/platforming are boring and repetitive.

So, yes, the game wants the player to be pressing buttons all the time with different tasks in the most artificial way possible. It embraces a kind of design that I despise a lot; an action game afraid to impress the player with a non-stop corridor of enemy encounters; God Hand was released a year before, mind you.

I have no problem with an action game being an… action-adventure. God of War II has literally the exact same structure as the first GOW; but that one was a much more consistent adventure, with cool puzzles and platforming, cutscenes, fights, everything was on point. And I say that being very indifferent about those things; is just that GOW2 turned something neutral into annoying. It feels artificial this time, and that’s part of the gamey games, they’re always trying to look, feel, sound, smell and taste like a videogame, and sometimes they disregard the entire experience for the sake of interaction. But sometimes, they don’t!

God of War II problems reflect this trend to this day; Hi-Fi Rush with its bad platforming sections, Resident Evil 4 Remake with that stupid sidequest design, Elden Ring with the busy and exhausting open world… Those are just some examples of, in my eyes, games infected by the gamey trend, in a thoughtless sense.

Back to the God of War, I always wondered “why am I so indifferent about this game?” when I played the first one: it’s a consistent, charming, very thoughtful adventure with a good combat system but I was never interested in talking about it and labbing/replaying it.

In the second God of War, as you may have noticed, I realized part of my problem: I don’t like the structure, the puzzle design and the aesthetics/kinesthetics are not “my kind of thing”. Not to mention the story, which sucks (sorry)

But what about the combat?

I admit I played GOW1 in bad faith because I thought the normal difficulty was too easy; but in GOW2, I played the game with “how about exploring the combat nuances and possibilities this time?” mentality. And now I get it.

Big focus on crowd control and enemy manipulation (collision damage, grabs and ring-outs) results in the most efficiency-based action series in the market besides probably Ninja Gaiden. It’s really cool to see how many interesting quirks and interactions the combat system has based on moment-to-moment decision making (killing normally X finishers, magic management and positioning play), such as petrification damage values and slow effect, how some enemies can only be grabbed mid-air which rewards launchers, roll canceling, the different kinds of parries, etc. Good toolkit, arenas, enemy AI, hit reactions, control – just a great combat system overall. It also has a good camera, and that's unironically very impressive since most of action games cameras tend to be bad.

I’m interested in replaying it on higher difficulties just for the combat – because I still dislike the gamey structure. At some point I stopped feeling that I was playing as Kratos in a greek adventure, because the organicity of the game’s progression was gone – and unfortunately most of my good memories of the second God of War will be about the combat.

Easily has to be one of the best improvements from its predecessor. I can understand a lot more of the complaints about the first game now with having the second God of War as a comparison. This game just FEELS so, so, so much better. Your attacks actually feel rewarding, as the enemies are significantly less spongy, and the move sets you learn throughout feel much more effective.

The boss battles are awesome, and even more immersive than the first game, with some even having really unique and cool elements that help them stand out in comparison to other games (Perseus' invisibility comes fresh to mind). The game moved a lot more smoothly, with barely any backtracking in comparison to God of War 1, and with a fun variety of environments and enemies that kept the story more engaging.

The story was still dumb, just like the last one, but was also more fun to explore and figure out. There was a lot more reference to different Ancient Greek stories, and even featured the Titans as prominent characters! Again, stuff isn't the most historically accurate, but I don't think it's too expected when God of War is clearly an entertainment > education kind-of game, so it's not something to really knock against it. The "twist" with Zeus being Kratos' father didn't get much reaction from me, and seemed too hellbent on forcing in a twist à la Star Wars without much thought besides it allowing a twist into the story. I think it would have had more impact on me if it was someone I was used to hearing about throughout the series' story, like if Ares was revealed to be Kratos' father instead, making the story force him to question his killings even more so, but at this point, I don't think the game actually wants to make Kratos come to terms with his actions lmao (at least not yet)...

Overall though, God of War II is a very, very fun game with not much more to it. I had a really good time playing it, but don't think it's something I'm going to rush back to play again anytime soon. It is absolutely a high-recommendation I'll give to someone looking for a gnarly hack and slash, though! Won and done!

3.5/5

Hell yeah, now that's what I'm talking about. After a dissapoint (to say the least) experience with the first game in the series, I was somewhat reluctant to play God of War II, but I'm glad I did, this game is amazing!
Combat has evolved to its finest, I found myself using magics much more commonly, and it's now much more practical to update your weapons. Boss fights are superb, a perfect mix between a cinematic experience and a challenging duel, altough the plot isn't as well developed as in GoW 1 (probably the only downgrade for me), at least solving puzzles is now fun.
Hey why are there so little collectables now?

The true magic sauce binding the God of War II experience together is its pacing. The magic trick is pairing of the loud, brutish and outrageous maximalism with soft and still quiet time.

Your first boss fight starts almost immediately. Its a long, multi stage, multi arena affair featuring gratuitous violence, a towering colossus and combos on combos on combos. Kratos is betrayed and then double crossed by two different gods, shoots himself out of a catapult to stab a giant, kills a few hundred soldiers with flair, and then dies taking a god powered sword to the gut by Zeus himself. This is the opening hour. The game is energy all the time, every which way. But the most striking part of the design isn’t any of that bombast, but instead just how seriously God of War II takes its quiet time and how it weaves those moments into a larger sequence.

For small sections, here and there, the noise and energy of the game’s world will abate. Sometimes to near silence. The enemies stop spawning, the music subsides and a chest usually waits to replenish your health while, more often than not, a puzzle blocks your way forward. The puzzles range from the simple get-the-box-over-there variety to the “What the hell am I missing?” head scratchers. Its a drastic change of pace these quick breaths of safety sprinkled into each sequence and a way to reset the tension to start building it again in a new way.

My favorite aspect of these quiet times is just how sudden they can appear. The very first quiet moment Kratos enjoys only comes immediately after being hurled across the city and breaking through several stone floors to the bottom of some poor Athenian tower. And likewise, rest times can end just as abrupt leading directly into a boss you will fight at least a dozen times, or an intense platforming session. Or it might just be an ambush. Eventually the puzzles may start trying to kill you back. Nevertheless, a true respite always seems to come at the right time. The designers knew when to give the player some relief and when to push a little more. Its these small, quiet times scattered in just the right places that keep the pacing tight and fast without getting exhausting. Its that pacing that, in my opinion, makes the whole thing work.

God of War II is fast. Sequences are dense and constantly trying to outdo themselves . Kratos does not speak. He yells. And the game yells back, but no matter the pressure, you’ll find that next quiet spot right where it should be, take a deep breath and then power through.

I never really liked this game thaaat much even as a kid and I never knew why until this last playthrough.
The most important thing is that I find the enemies really annoying in this game. Rabid Hounds, Beast Masters, Hades-Minotaurs, Fates Juggernauts... All of them have one or several things about them them that can be a right pain, and the game made most returning enemies tougher to boot. More than the first game, enemies just block a lot of your attacks so you can barely finish a combo without a counter, but there's less rhythm to it than GoW 1. Additionally they can be a lot harder to get into the air, even with the spear. When you put a lot of these enemies together alongside larger foes, or complex enemies like Satyrs, all the wrong elements come together.
What a lot of your playstyle in 2 is going to come down to if you're on Hard mode is a game of evading and poking. 1 or two hits, and then block. And you will inevitably get swarmed, at which point you will need to use Cronos's Rage or Titan's Rage to get space and finally do some real damage. Focusing on taking out small enemies first will almost never work in a lot of arenas, you need to be winging it and doing what you can.

And this jab-and-run playstyle or blocking doesn't just apply to fighting the normal enemies. I wished for more bosses, and some of a human-sized variety, but I never realized how badly designed some of these bosses are.
Theseus blocks a lot, and then later retreats for most of the fight to have you fight adds. The Barbarian summons adds, blocks, and has a phase where he's huge and your dodge roll doesn't carry you far enough away from his swings to avoid damage. And finally Zeus is the worst one when it comes to poke and running where unless you're stunning him with Cronos's Rage there's literally nothing else you can do but get one or two hits in. His bare-fist melee starts with an unblockable too, so in his fist-phase it's just better to move out of the way of 2/3 of his attacks, but the Lightning you CAN’T dodge on the other hand.

My favourite fights are the Mole Cerberus and Lakhesis, and I like Euryale and Perseus, but tbh they all have little issues (except for precious Mole Cerberus!) so it feels like the overall take-away is mid.
Euryale and Lakhesis both have a phase where they run away to high-ground, and Perseus blocks just as much as the other bosses, but with his hit-and-run, magical-item focused moveset it kind of fits him.

I don’t really like the weapon selection in this game either. The Blades of Athena are kind of gutted moveset-wise, for one thing, and it feels really bad to use them when you know they aren’t as versatile anymore.
The Barbarian Hammer is supposed to feel like the Artemis Blade (kinda) and crush guards easier, but they made it so you can’t dodge with it, or switch weapons while blocking, they made it have no L1+X, L1+O or R1 moves either, it can’t block midair because L1 is used for a slam, the level 3 ghost army costs 17500 rorbs, and the only only chain you can do is square into triangle on the second hit…. so it mostly sucks.
The spear is great meanwhile, but … I just also think it could use just maybe a move or two extra to really feel oh-so-right.
And The Blade of Olympus is the proper Artemis Blade replacement, but given you only get that in NG+ I feel I shouldn’t include it in the evaluation.

All this to say that I don’t think GoW 2 is a great action game. Especially with the bosses, it’s become obvious why the Action-Crowd never really latched onto to this series.

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I’ve mostly focused on the combat so far though because I feel it’s probably the place where I can be most objective, and people will see eye-to-eye with me. There’s all sorts of little things that bug me though that feel harder to get people on my side with.

Like how the rorb economy is shockingly stingy, and heavily favours the late game for giving a lot of rorbs at all. Or how the puzzles and collectibles are harder but feel more obtuse than clever.
Or how the Island of Creation never really feels like it has a good sense of direction, and many of the steps we take to complete our journey feel random and confusing (Like doing a detour for a weighted block so we can tip an amphitheatre into the swamp water, without the game sign-posting that that's what we're trying to get. Or needing a shield and being shit out of luck if Perseus wasn’t there).
Or meeting a cavalcade of Greek Myths because we can’t shove them all into 3, but failing to make most of them interesting (Looking at you Icarus).
There’s all sorts of small things that don’t jive with me in this game and result in it feeling a lot weaker and off.

And lastly, the story: I feel this story is a lot more shallow than the first. Kratos just… Acts simple-mindedly, There’s room for depth and nuance in his revenge, or some questioning of his own determination, but Kratos doesn’t seem like he has much.
The most telling line is at the end, where Kratos says “I do not seek to destroy Olympus, only Zeus.” While one could interpret much of his actions as self-loathing and self-destruction… This particular line means that even though he hates the Gods, this was only ever an ego thing with Zeus and Zeus alone. This wasn’t about his past with the Gods, or how his life has been controlled and guided by them, this was only about him not being able to see that he was abusing his power, and thinking that no one had the right to transgress him. It was one, simple, petty grievance turned into a whole entire quest, and spurred on by the obvious manipulations of Gaea that he eats right up, and it just feels like there’s something missing the entire time.

There are other elements to consider: Zeus being equally a paranoid villain in his own right who sprinkles cruelty on top of punishment. How Kratos’s choices might have been tartarus or revenge. The tale of cycles the game is gesturing at, how others should not sacrifice others for the sins of one man, yet Cronos, Zeus and Kratos all will be guilty of this. Whether him not even considering going back in time to save his wife and daughter is a plot hole or a deliberate writing choice? (I’d like to think he’d choose to just live with who he is anyway. To choose suffering.)

But in the end I feel whatever depth what they were going for though just didn’t have proper time or clarity. It’s all mixed up, and all of it steeped in a story of two men that refuse to be slighted by each other first and foremost.
While the Gods are petty, so is Kratos, and the line between bad and artful character regression is a bit blurry here.

While God of War III was bonkers, and God of War 2018 was good to look at, God of War II smashed and slashed its way through the PS2 era, besting its predecessor gameplay-wise.

God of War II's set-pieces are mesmerizing and something that I would continue to gush about. Colossus of Rhodes still lives in my head, rent-free. Not only that, but its level design is an exemplar of linear game design.

Where God of War II ultimately faltered was its storytelling. God of War handled this well, a Greek tragedy retold in a contemporary format, while God of War II decided to go all-in on the "revenge" aspect. It also presents the "sequelitis" problem, where everything needs to be grander in their sense of scale. Still somewhat good, however.

God of War II is perhaps one of my favorite PS2 games. It's an excellent adventure, and one the best-presented "cinematic" video-games that have existed.

um clássico icônico do PlayStation 2.

lembro de ter jogado bastante esse aqui quando era criança. nunca cheguei a zerar, no entanto.

agora finalmente, joguei novamente depois de mais velho e pude zerar o game.

a batalha contra o Colosso de Rodes continua épica como sempre.

as Asas de Ícaro são maneiras e funcionam bem pra desafios de plataforma, admito.
o Martelo do Rei Bárbaro é uma arma bacana. e o design na Lâmina do Olimpo é foda. já a Lança do Destino é meio whatever, infelizmente.

o poder de desacelerar o tempo é bem encaixado aqui.

tirando alguns puzzles bem específicos e o momento do corredor da morte antes de chegar à última Irmã do Destino, o resto foi desafiador na medida certa.

tem umas duas ou três cutscenes pré-renderizadas bem feitas até.


não é a minha história favorita da franquia (até por ser meio que um jogo de transição entre as origens no 1 e o desfecho no 3), mas executa bem sua temática e consegue ter momentos marcantes.