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| | Title:
God of War 2
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
Third-Person Action Adventure
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Publisher:
Sony
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Developer:
SCEE
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Release:
Q1 2007
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Rating Pending (RP)
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Even though the PS3 is only a few months away from launch, this doesn't mean Sony is abandoning the Playstation 2. Sony realizes there is still a huge consumer market for PS2 games, and has wisely chosen to support the system for at least another full year. With an impressive list of games set to be released this holiday season and beyond, the title at the top of this list is the sequel to one of Sony's newest and most successful franchises: God of War. God of War 2--set to be released sometime in the first quarter of 2007--is bringing gamers back into the world of Kratos. At E3, Sony had an extensive demo level on display which gave everyone a good idea of how the game was evolving.
God of War was praised for its amazing controls, and how accurately they responded to every command the player gave. God of War 2 extends this fluid control scheme, but does something no one thought possible: it has made the controls even more responsive. Kratos stops on a dime, attacks quickly, and can easily get out of situations with his roll move. The game feels a lot like Ninja Gaiden Black (which is the champ in terms of responsive controls), and that is a good thing. Somehow, the team found every single problem with the controls--ones the diehard fans couldn't even detect--and fixed them. Anyone worried that God of War 2 won't be as good can rest easily; the game still rocks.
The demo level shown at E3 took place in Medusa's Palace, a humid jungle location which presented as many puzzles as it did dangers. The water was deadly to the touch, showing that levels will present more of a challenge to accomplish and survive. Continuing the tradition of thoughtful but not mind boggling puzzles, Medusa's Palace was littered with mental challenges. Sometimes the puzzles were as simple as killing so many enemies to open up a door which revealed a dead corpse to lie on a switch. Other times, the puzzles required players to understand the physics within the game so that they could tip a platform into the deadly water to create a makeshift bridge. None of the puzzles were confusing to the point where the flow of the game was stopped, though, and each and every clue to the puzzles opened up new areas. There was hardly any backtracking, which is the sign of great level design.
But just because there are puzzles doesn't mean Kratos has an easy time getting from one to the next. Medusa's Palace was swarming with enemies of old and new, which will please many fans. The zombie warriors have made a return, and are still one of the favorites to demolish. Accompanying the zombies are the annoying Harpes, which thankfully have some new attacks that actually hurt Kratos. Filling out the ranks for new enemies are skeleton warriors who explode after they received so much damage, centaur warriors who are a breeze to take down, and the much more challenging ogres who now have riders. Of all the enemies encountered, the ogres with the riders were the most challenging.
Fans who think they are going to have an easy time just dodging attacks while they beat away at the ogres' health are going to be in for a rude awakening. This is all thanks to the riders. The riders look like trolls and are armed with two single-bladed axes. When an ogres appears, these riders climb onto the back of the ogre, burying their axes into the shoulders of their mount and basically controlling it. This makes the ogre attack and move at a speed no one will be accustomed to at first. Luckily, Kratos is able to remove the riders with a well-timed grab attack. But ignore the riders for too long and they will mount up once again. The final enemy encountered halfway through the demo was basically a rock and magma version of the Minotaur boss fought in the original God of War. It had several fire based melee attacks, and was quite a challenge to take down. It was here the entertaining button sequence was reintroduced as players are going to have a certain order of buttons in order to ultimately take down the beast.
With all these new enemies, Kratos is obviously going to need some new firepower. So far, God of War 2 is looking like it is not going to disappoint. Many of Kratos's old moves have been given a face lift, and the results are impressive. The windmill attack Kratos would perform has now been replaced with a much more believable (and powerful) swinging attack where Kratos twirls both blades around in several arcs. If there was one aspect of God of War's combat system that needed work, though, it was the magic system. The magical attacks, while helpful, didn't keep the combo count flowing like they should have. Kratos would usually always have to be planted before he did some magic attack, and even then these attacks did not meld wonderfully with the combat flow.
God of War 2 is changing that by making magic attacks easier to access and pull off. The one that was shown at E3 was the airbow. Kratos could not only unleash a world of hurt as he fired this bow rapidly, but he could easily switch from one enemy to the next, move around the level, and switch back to his blades without ever losing his combo. In addition to the new attacks, Kratos will also be able to--for the first time--use his blades to swing though certain parts of the level. Littered throughout some of the levels are green orbs. Pressing the appropriate button, Kratos was able to swing from orb to orb; it was fun and intuitive. Couple this with the new tight feel of the controls, and Kratos's new attacks, and one can see just how much fun God of War 2 is going to be.
Of all the games at Sony's booth, God of War 2 impressed me the most. It is never easy to top a game that receives such high accolades, but somehow the team behind God of War 2 is pulling it off. They are fixing problems some didn't even know existed, and are bringing Kratos back in all of his glory. Look for God of War 2 to hit stores near the beginning of 2007.
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Cloud890
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