If you thought GOW 1 couldn't be topped think again. GOW 2 blows the doors off in all categories.
User Rating: 10 | God of War II PS2
I'm pretty pickey about my reviews of games having played so many. However I have to say for the categorey of game GOW 2 beats any other game I have played. From the moment you start it grabs you and shakes you around and doesn't let up. The levels are gorgeous with some truely beautiful environments that you play through. I caught myself several times wanting to take a break from the action just to look at all the great graphics. As far as the PS2 goes this is about as good as it gets. They designers squeezed just about all the juice out of the PS2's graphics engine. The ability to level up your equipment and magic is back so you can customize Kratos to your own playstyle. Even when there are a ton of enemies on the screen and you're getting swarmed the gameplay holds up and I didn't see any jerking in the engine. While I did give it a 10 I have two minor critiques that are somewhat technical but helpful. First if you have read the manual good you can turn off the hints and stuff as there are a few times it interferes with the gameplay when it wants to tell you something new. Second try and stay in the middle or the screen or get your back to an area where enemies will not spawn otherwise you can get pincered in and it's a bad thing. The AI specifically tries to flank you with certain types of baddies. The creature assortment is great with new nasties popping up regularly so you never get bored with the creatures the game throws at you. As far as the difficulty goes I'd say it's just right because it gives you a good challenge without driving you nuts. Sure I've died a few times but if it was too easy it wouldn't be a good challenge. Oh and watch how many orbs the baddies give up depending on how you kill them. This can vary alot and is a good way to get more orbs sooner to powerup faster and get special orbs when you really need them. For example the giant hammer usually yields some golden orbs in additon to red to refill your rage meter. I'm having a blast so far and I hope this was usfull for you. 
