Without a doubt, the best game this year so far has been God of War II.  In preparation for this game, I beat the original about a week ago, and now bought this.  It took me around 10-15 hours to beat one, as opposed to the 9 hours it took me for God of War.  God of War had a better story, but God of War II has better game play, and tons of little "minigames" to break up the fighting.  The puzzles are even better in this one.  In short, I like the second one even better, and God of War II will be a contender for game of the year for sure.  Of course, we still have Halo 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 coming....