Violence and video games go together like peas and carrots. It's no surprise that the first video game involved two spaceships trying to blow each other up.

So even though contemporary games often feature more peaceful goals like training your brain or caring for a puppy, the vast majority of them are still about the wanton destruction of other living things. Because it just feels good.

Well, it feels good if the game is well-designed. Three new games for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 bring superhuman, over-the-top, hyperbolic violence right into your living room, but only two of them do it well.

God of War II

What's better than being enslaved by Ares, the Olympian god of war, then being forced to hack and slash all of Greece with giant cursed blades attached to your forearms, accidentally killing your family? Having to do it all again, that's what. If you were wowed by the original, you'll want to jump right back into the fray with God of War II for PlayStation 2, which takes all the mile-a-minute, monster-filleting action of the first and turns it up to XI.

God of War II's first level is an intense, epic battle with the Colossus of Rhodes brought to life. I repeat: this is the first level.

Screenshot: SonyWhile some game designers might build a few giant set pieces, then make you spend hours grinding in each one until you're sick of it, God of War II moves you from scene to breathtaking scene at breakneck speed. One minute you're clambering across the backs of a fleet of giant horses, the next you're pulling yourself up the face of Atlas, having nearly fallen off the Earth.

Although Greek hero Perseus is voiced by Harry Hamlin, reprising his role from the film Clash of the Titans, the fight against him is brief and not especially fun.

Screenshot: SonySlicing your whirling blades through Minotaurs and Gorgons feels as satisfying as ever. As you gain experience, you can upgrade your weapons and restore their magic to its glory, although some are mostly useless: Supercharging your magical bow and arrow is pointless when the screen-filling lightning magic is so much better. And some of the encounters with boss monsters can be frustrating, or just boring.

But these are minor quibbles. God of War II, like its predecessor, is a slap to the face of every other action game. Its breathtaking presentation and heart-stopping action outdoes its peers so thoroughly that it's plain difficult to play other games afterward.

– Chris Kohler

WIRED: Fluid, visceral fighting broken up with some head-scratching puzzles; breathtaking presentation.

TIRED: A couple of lame boss battles, some useless weapons, a vague sense of having done this two years ago.

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Earth Defense Force 2017

I wanted to like Earth Defense Force 2017 for the Xbox 360. You tell me you're releasing a game based on cheesy '60s science fiction movies in which soldiers wear colored jumpsuits and fight giant lizards, and I'm there with flowers and a nice bottle of wine. Unfortunately, in addition to fighting off space aliens and giant bugs, the Earth Defense Force also puts up a feisty defense against attempts to like it.

"Klaatu barada nikto" doesn't work against these guys. I know, I tried.

Screenshot: D3 PublisherI'm just going to name a few of the problems with the game, because listing them all would take nearly as much time as the rather short game. There's no reload button for weapons. There's no Xbox Live capability at all. The power-ups (armor, health and weapons) are pixelated and would look dated in the original Doom. The levels are repetitive and mostly uninspired. Your character looks like his hips are on a swivel. Your computer-controlled allies will never shut up ever. The Achievements are scarce and uninspired.

Upsides? The main one is the character design, in which all the enemies are extremely cool in a dated sci-fi sort of way. In addition, there's a wide variety of weapons to acquire, and it's fun to try out a new rocket launcher or shotgun. And you get to blow up entire buildings. That's neat. In general, the game provides a nice sense of scale, from the giant tower-crawling ants to the crashing spaceships. In short, Earth Defense Force 2017 had solid awesomeness potential, but couldn't turn it into an equally solid game.

– Lore Sjöberg

WIRED: Cybernetic dinosaurs, giant insects, huge walking space robots.

TIRED: Shoddy gameplay.

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Crackdown

In Crackdown for the Xbox 360, you roam freely around a large city made up of three major islands, stealing cars, listening to the radio, taking out gang members and causing havoc by wasting innocent bystanders with heavy weapons. Sound familiar? If you've played Grand Theft Auto 3, or any of its sequels, probably so.

And BOOM goes the dynamite!

Screenshot: MicrosoftCrackdown brings its own flavor to the mayhem pie, though. It lacks the humor, character and variety of the GTA series, but as a trade-off you get superpowers and better controls. You play a genetically engineered cop of the future, and you start out strong, agile and good with weapons. As you build your skills – this may be the only game where you get better at driving by running over people – you learn to lift buses, jump from skyscraper to skyscraper and wipe out enemies more efficiently.

In fact, building your skills is more fun than the actual missions, most of which involve tracking down one crime kahuna or another and rubbing him out. Not that the missions are bad, but after your first dozen they start to blur together. It's nice, at least, that the game accommodates a variety of approaches to your assassination duties, often giving you a choice between slogging through waves of henchmen or cleverly making your way directly to the boss, wiping him out and leaping away with what can only be described as aplomb.

The game could improve the targeting, and it would be nice to be able to shut off the voiceover after you get the same piece of advice for the fifth time. Here's hoping the next version builds on the great graphics and fun side tasks and gives us a solid main story to go with it.

– Lore Sjöberg

WIRED: Looks great, fun powers, enjoyable side missions.

TIRED: Weak main story line, lack of character.

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