God of War II - A Game With New Tricks for an Old System

[Woodmonkey]

A Game With New Tricks for an Old System


When I was growing up, my friends and I lamented that no matter where we went, it seemed that the best stuff wouldn’t happen until we were about to leave. You spend a couple of weeks at summer camp and only in the final days do you realize that the counselors leave a certain very important door unlocked. And you think, “Wow, this is awesome; but why couldn’t it have been this way the whole time?”

That is exactly how I’ve felt playing God of War II, the luscious, stunningly well-designed mythological action game that delivers a glorious swan song for Sony’s PlayStation 2, the world’s best-selling game console. Sony has sold many more than 100 million PS2s since the system’s introduction seven years ago, and since then more than 1,000 games have been released for it in North America. You could argue that God of War II, released on Tuesday, is not only better than all of them but is also perhaps the best single-player action-adventure game yet made for any console.

The PlayStation 2 still sells (and likely will for years, given its $130 price tag), but the buzz in gameland has moved on to “next-generation” machines like Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s own more than $500 PlayStation 3, which is packed with so much silicon that it makes its predecessor look like an alarm clock. God of War II is likely to be the last top-end game made exclusively for the PlayStation 2.

And yet God of War II provides a much more engrossing experience than any game I have yet seen on the far brawnier PlayStation 3. And that reflects the fact that in games, as in film, special effects are merely a tool (and an often-misused one, at that) in the service of an overall entertainment experience, not a crutch that can take the place of design, craftsmanship and art direction.

The God of War team at Sony’s internal Santa Monica Studio clearly understands that. When David Jaffe, the acclaimed director of the original God of War, said he would not lead the sequel (he has instead focused on a more casual game for the PS3), fans feared that the franchise might lose its way without him. No worries. Cory Barlog, who had served as lead animator on the first game, took over as game director and lead designer and has produced a game that is perhaps even better than the original.

What does that mean? First and most obviously, the art direction and level design are stunning and allow the game to deliver a truly epic sense of scale, which is appropriate, given the story line. Like the original, God of War II follows the journey of a Spartan named Kratos as he slashes and leaps his way through some of the high and low points of Greek mythology.

In the first game Kratos defeated Ares to become the new god of war. Now Kratos has been returned to mortality by a vengeful, jealous Zeus (those Greek gods didn’t mess around) and is driven by Gaia, one of the ancient Titans who oppose Olympus, to hunt down the king of the gods himself.

Visually, God of War II sells that story. When you battle the Colossus at the beginning of the game, it seems that it is a mile tall. When you swing from a series of collapsing towers high above a primeval jungle, it feels like an action sequence from a James Cameron film. When you bind the Phoenix to your will and compel it to carry you through the skies to the Temple of the Fates, you want to stand up and cheer.

Beyond the visuals, the game is meticulously designed and paced. The two main aspects of God of War II are combat (battling all manner of mythological creatures and characters, including Perseus and Icarus) and environmental puzzles.

Some puzzles are purely mental, like, “How am I going to arrange these blocks so I can climb over them and get to the next courtyard?” Others combine problem-solving with split-second physical dexterity, like, “O.K., I have to pull this lever to lower a gate 40 yards away, sprint to a steam vent and then use Icarus’ wings to fly back over the gate before it closes, all in about eight seconds.”

Each puzzle is, as Goldilocks might put it, just right. But more important, they are perfectly paced and interspersed with combat. After spending 20 minutes figuring a way though a puzzle room, you get to let off some steam by ripping up harpies. After a tough battle against a cyclops or three, you might be ready for some swinging and jumping. After making like Tarzan, you might be ready for a puzzle again.

The art of game-making is not only in devising individual challenges, but also in spacing and arranging them so that a player never becomes burned out, bored or (overly) frustrated. That is especially important in an almost entirely linear game like God of War II, and it delivers.

Sony’s biggest problem with God of War II is that it highlights how relatively bare the cupboard has been for its new PlayStation 3. If the company can produce a single game next holiday season for the new machine that is as compelling as God of War II is for its ancestor, 2007 will end up a good year for Sony after all.

God of War II is rated M for Mature, for those 17 and older. It is bloody, though not explicit, and there are a few bare breasts here and there.

The Source