GOD OF WAR

If the original God of War was any indication of what to expect from future action games, expectations for God of War II were naturally quite high. From the moment you start a new game in God of War II, it is clearly evident that the developers set out to completely outdo the original, and boy did they ever.

God of War II begins shortly after the ending of the first game when Kratos defeated Ares in combat and became the new god of war. As shown by the original game's ending, Kratos was not content with simply just becoming a god. After his ascension to Olympus the armies of Sparta left destruction in their wake, and did so in the name of Kratos. Threatened and angered by Kratos, Zeus betrays Kratos by tricking him into draining his powers into the Sword of Olympus, which Zeus then kills Kratos with. Fortunately for Kratos he is revived by Gaia and given the opportunity to seek out the Sisters of Fate, where he can hope to go back in time and change his destiny.

God of War was for the most part, a fantastic looking game, but God of War II surprisingly raises the graphical level quite a bit higher than the original. There is a ton of really amazing lighting throughout the game, and the character models all look much better. You can really tell the PlayStation 2 is working up a sweat, especially due to the occasional screen-tearing. It can be kind of annoying at times, but this was also present in the first game. If occasional screen-tearing is the price to pay for amazing graphics and no slow-down whatsoever, then there isn't much to complain about. Chances are you won't pay much attention to it anyways. The cinematics in God of War II deserve a special mention because the cinematics are absolutely breath-taking. The cinematics in God of War II are also effectively placed at key points in the game and the ending cinematic is especially awesome.