God of War II

Why did I play through God of War II? The answer is as the wind. But here are some things that happened: I grew up in the full joy of video gaming; I beat God of War; I took many years off; I got discontent with the level of drama in my life; I realized I liked epics; I realized a little indulgence now and then doesn't really matter in the grand scheme; I realized the grand scheme is actually pretty brief; I started playing God of War II; I finished playing God of War II.

It wasn't as epic as I remember the first being. There's one scene in the first that really got me, way back when. However, it's -- of course -- generally epic, with the mighty colossus, a whole level of platforms on Atlas' face, etc etc. Epic, mythology, satisfying violence, puzzles... sounds good to me.

And the violence really was satisfying. What a terrific fighting mechanism. The haptics in the controller make it so much better. For most of the game, I just smashed square, with his original weapon, because his original weapon, under the most basic attack, is amazing. Smashing square with the blades of Athena was fast, effective, and so aesthetic. It was enough to take out all of the most elemental enemies. The harder enemies defended and fought back after a few hits, but that attack is fast enough you could connect a few and promptly somersault or jump away. Such a good original attack for a game.

I wish there was a level toward the end that was more epic. And I wish there was a level of basically meleeing a million easy enemies. There was a massive brawl of every enemy in the game, but it was squeezed into various barriers, and it involved plenty of stronger enemies, and I might add was quite stressful... I wanted the satisfaction of just brutalizing an enormous number of easy enemies. I think that would have been pleasing.