God of War II places the gamer within Greek mythology where you play Kratos, an evil brute, who has just been enthroned as the new god of war (following on nicely from the first game). Still not happy, The powerful armies of Kratos have defeated everything in their path which (along with his lack of respect) has annoyed Olympus' King, leading to his powers being removed and then sent far away to Hades.

From Hades find your way to the hidden temple of the Sisters of Fate, to acquire the help of Zeus' old enemies the Titans, and exact your revenge. The game is beautifully paced, putting you in a massive world with awesome atmosphere and believability. To achieve your goal, you'll have to fight some furious mythological characters (including all of the famous names from the history books), solve many puzzles, fight your way past seemingly unbeatable boss characters, and prove (yet again) that you're the tougher and smarter than the rest.

God of War II really does emphasize combat over everything else and gives you more combos to perfect, new moves, better weapons than you would ever have wished for in the first title. While God of War 1 only gave you a single weapon, God of War 2 gives you many more, which can be made stronger with attack force and secret attacks and functions. There is a huge amount of flexibility in combat, with enough variety to keep you on the edge. Even after finishing it, there is still much to do ? you can keep your upgrades for the second time around, giving you a different choice of how to face the same enemies again.

For those of you interested in how this game was made Look on the disc 2 for all of the answers. All aspects are discussed blowing the lid off the secrets of how such an amazing game came to happen.

Can an game that plays so well look and sound great too ? The answer is yes. The orchestral soundtrack really helps you to get in the mood for the game, and matching the action perfectly with whatever you are busy doing, merging nicely with the action. Graphically speaking, the are spectacular, with fine attention to detail, and camera angles that doesn't make playing annoying and instead gives an improvement in playability significantly ? always in the right place at the right time and able to see all the action. The voice acting is very good, and the sound effects that add an huge amount to of atmosphere.

The fantastic lighting and particle special effects of the game, along with the textures and backgrounds, additionally add to it's already impressive appearance, and help to make God of War II the most beautiful game on the Sony PS2.

God of War II might not be for all gamers (having an M classification for violent scenes) but it is certainly the best action-packed game on the PS2 and a must see experience. Its intensity and fun, massive replay value and unbeaten atmosphere make God of War 2- without doubt- the greatest PS2 game you can get.