I loved God of War. It was both a beautiful looking game, and it had excellent controls and gameplay. These are the things you want from a game. Simple enough it would seem, but rarely do games excel in all these areas at once.  God of War did just that. When God of War II appeared I honestly wasn’t expecting to be as enthralled with it as I am. There wasn’t a great deal they could do to improve it, but sometimes the best sequels are those where the original just needed a little nudge to tip it over into perfection. God of War II is one of those games.

I’m a great fan of slinging a bit of history and mythology into a game. God of War II has chosen its inspiration well, putting a spin on some of the greatest Greek mythology around. Fighting the Colossus of Rhodes as your very first boss battle is an intense and brilliant intro to the game. I’ve been to Rhodes and stood where the Colossus would have been. I tried to imagine it then standing astride Rhodes harbour. Now I’ll always have God of War’s version of him emblazoned on my mind as he tried to pound me into the ground!

In its epic fights and ‘heart in the mouth’ platforming, the game never offers up less than a waaaay over the top scale to everything. But it’s the puzzle solving that’s really stolen my heart. Reminding me of Prince of Persia and Ico and making me look forward all the more to Tomb Raider Anniversary, the architecture based puzzling is incredible fun and manages to be a little bit clever without ever leaving you badly frustrated.

For those on UK shores who are in the huff about the game having a hidden HD mode in the US and not Europe, do keep in mind that the US HD mode only runs on the PS3 with an HDMI cable and isn’t really HD (640 x 488 - considerably lower than 720p’s 1280 x 720). I can say though that the progressive scan mode (included in the US and Europe) runs like a dream and is utterly beautiful. So yay for us!

Several months back I mentioned that the PS2 was going out with a bang through the likes if Final Fantasy XII and Okami but it seems there is life in the old girl yet. If you have any love left for your PS2 you need to play God of War II.