14 DAY TRIAL // God of War launched to be a superb third-person-action title from Sony, for the PS2. The game's story revolves around Kratos, son of Zeus, half-brother of Ares and Athena, having an incredible power, that of a half-god/demigod. With yet another great story backed up by Greek mythology, God of War II couldn't miss, right? Wrong. Just as New Gamer's D.Riley and Andrew Toups over at ActionButton.net got their hands on the game, two somewhat negative reviews on the game have emerged. Who would have thought?
As GameSetWatch posts, D.Riley's impressions on God of War II... "The rub is that God of War suffers from the same colossal flaw its predecessor did. It sets the bar amazingly high in its opening moments and never gets back to that high point. Would it have been a better game if they'd placed the Colossus battle at the end? Maybe, but that'd only be addressing one of the myriad of problems that stops this game from being 'great' and makes it a more solid 'average'." OK, let's say that it's not that bad that Sony hoped to get the gamers' attention right from the get go, placing the Colossus fight minutes away from beginning the game - by the way, I played that part too and it's great. But a boss such as the Colossus is that which you find somewhere between the middle of the adventure and the end. Certainly not at the beginning, so yeah, that's a flaw.
As far as ActionButton's opinion on the game is concerned, Andrew Toups said: "Yes, God of War 2 has meticulously rendered backdrops, skillful, inspired art direction, sweeping, breathtaking vistas, a dramatic, cinematic score, cleverly designed stage layouts, and setpiece after memorable setpiece. No, none of this matters. At the end of the day, God of War 2, though thoroughly well-designed, well-intentioned, and near impeccably well-put together, is an abject failure of video game." Wow! That's pretty harsh. "The fact that it has been a success - both critically and commercially - is simple evidence of the sorry state of the medium."
OK then, that about covers it, I guess. Don't misunderstand the reviews, they did emphasize good parts as well (otherwise they wouldn't be game reviews), but the flaws mentioned above had to be discussed. After all, a game based on the Greek mythology should at least have a killer storyline, yet God of War II seems to emphasize the battles alone, which aren't so spectacular once you get used to Kratos' moves.