Something that might surprise many people is that God of War: Ascension, the latest of the God of War series is only the second PS3 designed game in the 8 year life cycle that the system’s been out. You might be thinking to yourself, that you’ve seen plenty of God of War games on store shelves and you’d be right though they are all ports from the PS2 and PSP with the only exception being God of War 3. The thing I liked about God of War 3 is that it wrapped up the Olympus storyline rather well giving the chance to continue the series with a new beginning. With that in mind God of War: Ascension is not that fresh start, it is in fact a prequel taking place before the events of first game, where Kratos has broken his oath to the god Ares and The Furie. The Furies are the champions of honor and justice who are now hounding him for breaking this oath. Does God of War: Ascension add more to mythos than what we already know or is it just more of the same?

Video Review of God of War: Ascension:

Text Review Continued…

God of War: Ascension is for lack of a better description, yet another God of War game. All your favorite combos and weapons are all still here so it will take virtually no time at all to find yourself right at home. This is also one of the reasons why I grew tired of playing it just a half hour to an hour into any given game session. It’s that it’s a game I’ve played before, which is relatively repetitive even when you’re experiencing the franchise for the very first time. I know many of you will say there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that but this is made worse since neither the story nor environments never hold my interest for long. Ascension doesn’t have trilogy of storyline development to fall on, instead telling a stand alone story that is neither the origin of Kratos nor truly having much to do with any other game. This loose connection has me soured me as we all know it’ll work out for Kratos and we are given no good reason to care about Furies or anything else for that matter. The levels themselves feel like retreads of what we’ve seen before with many of the same enemies reappearing from other games in the series. The game is still full of quick time actions for just about every battle sequences that’s just feeling relatively dated. The total lack of originality leaves you with the fundamentals of God of War, but covering absolutely no new ground.

Whilst the story mode doesn’t cover new ground, the addition of a new multiplayer mode is something different to play. You create a brand new character who has sworn their allegiance to one of numerous Greek gods you’ve across in the God of War universe. Once you pick one, your character has at their disposal similar abilities to the one’s Kratos earns of that God from playing the single player game. From there you can customize the look, specific abilities and weapons of your character to whatever you like. The actual gameplay is a rock/paper/scissors affair where you need to guess what your opponent is thinking to get through their defenses. I haven’t seen too many online games with similar gameplay so it’s relative breath of air. There is one giant issue with the online play and that there is but only one mode with a consistent turnout of players. 4 v 4 team capture point matches. If 4 v 4 team capture point matches is not you’re into you’ll be out of luck finding people playing in other modes like free for all or capture the flag. I imagine as the game as the game ages it’ll become harder and harder to get enough players for matches even when it’s only up to 8 players per match. The multiplayer mode is worth checking out, but the lack of players limits it’s ultimate appeal.

Ascension is beautiful game, especially when you get up close to the characters and locales. The collector’s edition included a detailed statue of Kratos and there is very little missing from Kratos in the actual game when comparing him to this statue. The detail is quite impressive and as always the presentation in God of War is top notch. Every portion of the game features finely crafted cutscenes and interactive battles that are pure eye candy. God of War wouldn’t be God of War if it didn’t have plenty of gore and violence and there is no shortage in this entry with nearly everything you kill oozing it from their violent graphic death. Kratos has never been a man of saying many words, so while you do have some voiceover work, the game has never put much stock in fleshing it out which hasn’t changed here. The sound effects and music are rather similar to what you’ve heard before; another extension of the status quo being kept here as well.

I received the collector’s edition of the game which came with an Kratos statue as I mentioned earlier. The statue is a great collectible which makes the extra $20 for this edition worthwhile alone. Along with the statue you also have a download code for the game’s soundtrack, the music files are downloaded to the console but you can transfer them off your PS3 to your computer via usb stick. The game comes in Steel Case that I’ve come to expect from most collector’s editions/pre-order deals, overall It’s a nice box to have. Other than that you get some rather meaningless bonuses like themes, avatar and acquiring double XP for multiplayer (what’s the point if there’s nobody to play with), which are okay extras but nothing to really write home about.

God of War: Ascension is a mixed bag and it is really is up to you whether you should pick it up. The single player feels half baked and unoriginal, but if you’ve got the urge for yet another Kratos adventure it’ll fill that void. The multiplayer is interesting however the lack of players online makes the experience more limited than it should be. Ascension is not anything particularly special, but if God of War holds a special place in your heart then there is no reason you won’t enjoy this new chapter.

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