[Score: Strong 9/10].
Learning the Combat
I understand it now. I UNDERSTAND IT NOW. For half of this game, I felt like I was playing it wrong. Like there was a key element or skill I was missing. I kept getting blocked and parried by enemies. I tried continuing to attack through their block. I’d get punished. I tried grabbing enemies when they were blocking. I’d often get punished. I tried prioritising heavy attacks to break blocks. It didn’t consistently work and I’d sometimes get punished for it. I tried SO MUCH. I searched up “How to Play God of War?” and then…EVERYTHING STARTED TO CLICK. God of War II forced me to learn good positioning. I thought I was good at positioning, but I didn’t realise how I needed to play from those positions. Positioning yourself away from enemies, and prioritising heavy attacks from a distance, singlehandedly made this game feel so much more fluid and consistent to play. It 100% helps that Kratos moves a considerable amount when pressing square or triangle, allowing you to narrowly avoid attacks, and sometimes even punish.
Difficulty & Enemy Design
I was able to get through God of War I on hard mode playing how I did before, and that just doesn’t work in GoW II…because this game is SO much harder. Enemies feel like they have more health, there are more enemy types, their attack patterns and variations are so much more dynamic and complex. There are a few battles that are cemented in my brain because of HOW FUCKING hard they were. I was getting straight up DOGGED.
This involves the arena with the three Medusa type enemies, and the arena with the Cerberus type and armoured brute type enemies. Oh my god, the first one was ridiculous because these Medusa type enemies have RIDICULOUS amounts of health, yet chuck these spears that don’t give you a lot of room to move or attack. The only thing I felt like I could do in a lot of attempts was parry and get a few light attacks in, making the battle feel like it was TAKING forever. It doesn’t help that another one spawns in once you kill one of them. I remember I died when I beat all three of those motherfuckers because of that damn fourth Medusa type enemy. So…how did I beat them? Well…I had to use my magic metre and “Rage Mode” more. See in the first game, the additional metres felt like a little extra helper. It didn’t feel like it was a completely necessary state of play. Well in GoW 2, the magic metre feels like an integrated staple of the system, something that you NEED to use to get by. I remember using electricity and Medusa’s Head to get by, followed by launching these enemies and getting in ridiculous amounts of damage before returning back to the dangerous ground. The battle took so long that “Rage Mode” felt like a necessity sometimes, although for some reason you’re unable to block in it, making you feel like a liability at points.
The second battle with the Cerberus type enemies and armoured brutes was straight up a test of positioning and how effectively I can use magic. When the little dogs were released from the mouths, I’d use lightning to stun them, and do the square (x5) + triangle manoeuvre for the majority of the battle at a safe distance, allowing me to move throughout the arena, whilst dealing consistently heavy attacks. I still died a few times, the battle was incredibly difficult because of poor management of the little dogs, but once my management of those little fellas got better, I was on them. The armoured brute is someone I’m still trying to figure out. There were 2 of them and oh my god they were a really good addition in that arena, they were straight up kicking my ass. They have a charge attack that stuns you, followed by a walloping down attack you can’t block. They have this winding combo attack with their massive spiked mace…I think that’s a mace, not quite sure. And when they’re in the glory kill state they have this attack in which they’ll lunge forward and attack you, which is very misleading because when they’re in that state you’re coming towards them, and if you’re on very little health, they may end your life. Unlike the first battle which really frustrated me, this one was REALLY fun because positioning and enemy management were the key things being tested here, and that’s the most fun thing about this game.
ACTUALLY WAIT, THERE’S ANOTHER BATTLE CEMENTED IN MY MIND. There’s this battle with the orcs and the ogres. And your job is to manage the orcs and the ogres whilst the infinitely respawning fiery guy chucks fireballs at you. That fucker singlehandedly made this battle so much harder than it already was. I was thinking, what’s the smartest way to deal with these orcs, because they spawn the big guys. Well…Medusa my friend. Launch the orc into the air, Medusa blast him, he turns to stone, breaks on impact. Do that on every single orc you can to make sure they don’t spawn those ogres, or come charging at you from the opposite end of the arena. You know, for such stubby guys, that charge attack is actually really effective. In the meantime you gotta make sure you pull those orcs off the ogres’ backs when they mount them, and again DODGE THAT FIERY GUY from earlier. Great battle, had me stuck for quite a while, but a great battle.
After these battles I actually searched up a guide to see how someone else dealt with them, only for my ego to get destroyed when they did these interactions in like a minute tops. The first one they got all enemies in a line and Medusa blasted them. Second one, Medusa blasted the enemies. Third one, Medusa blasted the enemies. I didn’t have the Medusa upgrade in this game, but that’s because I didn’t explore the game’s environments as much as I thought — there’s A LOT of stuff here. The amount of red orbs and upgrade items is ridiculous, you’ll have more than enough by the end of the game if you look diligently and are willing to solve some additional puzzles.
Environments & Setpieces
Actually now that I’m talking about the environments, allow me to talk about these GODDAMN setpieces, OH MY JOLLY GOD. The framing of the environments is S-tier here. Fucking beautiful stuff guys, gals and non-binary pals. They’re straight up showing off here. This is a PS2 game, yet it does not fail to catch my “woahs” and “wows”, due to scale and art direction. The frame that stands out to me the most is this frame where you’re walking on this chain and you see these floating islands. Fucking spectacular stuff man. The beginning portion in which you’re fighting a gold statue in Olympus — that’s one way to show the players who played the first game that you guys got a bigger budget, more experience, and are LOCKING IN! There’s this one level which reminded me of DMC 1 in which you’re fighting through someone’s bodily organs and mechanisms. You’ve got the Sisters of Fate’s temple, you’ve got the wooden architecture of the beginning’s golden statue. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN TAKEN UP A NOTCH, and you don’t feel like you’re spending too long in these environments. The first game’s environments were great but the pacing felt kinda off. Here it feels perfect.
Puzzles
The puzzles are also multiple steps longer, oh my god. I have no shame saying that I was looking up the walkthrough left, right and centre. 98% of the puzzles aren’t bullshit by the way, these puzzles are straight up, you gotta think with your big-boy brain, and eventually you’ll get through it. I would probably be able to beat this game in under 10 hours knowing all the encounters and all the puzzles. Game’s still hard as hell though, so I’ll probably die a lot. A lot less but…still a lot.
Boss Battles
The bosses are…fun, and disappointing. The bosses are nowhere near as difficult as some of the enemy interactions, including the final battle with Zeus, which felt like a cakewalk compared to the other stuff I had been put through. The first boss battle with that golden statue is again a perfect way to enter a game, making me think critically by using all my items at my disposal and analysing enemy attack patterns, whilst also being an amazing fucking setpiece. Perseus…that boy was a bitch. I restarted that fight not because it was hard, but because I felt guilty that I took damage. That boy was straight up a bitch to fight against. The Sisters of Fate were REALLY fun to fight against — those motherfuckers again weren’t as hard as some of the enemy interactions, but the systems integrated and the way you had to fight was so interesting and dynamic. You could be as creative as you wanted during this fight and I loved it. Zeus is a really fun one too, but quite disappointing for a final battle. The Sisters of Fate were a MUCH harder battle compared to him. All he really required was good positioning for 95% of the fight.
Story
The story…every single person is acting their ass off, not one bad performance from anyone. The stakes of everything within the world encapsulate the player to pay attention to what’s going on. Kratos seems like a crazy man hopped up on his own farts about Sparta. Okay, no, that’s dismissive — the game does a really good job of portraying Kratos as a crazy man hopped on vengeance, yes, but one who fights with honour, and has an undying promise to protect Sparta, and kill any God who comes in his way. He’s a really cool anti-hero. The entire journey and presentation is excellent, and something I would love to experience a million times over. Especially that ending when Kratos time travels a SECOND time to get a Titan and start a war, hinting at God of War III. That shit is magnificent.
This does raise time travel questions though. I don’t know how time travel works in God of War, but whenever a story has time travel its rules are always a bit fucky. That’s why I always say with time travel, you either do it once — in which you travel to the past and never touch it again — OR you accept that there are now a lot of plot holes in your story. Like bro, you can time travel, why don’t you stop yourself from killing your wife and child? Don’t you want them back? Does your thirst for revenge overpower your longing for your wife and child? I don’t buy it. There’s always some convoluted in-universe rule when it comes to time travel. You just better make sure that those core themes, ideas and performances are communicated well throughout your story, and motherfucker, GoW 2 nails that shit.
Final Verdict
Overall, GoW 2 is one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time. It took a while for the combat to click, BUT IT DID, and I had a lot of fun when the pins were locked in place. GoW 3 will be played sometime in my life. And that shit is going to be bomb. This game is amazing. Strong 9. I’ll definitely come back to this game one day on Titan Mode. That’s gonna be a challenge and a half.
Playthrough Details: 16 Hours, Hard Difficulty (God Mode): Mortal Ranking
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