FINALLY KRATOS HAS COME BACK TO THE PS2!!! And I've got the review!
The game starts shortly after the end of GoW, where Kratos is made into the new God of War. However, because he loves to kill everything that isnt Spartan, the other Olypian gods have shunned him, and Athena does all she can to protect Kratos. However after Kratos turns his back on even her, she strips Kratos of most of his powers, bring the Collosus of Rhodes to life, and leaves you with only your Blades. Well ok thats not so bad. After crushing the giant twice, Zeus gives you the only thing that can bveat the Collosus, the Blade of Olympus. The only downside, you have to siphon off all your god powers to do so. Then you beat the giant, but Zeus betrays you, and kills you. Thats it game over, thanks for playing! Not really, Gaia, the Titan of Earth, bring you back to life to help her and the other Titans bring down Zeus, and crush Olympus. You then procede to climb out of hell, and begin your struggle to kill the King of the Gods, Zeus. You do ths by going to the Sister of Fate (the Gods of well the Gods) Well enough of the story for now, lets get to the button mashing. Thats right, the controls from the first game carry over to the sequil. So get those fingers ready to mash some serious buttons. Kratos not only has his trust Blades of Athena (Blades of Chaos in GoW1), but a whole new armada of tricks to help you kill everything in your path. The first is Typhons Bane, a bow and arrow made of the wind. This is a pretty handy weapon, when low on magic for bigger spells, and you need to do some quick damage. Next is Cronos Rage, a poor mans Posiedon's Rage, it form a ball of lightning that damages all foes in its range. You can chain up to 3 together to form a whirlwind of doom. Now we have the Head of Euryale, pretty much the Medusa's Gaze from the original. Also you get Atlas Quake, a large area pound attack that hurls rocks when upgraded. You also have 3 sub-weapons that can be used anytime after getting them. First is the Barbarian Hammer, this heavy hammer weilds the Army of Hades spell that summons spirits to attack foes. Nest is the Spear of Destiny, this spear is quick, pierces enimes, and has a freaking shotgun blast attack! Finally you get the Blade of Olympus, Zeus trusty swond. This baby slices, it dices, it sucks redorbs from enemies, and can kill anything (thats not a god) in 2 hits. The landscapes are beautiful, and push the PS2 to its limits. The audio sounds amazing, and really adds to the battle. Some enimeis from the first return for another killing, but there are new ones as well. The voice cast is impressive including Michael Clark Duncan (The Green Mile, Talladega Nights, and Sin City) as Atlas. One downside the first game had was the lack of bosses. Well the sequil adds alot of those here. You'll even fight heros like Thessus and Perseus. This alone makes the game more challenging. (like it needed anything else)
Along the way Kratos picks up 2 other nifty little item, The Amulet of Fates and The Golden Fleece. The amulet slows down time when near a Fate statue, thus allowing you to solve puzzles with ease. The Fleece, acts a reflector of projectile attacks. Repelling them with more power. Now what elese is there to this game, thats right the Treasures (unlockables). This time you get more costumes including: Cod of War (a fish with fish hook blades), a dark (well darker) version of Kratos, and even playing as Athena. To replace the Challenge of the Gods in the fist comes, The Challenge of the Titans! Seven rooms of tasks ranging from easy as pie to OMGWTFROFLBBQ!!! However with enough work (check out GameFAQs for a guide) you'll figure them out. Now for the downside, thie only chinks in this gods armor are small, but noticible. The fighting, though fun, gets boring after awhile, as you kill more and more enimies with the same moves. The puzzles are just as confusing as in the first, but a new hint system eliminates most of the confusion. Though these are flaws, they're minor ones that can be overlooked. A second disc comes with the game, it contains behind the scenes features, and music. A nice little documentary shows you how the God of War games came to what they are.
So in the end this game gives you everything you loved from the first game, and then gives you a lot more! In the end this game lives up to expectations, and blows its brother out the water. I give God of War 2 for the PS2, 10 Cods of War out of 10.