Platform: Playstation 2
[Sony Computer Entertainment]
The central premise of any Greek tragedy is that a man cannot change his destiny. Kratos, the irascible hero of God of War II, is the sort of classic hero who typically finds himself ground into muck under the machinations of fate. His inner ?aws would sink him in an ordinary tale—he’s impetuous, quick to anger and disdainful of divine authority. Yet this hubris is what gives Kratos his allure, and it imbues God of War II with an unequaled sense of grandeur. No longer content to serve atop Mount Olympus as the god of war, Kratos travels to the Isle of the Fates for a chance to reroute his destiny. His path is marked by doomed figures of Greek mythology who all have the same idea. There’s Icarus, whose singed wings can no longer bear his weight; Jason, seeking to heal a broken heart but finding the jaws of a Cerberus; and even Atlas, the Titan condemned for eternity to hoist the earth upon his shoulders. Kratos engages each foe more furiously than the last, until the large-scale battles seem to rend the earth itself. But the game’s foundation is based on something stronger than soil and rock: the idea that one man can defy the gods.