by norm stovall norm@904skate.com
The original God of War was rated as one of the PS2’s greatest games ever, and for good reason. With its heavily cinematic and well-written story, its larger than life characters, and entertaining gameplay mechanics, God of War was hard to put down. Which is exactly why I say that God of War II has some Titan-sized shoes to fill.
While the Playstation 2 seems to be on its way out the door to make room for the PS3, God of War will probably be one of the system’s final great games. Everything about this sequel oozes with high production values and general Olympian greatness.
At the start of the game, a jealous Zeus strips Kratos (your character) of his god-like powers. Throughout the game, it becomes your goal to get these powers back through any means necessary, and usually this results in gruesome combat action. Kratos doesn’t really spare any effort to play nice, dismembering any foe as he sees fit.
Gameplay-wise, God of War II plays very much like it’s predecessor, with extravagant attack combos, cinematic battles with on-screen button commands, and brain-wracking puzzles. The boss battles are absolutely tremendous, with some enemies hundreds of times the size of your character, Kratos.
As graphic as ever, there is plenty of stuff in here to give you a reason to keep this game from your tots, including good old-fashioned ultra violence, nudity, and foul language. Those old enough to purchase this game, however, should and will enjoy every minute of it.
One additional note, if you are playing this game on a PS3, you will get an up-scaled signal, meaning you can play the game on much higher resolutions than you can with a PS2.
A game like Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘07 is kind of like a double-edged sword. On one hand, if you wanted more from a Wii golf game after being disappointed by Wii sports, this is the game for you. However, the non-traditional control methods can be a bit frustrating, and it’s a damn shame that they don’t work perfectly.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is fun right from the start. If you have played the PS2 version of the game, the game is mostly the same, with the exception of the swing-based motions you use to hit your golf ball using the Wii remote. Hold the remote straight, and you get a level shot, and turn it slightly left or right and you get a hook or a slice. You’ll wind up, swing, and connect with the ball using the Wii remote as if it were a golf club, just like you do in Wii Sports. The exception here is that in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, you have no on-screen power indicator. While for the most part it is realistic and fun, sometimes there are issues when you try to swing too hard, or have hiccups in your putting style. However frustrating it is to make little mistakes such as this, playing the game in general is great fun, and the added gameplay mechanic of using the Wii remote to swing your golf club really does make this the golf game of choice for consoles this season. Just don’t get too caught up in the game, because one of those aforementioned control hiccups may have you hurling your remote through the TV.
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