Pandemonium's Full Review: Bradygames - God of War II: Official Strategy Guid...
I am not one that likes to buy strategy guides to walk me through a game the first time I play it. However, there are certain games, like the Final Fantasy series, that are long enough in length and with a lot of extras you can find. The game God Of War II fits into this category as it is a surprisingly long game for it's genre. This is grounds for me to purchase a guide after I have completed the game just to go through it again and see everything that I missed. Of course with this game, I missed quite a bit as some of the bonus things you can find are extremely well hidden. This guide will help you quite a bit as it is important to pick up as many things as you can because this game lets you keep your character, as is, after completing it and play through again on a different difficulty level. Getting everything is crucial as playing the game on harder levels is quite a bit harder. Unless your someone that takes more time making sure you find everything thing in the game than actually playing the game, I recommend getting this strategy guide. I will be talking about Kratos as he is the character name that you use in the game.
Format:
The strategy guide has four sections explaining everything from controlling Kratos to having detailed information on every creature you will face in the game. This is also the largest guide I have ever used and is very well written. It explains everything in very good detail and is easy to follow along as your playing the game.
Chapter I: Controlling A God:
This is more of a very detailed instruction booklet than a guide as it explains how to use Kratos. This chapter explains the menu screens, basic and advanced controls, items you will find throughout the game, and how to use your skills and magic. Also in this section it gives you in-depth information on the weapons and magic that you will be able to wield. Each weapon and magic can be upgraded and you will be able to see the bonuses for each of these and the levels they can be upgraded. You definitely will never have to grab the actual instruction booklet again once you get this guide.
Chapter II: Walk-through:
Here is what you will purchase the guide for. This gives you a very in-depth walk through for every movement of Kratos throughout the entire game. This was much more detailed than any other guide I have ever purchased. Not only does it walk you through the entire game, it gives you a little history about ancient Greece, gods you will be facing, and important characters that you will come across. Also, once you reach a different chapter, or section, you most likely will face new creatures and the guide tells you when this happens and gives you advice on how to deal with them. This, of course, is true for the bosses as well. Of course, it gives detailed information on where everything you can find is. Some of these are extremely hard to see or get to and the guide gets you there with ease. I was very pleased on how detailed this was and found myself reading everything that it had to offer including the history bits that it offers.
There was a few parts that had me a little confused on what the guide was explaining compared to what I was seeing on the screen. However, it didn't take me long to figure it out and the guide had me in the right direction during these moments. Some of these were mainly me just getting turned around or not standing in the right place to see what I was suppose to. In all, the walk-through part is very well done and will get you everything you can find in the game and help you out in "sticky" situations. reading everything that it had to offer including the history bits that it offers.
Chapter III: Bestiary:
Here you will find every single creature or God that you will have to face during game play. This is also as detailed as everything else and is just fun to look at. The beginning explains everything you will be seeing here and what they mean. You will get the stats of the creatures like hit points, resistance to your magic types, defense tactics to use against them, what type of mini-game to use against them for instant kills if applicable, how many orbs you can get from them with the different kills you can use, and more. There is also a small section about each creature giving you a little background and insight on about them and a hint on how to defeat them easier. I found myself back here quite a bit just reading up on different creatures before and after I faced them. This is especially true if I was having trouble dealing with a certain one. A nice addition to the guide as a whole.
Chapter IV: Treasures Of The Gods:
The last chapter included is where you will see is what items can be found and what you can unlock after you defeat the game. Not only does it explain each item in detail it also shows where they can be found. Even though the walk-through section explains this as well when you get to these items, this is another way of double checking that you picked up everything and what exactly you picked up when you did. There is some perks to beating the game as you will unlock a mini-game (Challenge Of The Titans) which is a seven level game. This explains what you will be facing and how to use the items you unlocked playing the game. Another worthy section and you will find yourself here probably after you finish the game not to much before.
Conclusion:
I do recommend this guide for anyone that wants to find everything the game has to offer. God Of War II has quite a lot of puzzles as well and if your like me, and would rather not spend as much time figuring out those puzzles than actually fighting in the game, I would also get the guide for quick reference if you get stuck. The guide is also good even if you just like reading and want to learn more about the history of the Gods. Every boss or major NPC you come across has a short story in the book as you get them. This was a lot more detailed than I thought it was going to be and worthy pick up for me as it had me playing the game again on a different difficulty level just to get everything I missed.
Thank you for reading.
My Ratings
Detailed Information: 5/5
Ease Of Reading & Understanding: 4.5/5
Bonus Information: 5/5
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