Titanomachy!

I've just finished playing through God of War 2 on the PS2, which exceeds even its illustrious predecessor in quality. I've been thinking what makes this series special - there are a number of features that mark it out from the crowd, but the single overriding impulse I get from playing the game is an overwhelming sense of the development team's ambition - it literally pulls out all the stops to amaze the player.

Those of us who are lifelong gamers recognize that as we age and mature the sense of wonder that accompanies a great game becomes rarer - not because great games are less common but because age seems to raise the benchmark for what constitutes an outstanding experience. While the median quality of games has risen out of all recognition when compared to my childhood, it seems that the dizzy heights of gaming nirvana arrive less often. God of War 2 is one of those rare peaks that makes me remember what I really love about gaming. The technical feats are obvious to anyone that plays the game, particularly when mindful of the PS2s limitations. But it's far more than that.

Firstly, I'm an absolute sucker for a revenge tale, and Kratos's journey is the very epitome of vengeance. Secondly, the mythological setting hits all the right notes from my childhood - Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and all that good stuff. The base mythology is tremendously close to everyone in the West even if our direct knowledge of it is limited. The artists and level designers working on this series are incredibly gifted at evoking a sense of grandeur - there are few games that manage to top the sense of sheer magnitude of the world, even thought the game itself is not a free form explorable world and is very narrowly defined. Yet the game never misses an opportunity to inspire awe - the level set in and around Atlas the Titan, the opening battle against the Colossus of Rhodes (has there ever been a more action packed opening level in a game?).

The game mechanics almost become secondary to the story and the world, but they are no less polished. While not quite as hardcore as Ninja Gaiden, the gameplay is in the same mould. And the non-controlled camera must be one of the most successfully implemented in the history of 3D gaming, it literally never gets it wrong despite being entirely out of the player's control.

With the third game in the series a no brainer (and quite clearly set up from the ending of GoW2), I think any sequel would be the game that forces me to break the bank for a PS3.