God of War II strategy guide

Puzzle focus
Jump into the bloody pool and swim through to the next area (avoiding the spikes!). When you emerge, look behind you and grab the two red orb chests. You're now in a circular room with a frozen phoenix statue in the centre. First off, climb up the wall and onto the ceiling, and bring down all the frozen stalactites. Now drop down into the middle and use the Phoenix statue to defrost the first door. Jump up, grab the mirror and position it under the light shaft coming down into the higher part of the room. Now use the three levers to align all the symbols on the wall correctly, making sure the bronze shield is directly in front of the Phoenix statue. If you got it right, the light will beam from the mirror, onto the shield, and melt the ice round the Phoenix statue. You can now move it to open up all the other frozen doors. There's a Phoenix feather, three sets of red orbs, two Minotaurs, and a magic chest. Now open the door and exit.

XXXVII. Palace of the Fates, part2
You're now in another lift with a crank. Don't bother trying to raise it, because there are firefly nests pumping out beasties. Climb the walls, destroy all three, then crank the lift up. A grapple point lowers, so grab it, and ride it to the next level. There's magic and health here. Grab it, because the next area can be tricky. You're in a room with two Cerberus creatures, and they spit out pups. Top tip - kill the pups as quickly as possible, because if you leave them too long, they turn into fully-fledged Cerberus creatures. Use your Atlas quake to keep their numbers down. Towards the end of the fight, two ogres appear, but your main focus should be the Cerberus dogs.

After killing them, head up the ladder on the left, save your game, and jump across to the other side, where you'll get two lots of red orbs and a Gorgon eye. Drop in between the two gates, and there's another couple of red orb chests. You'll need to jump off the walls to get back up from here. Now head past the save point, open the door and slide down the ladder.

Puzzle focus
Now you've got to bag the second translator, and he won't come easily. You'll see him through the gate leaping off the cliff. Open the gate with the pressure plate and prop it open with the statue of fate you just walked past in the corridor. Now run through the mirror on the left hand side of the room to jump back in time. Quickly freeze time, and you'll be able to run and grab the translator. Force him to read the book, and watch the cutscene. You'll be rewarded with the Skull you need to open the second door in the main courtyard area.

Now, as a bonus, run through the mirror again and freeze time straight away. Head back down the corridor and you'll be able to open that chest on the right, which contains a special health boost.