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Friday 12 May 2006 We love God of War. It's one of the best games ever made for PS2 and the sequel promises to be even better. We know because we've been into Sony's inner sanctum for an exclusive eyeballing.
God of War II continues from where the original left off, so when you start the game you retain all of the powers that Kratos battled so hard for. And you'll need them, because immediately you're betrayed, killed and find yourself searching for the mysterious Sisters of Fate in a quest to wreak heavenly vengeance. All in a day’s work for Kratos, really.
The demo is set in Uriel's temple - she's the sister of Medusa, who you royally murderised in the last game - and shows off God of War II's new co-op enemies. Each enemy is now aware of the fellow nasties that surround it, which leads to some imposing two-up challenges. One fairly harmless, scrawny creature produces a horn and blows on it to attract a Cyclops into the fray. It then leaps up on to the mono-eyed monster's back and guides it into battle. Because of his piggybacked buddy the Cyclops can perform more powerful attacks.
To further ramp up the challenge from the last game, God of War II will feature more spectacular boss encounters, as well as a number of demi-god mini-boss characters taken from the annals of Greek mythology. Fortunately, the game's combat system has been enhanced so you can now dodge and move while unleashing your magic powers or letting loose with long-range weapons like the Wind Bow.
So, which demi-gods will you be facing? Officially... there's no info, but after mercilessly hounding Sony’s rep we discovered that one such character will be Theseus - the man who defeated the Minotaur. God of War II doesn't materialise until February 2007, but it's already looking like the game to prove that PS2 won't be shuffling away into the darkness any time soon.
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Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.
