Kratos is back, and he came in full force to Sony's booth for their public demo of God of War II. Let me just say, I had a BLAST.

In the game, you once again take control of the newly deemed God of War as he takes on a huge amount of enemies, ranging from small menaces like skeletons and minions to larger enemies like driven cyclops with clubs and a huge rock monster, one of the first boss encounters in the game. His controls are very similar to the first game, with light and strong attacks, but there are a couple of changes worth noting.

First of all, Kratos can swing in "hot spots", when green orbs are seen glowing. You can grab these with a press of the R1 button, and then swing around with momentum in the analog stick. It's rather cool swinging around, actually, and pretty easy to do. The other thing is accelerated attacks. While holding down the L1 button, pressing the light or strong attacks will put more visceral power on hand. For instance, a light attack will have a super spin of chains, and a heavy attack will have Kratos spinning in the air with much power, landing with great might.

The game looks fantastic, even in its early stage, with smooth animation and utterly gorgeous backgrounds and visual effects. The game also has new touches, like light shining off of Kratos' axes. The boss encounters really told the tale, though. One has you fighting a cyclops lumbering about with a guy on top of him, driving him around. You have to knock down the guy off top, and then mount the cyclops and rip the eye from his socket. No kidding. The other boss enouncter involved a large rock monster with ginormous hands and fiery attacks, very cool. There's a topless Medusa boss in the game as well, but she was for show only.

God of War II looks magnificent. Look for it early next year.