God of War II review

Slice the ancient world wide open in this beautifully destructive monster-stomp

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If you like a game that beats you down, however, God of War II is happy to oblige. There's a face-smashing Titan mode to play through after you've finished the game once, and if you want a shorter humiliation, you can tackle the Challenge of the Titans mode. Meant to prolong the challenge for experienced players, it sets you to short, seemingly impossible tasks, like air-juggling 10 enemies to death in under a minute.

If you like a game that beats you down, however, God of War II is happy to oblige. There's a face-smashing Titan mode to play through after you've finished the game once, and if you want a shorter humiliation, you can tackle the Challenge of the Titans mode. Meant to prolong the challenge for experienced players, it sets you to short, seemingly impossible tasks, like air-juggling 10 enemies to death in under a minute.

Visually, God of War II is even prettier than its stunning predecessor, featuring huge, beautifully detailed environments filled with cool little touches like dust motes that dance around in beams of light. In fact, when the game's running on an HDTV at 480p, it's hard to believe that you're looking at a last-gen game at all. That's even more impressive when you consider that the aging PS2 hardware frequently choked on the first game's lavish visuals, but rarely has trouble here.

Visually, God of War II is even prettier than its stunning predecessor, featuring huge, beautifully detailed environments filled with cool little touches like dust motes that dance around in beams of light. In fact, when the game's running on an HDTV at 480p, it's hard to believe that you're looking at a last-gen game at all. That's even more impressive when you consider that the aging PS2 hardware frequently choked on the first game's lavish visuals, but rarely has trouble here.

More info

GenreAction
DescriptionEviscerate the ancient world once again as Kratos returns for more monster-ripping combat.
Platform"PS2"
US censor rating"Mature"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.