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Hey everyone, this is Ivan Alvarado with lvl Cap Interactive and today I'll be reviewing
God of War: Ascension.
Since 2005 gamers have followed Kratos through his tortured life as he waged a one man war
against the gods of Greek mythology. Now, eight years later we are being brought back
to the beginning where Kratos has set out to find the truth behind why he killed his
family meanwhile trying to stay one step ahead of the powerful Furies. Set six months after
the *** of his wife and daughter, we are reintroduced to Kratos as a more humbled,
confused and less angry man. This may feel odd initially, but makes sense as he has not
yet chosen to enact his revenge on Ares. The story in Ascension may seem to play out somewhat
slower by not having as many set piece moments as the other entries, but it still stands
as an excellent story. Overall it may not be what some are expecting, but it succeeds
at what it sets out to do.
God of War: Ascension is beautiful, bloody and the characters model are jaw dropping.
Even the level of detail put into Kratos' expressions during combat are a true testament
to the developers dedication. It says something when routine enemy deaths grab my attention
as much as the Helios death scene in GoW3. Enemy executions are a visual treat for anyone
used to the pure violent insanity that has been a staple of the God of War series. One
particular enemy gets his cranium split which in turn exposes his brain. Through all of
this you are always left with Kratos standing alone, covered in his enemies blood. It's
pretty wicked stuff. The sense of scale that the series is known for is still there and
Ascension does pull a few new tricks to wow the player but at no moment does this entry
surpass what's come before it. I do have one major problem with GoW:A and that's starting
a New Game + file. If there is any advice you take from this, it should be to create
a separate save profile before starting New Game + as trophies are not allowed to be collected
once it is started and it's not mentioned until you are too far to go back. Other than
that, the campaign is fantastic and should be experienced by anyone even remotely interested
in this title.
God of War: Ascensions gameplay is spot on and doesn't change much of the old formula.
Kratos' animations are smooth and combat is better than ever. More of an emphasis has
been placed on learning the parry system and enemies now attack much more often giving
you less time to pull off the long uninterrupted combos from prior games. Some of the buttons
have been re-mapped for new moves to be added and while it's a small change that takes some
getting used to, it doesn't hinder the experience.
This entry stays away from giving Kratos anything other than the Blades of Chaos. That may sound
bad, but they've supplemented different weapons for different god powers that give Kratos
his new magic and special moves that can be changed in real-time. There have also been
disposable weapons added that can sometimes be taken from your enemies. They're not anything
special, but do give a nice mix to the combat.
Although there is plenty of good to say about Ascension, it does have its problems. Through
my play through I experienced a number of visual bugs, but the worst of them all was
being knocked through the floor and into the empty space below my fighting arena causing
me to die. Of these issues, falling through the floor was the only one that marred my
experience.
At no point during my play through of the campaign did I find myself getting tired of
hearing the bone jarring crunch of Kratos' fists or the scream of the Satyrs having their
heads ripped off for the umpteenth time. The sound design team did an excellent job of
capturing the essence of brutality and putting it on display for us to hear. From the heavy
musical score of the larger set piece moments, the softer more compassionate score for the
slower, character building, portions of the story and to the sound of your adversaries
being systematically slaughtered, it's all just a feast for the ears. The voice acting,
as expected, is also exceptional.
The multiplayer in Ascension is very deep and if you're not careful, you will find yourself
dying a lot. Combat while playing online is very fast and virtually lag free. It can become
difficult to see where your character is in the middle of a large fight but other than
that, the camera does a fine job of tracking the player. There are a ton of items to unlock
and plenty of levels to achieve as each of the four gods have their own level trees.
The arenas are well designed despite the small number of them. From multi-tiered rooms with
traps to larger open areas, the arenas feel open enough to give the player variety and
room to escape without leaving you ever feeling lost or claustrophobic.
With a number of the usual online match types included, the real standout is the online
co-op added to the challenge of the gods. This is a series of extremely difficult tasks
that you and a partner take on enemies under a strict time limit while gaining time for
each kill.
Matchmaking was one of the biggest problems with the multiplayer, sometimes causing you
to wait in a lobby for up to 5 minutes before the start of a match. Fortunately through
patches that problem has been taken care of and waits are not any longer than one would
expect them to be.
Although it feels as if more work was put into creating an innovative multiplayer aspect
then an innovative single player experience, that doesn't mean the campaign is anything
less than spectacular. If you're an existing fan or new comer looking for an exciting new
game to sink your blood thirsty teeth into, look no further than GoW:A. My recommendation,
buy it for the campaign, stay for the multiplayer.