Game Stooge

How God of War 2 Is Like Driving To Las Vegas

• Scribbled on April 26th, 2007 by zukalous
• Filed in Action, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 2

This review is not going to be an argument judging the quality of God of War 2; it is a good game, a damn good game. Furthermore, I am not going to spend the next 1,000 words arguing whether or not it’s worth your time because it is worth your time.

If you never play God of War 2 (GOW2) and let your friends know it, they’ll most likely react with eye opening shock while uttering the phrase, “You’ve NEVER played God of War 2?”

GOW2 is a game so tightly produced it transcends nitpicks such as control scheme, bugs and graphics quality. When critiquing movies we no longer debate whether an explosion actually looks like an explosion or if an actor’s voice sounds lifelike.

Instead, we worry about plot points, character development and pacing because this game has managed to reached this level artistically. We can examine it entirely on its own strengths and weaknesses without having to make excuses about it being “just a game.”

When the story opens, Kratos has replaced Ares as the titular God of War. His rampant use of military expansionism has angered the other Gods on Mount Olympus and the leader, Zeus, fears that Kratos’s growing power and the ensuing coup d’etat could end his grip on power. So, Zeus preemptively rubs him out.

The rest of the game revolves around your command of Kratos as he rebuilds his strength and seeks the mythic Fates who have the power to rewind time to the point when Zeus kills Kratos. To find these powers and the Fates, you will spend the next fifteen to twenty hours progressing through a world in which really big things and really pretty things attack you.

God of War 2 is a game about the environment and hardly a game about the main character.

The sense of scale is immense and the feeling tickles a part of my brain that hadn’t been touched since Big World in Super Mario 3. The most dazzling and most frequently referenced setting is the giant horses. When you first see these horses, they float in the horizon like giant static images which have been applied to the sky texture.

However, when Kratos reaches those horses by running across a seemingly endless chain bridge, you realize these are actually part of the world. It feels like you have just been dunked into a truly sublime place which dwarfs even the most powerful beings. The environment is so vibrant, creative and vivid you’ll be longing for more of its supernatural splendor well after you’ve completed the title.

Throughout the game Kratos is very one dimensional (he hates and distrusts everyone). That’s not a big deal though because, in video games, designers often replace a character’s personality with fighting, explosions and throwing stars. In God of War 2, the fighting is as flat and dull as the character development in Kratos himself.

The fighting in GOW2 can barely stand on its own. I made it through most of the game by using the button combo: square, square, triangle. Other combat systems, such as the Xbox’s Ninja Gaiden, were so tight and improvisational each encounter felt unique and worthwhile.

It was so unique that I could play though Ninja Gaiden regardless of graphic quality, storyline and environmental design. The battles could have taken place in a white room with a constant trickle of attackers because it was so on key, but I can’t say the same thing for GOW2. Combat in this title felt like the toll I had to pay to see the next piece of beautiful scenery.

This “combat fatigue” is also my biggest complaint for the first game in this series. Even the first game’s director, David Jaffe said in a G4 interview, the original God of War’s combat is not as “fully functioned” as other games such as Devil May Cry.

Strangely, the combat mechanics in GOW2 were barely an improvement over the first game in the series. Cory Barlog was acting director for this release and I was sure he would bring new creative ideas and demand a more dynamic game system implementation but I was wrong.

Kratos’s signature Blades of Chaos and acrobatic attacks were the only weapons worth using in battle. In this revision, the design team seemed too scared to emerge from Jaffe’s shadow and go back to the drawing board to improve on some of the previous titles flaws. This is partially understandable considering Jaffe does yell a lot. A huge benefit to game sequels is it allows time for fixes, upgrades and re-thinking bad design decisions. None of these benefits have been worked into God of War 2.

If you watch the accompanying bonus disk interviews, Cory Barlog sounds intimidated by the project. In one of the early interviews, he worries he will be “the guy that fucked up god of war.” For someone who is designing a game about a badass like Kratos, he sure is taking a fearful approach to game design. As I played through the game I kept reflecting upon the lack of feature changes and missed chances for major improvements.

In the end, the game presents some beautifully well produced experiences which are interrupted with stretches of repetitive combat and tedious crank turning. It’s like going on a road trip to a really cool destination but with a carload full of boring people. You can’t wait to see what is down the road, but you could care less about the people with whom you are traveling.

When the car descends into the long stretches of desert, and sites become far between, the trip starts to drag on and on forever. With God of War 2, long stretches like platform jumping of the Atlas level and the crank filled stretches of the phoenix chamber slow the overall pacing of the game.

The rather boring repetitive battle design turns many levels that lack beautiful environments into monotonous chores rather than awe inspiring enjoyment. However, for all my whining, I really did enjoy God of War 2’s exciting moments. They are true examples of art direction done right.

In five years, this game will still be a playable piece of art which transcends its own plot and pacing flaws. It’s just like driving to Vegas, the drive up is grueling, but once there, the sites are fantastic.