Remember God of War II? It came out to glorious reviews and massive coverage, only to fade away like a fart in the wind. Shortly thereafter, the only GoW news was for the PSP and PS3 versions. Nuts to that; God of War II is here now and is begging to be played. No other game makes you feel consistently bad-ass by launching an assault on the gods. Read on to discover the brilliance.
1) Blowing up the Colossus' head
Killing the Rhodes Colossus is an opening even more awe-inspiring than the Hydra battle the original game plunged you into almost immediately. Even when you've slashed his cheeks with your blades, gouged out his eye and cut his hand off and thrown it at him, it's not enough. The answer is to go inside him and use the Blade of Olympus to overload his head, which goes off like a nuclear bomb. Enjoy your last taste of godly powers for a while.
2) Not you again
Veterans of the first God of War might remember the sea captain: after Kratos stole his key and kicked him into the Hydra's maw in level one, he reappeared in Hades... where Kratos beat him back into the underworld. So when Kratos's old foe the Barbarian King starts summoning zombies, GoW's most long-suffering character reappears and shrieks "Not you again!" And then gets eviscerated by our hero. Genius.
3) De-winging Icarus
Frizz-haired winged-man Icarus already looks crazy, but in refusing to let Kratos mess about with destiny by going for a chat with the Fates, proves himself to be mental. He tackles you atop a cliff to stop you meddling with things you don't understand. A quick headbutting makes him change his tune, but by that time you're both over the edge. Kratos needs his wings to escape death - so it's buh-bye to the inventor.
4) Meeting Prometheus
According to Greek legend, Prometheus - the man who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the humans - was punished by having his liver torn out every day by a ravenous eagle. God of War, obviously, doesn't skimp on showing you the whole messy business, but once it's over it's your job to release the poor guy from his torment. By killing the eagle? No: by burning him alive. Oh, the irony.
