God of War II is an
action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by
Santa Monica Studio and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the
PlayStation 2 on March 13, 2007, the game is the second installment in the
God of War series, the sixth chronologically, and the sequel to 2005's
God of War. It is based on
Greek mythology and set in
ancient Greece, with vengeance as its central motif. The
player character is protagonist
Kratos, the new God of War who killed the former,
Ares. Kratos is betrayed by
Zeus, the King of the
Olympian gods, who strips him of his godhood and kills him. Slowly dragged to the
Underworld, he is saved by the
Titan Gaia, who instructs him to find the
Sisters of Fate, as they can allow him to travel back in time, avert his betrayal, and take revenge on Zeus.
The gameplay is similar to the previous installment. It focuses on
combo-based combat which is achieved through the player's main weapon—Athena's Blades—and secondary weapons acquired throughout the game. It features
quick time events (QTEs) that require players to quickly complete various game controller actions to defeat stronger enemies and
bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options. The game also features
puzzles and
platforming elements. Compared to its predecessor,
God of War II features improved puzzles and four times as many bosses.
God of War II received critical acclaim, and is considered as one of the
best video games of all time and was 2007's "PlayStation Game of the Year" at the
Golden Joystick Awards. In 2009,
IGN listed it as the second-best PlayStation 2 game of all time, and both
IGN and
GameSpot consider it the "
swan song" of the
PlayStation 2 era. In 2012,
Complex magazine named
God of War II the best PlayStation 2 game of all time. The game had sold 4.24 million units by June 2012, making it the
sixteenth-best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time.
God of War II, along with
God of War, was remastered and released on November 17, 2009, as part of the
God of War Collection for the
PlayStation 3 (PS3). The remastered version was re-released on August 28, 2012, as part of the
God of War Saga, also for the PlayStation 3. A
novelization of the game was published in February 2013. A sequel,
God of War III, was released on March 16, 2010. (
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