God of War II review

If you like a game that beats you down, however, God of War II is happy to oblige. There's a face-smashing Titan mode to play through after you've finished the game once, and if you want a shorter humiliation, you can tackle the Challenge of the Titans mode. Meant to prolong the challenge for experienced players, it sets you to short, seemingly impossible tasks, like air-juggling 10 enemies to death in under a minute.

If you like a game that beats you down, however, God of War II is happy to oblige. There's a face-smashing Titan mode to play through after you've finished the game once, and if you want a shorter humiliation, you can tackle the Challenge of the Titans mode. Meant to prolong the challenge for experienced players, it sets you to short, seemingly impossible tasks, like air-juggling 10 enemies to death in under a minute.

Visually, God of War II is even prettier than its stunning predecessor, featuring huge, beautifully detailed environments filled with cool little touches like dust motes that dance around in beams of light. In fact, when the game's running on an HDTV at 480p, it's hard to believe that you're looking at a last-gen game at all. That's even more impressive when you consider that the aging PS2 hardware frequently choked on the first game's lavish visuals, but rarely has trouble here.

Visually, God of War II is even prettier than its stunning predecessor, featuring huge, beautifully detailed environments filled with cool little touches like dust motes that dance around in beams of light. In fact, when the game's running on an HDTV at 480p, it's hard to believe that you're looking at a last-gen game at all. That's even more impressive when you consider that the aging PS2 hardware frequently choked on the first game's lavish visuals, but rarely has trouble here.