God of War II's new boss

One of Kratos' old enemies will be returning to stomp his albino ass into the ground in God of War II, the game's director, Cory Barlog, recently revealed in hisblog. Barlog was also kind enough to provide a couple of screens of the big, bad boss fight, which we've put up behind our Images tab for your viewing pleasure.

The two new screens show Kratos squaring off against the Barbarian King, who's grown to gigantic proportions since their last encounter. Sharp-memoried fans will remember the King as the baddie who was about to kill Kratos in one of God of War 's cinematics - that is, until Kratos made a quick pact with then-god of war Ares and decapitated the bearded barbarian.

But being killed later in the game wasn't enough to stop Kratos, and it appears to have only made the Barbarian King stronger - and a lot bigger. But in spite of reaping benefits from his demise, the big guy still wants revenge - something he intends to get with his giant horse and even-more-giant hammer. To get a ringside look at the fight, just click the Images tab above.

July 20, 2006

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.