God of War II - The Cliffhanger Ending

There's Kratos and Zeus ready to square off and I'm annoyed at the fight right out of the gate. Kratos is holding the Blade of Olympus. Kratos will actually use this sword for most of the fight. That's right, you'll use a weapon that you've barely touched the entire game during the final fight. Please don't tell me that the third game does the same thing! I know how to use Athena's Blades, that's all that I want to use. Let Kratos pull the sword out during the QTEs or something. DON'T FORCE THIS STUPID WEAPON ON ME!!!

Sadly my cries fall on deaf ears and I have no choice but to use the sword. Zeus and Kratos fly to some battle arena in the sky and the fight starts. Zeus grows to giant size so he can try to flatten Kratos. He also summons Sirens to help. The Sirens are actually the start Zeus' downfall. Whenever a Siren is killed by a QTE it lets out a scream, the scream damages Zeus and it refills Kratos' magic! This means Kratos can use Cronos' Rage to quickly stagger the Sirens and brutal kill them all he wants. After enough Sirens are killed and Kratos wacks Zeus enough in the aftermath Kratos finally gets a chance to stab Zeus with the sword and drain some of Zeus' god powers. At least it makes sense why the sword is in play.

Zeus is now normal size and round two starts. Zeus' attacks hurt, but they are well telegraphed. Zeus' lightning bolt is great because there is a perfect sound cue for when to block so Kratos can send it back at Zeus and get some health orbs in the process. Eventually Zeus steals the sword. This actually makes me happy, I get to use Athena's Blades again. Beating Zeus is a slow process, it basically requires a lot of hit a run tatics. Zeus can be hit by Cronos' Rage, but Zeus doesn't drop a lot of magic orbs so it's easy to run out. Kratos eventually gets the sword back from Zeus and the whole thing happens again. After Kratos gets the sword back a second time the fight comes to an "end"

Zeus grows big again and starts this barrage of lightning that can only be blocked by smashing the Circle button. Now for me, this last part is very uncharacteristic of Kratos. Kratos has a lot of pride, he doesn't hide, he doesn't beg. But suddenly Kratos surrenders. He gives Zeus the sword and tells Zeus to end it. I didn't see this coming and I can't actually see Kratos doing it. It just feels wrong.

It's all a big double cross on Kratos' part though. I guess I can attribute it to Kratos' single-mindedness. He will do anything to get his revenge. If you press the buttons right for the QTE (first try!) Kratos takes Zeus to town. Zeus would die right here and now but Athena interferes. In the process of trying to protect her father Zeus, Kratos kills Athena. Kratos actually seems upset about it. Athena reveals that Zeus actually is Kratos' father (show of hands for everyone who saw that coming!). Zeus is very well known for sleeping with mortals and siring offspring. This also means the Kratos just killed his sister. Go figure.

After the scene Kratos actually has to go back to the Threads of Fate again. Kratos needs to pull his thread all the way back to the war between the Titans and the Gods. Odd since you wouldn't think that Kratos' thread would go back that far. The real problem is that once the thread is set, you still have to beat the stupid timer to the mirror. You're once again given 30 seconds to make it. The game is over! Just let it end! When Kratos arrives in the past he encounters Gaia who says that the Titans have been expecting Kratos. Kratos zaps all of the Titans to the present. The final scene is the Titans scaling Mt. Olympus with Kratos in tow, still looking for his revenge.

To be continued and all of that.

Final Thoughts:
God of War II is obviously part of an unintended trilogy. Like most trilogies nowadays the first movie ends just fine, but the studio wants more, because the first one did so well, so a sequel is made. But the job of the sequel is actually to prepare everyone for the third part where the monstrous conclusion will be seen. Normally this takes a big crap all over the story (see The Matrix Trilogy and The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy for examples). That's to bad since God of War II is a really great game. A self contained story would have been nicer. Sure have an overall arc, but ending on a cliffhanger is silly.

Kratos is still a fun character. The graphics are drop-dead gorgeous, especially for a PS2 game. The best part is that backtracking wasn't really a problem in this game. Yes it happens, but the designers found ways for it to be more intersting. Normally an alternate path would open up.  This would save on time and boredom. Kratos' adjusted moveset was for the best. He has some great attacks, but I wish there was some way to stop his long combos. I don't know how many times I was attacking and I couldn't stop so I ended up taking hits.

I must admit that I'm nervous about the next games beginning. This one ended with the Titans climbing Mt. Olympus. I assume that's where the next game will start. It looks like it will be epic, but how will the rest of the game match up to what I would guess to be a fantastic first level?

Next time: God of War III - Son of God of War!