INTRO
I recently completed the latest game in the God of War franchise, God of War: Ascension. My initial thought is this game is worthy of the series, but far from the best. The 6th entry in the series that started with God of War 1 & 2 on PS2, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta on the PSP, and God of War 3 and Ascension on the PS3. Lets dive into my thoughts on how I feel about the game.
STORY
To me, the story of the God of War games have always been a pleasant surprise. In my gaming experience, action games like GoW have weak stories that seem to be there just to fill in the gaps between action pieces. All the games in this series have had strong stories. Stories that seemed to grow bigger with each entry, and yet they are pulled off each time. Ascension acts as the prequel to both Chains of Olympus and God of War 1, starting 6 months after Kratos has killed his wife and daughter (as told in God of War 1). While the story is good, the developers made the mistake of going back and forth between the events preceding the story and the present time of the story. The problem with that for me was that it was somewhat jarring. There also wasn't many big moments of the story that stuck out to me to keep me interested. If there had been, it possibly would have grounded me more to where I was in the story's time. In the last few hours of the game however, the story picks up. It has some great moments of Kratos seeing his wife and daughter that really stand out for me. For most people that have played the original GoW, the revelation of the death of his wife and child was a stand out moment. The moments that deal with the death of Kratos' family push this games story slightly above average. Had the story been told in a linear fashion it might have earned a few more points from me. 6/10
GRAPHICS
If there is one thing to be said about the God of War games, they are beautiful! On the PS2, PSP, or the PS3, these games push the hardware they are on to the limit. Ascension is no different, and quite possibly the best looking game that has graced the PS3. Kratos looks amazing, the environment looks sharp, reflections off of pillars gives the look of marble tops. If I was going to knock anything it would be sometimes the camera is pulled too far back during action sequences with several enemies. While it does help make the environment seem huge, at times I found myself losing Kratos in the huddle of enemies a few times. Other than that one issue, I have nothing but great things to say about this area of the game. 9.5/10
GAMEPLAY
Here is where the developers starting changing things. As typical with GoW games, you have your heavy and light attacks, dodge and jump buttons. Between these attacks you can make some awesome combos. Your main weapon is the Blades of Chaos, which is the infamous chained blades that Kratos is known for. In previous games you also gained other weapons, which the majority of players used for a time, but went back to the Blades of Chaos. In this game however, you will come across a few weapons during the story that will only be with you for a few moments. This is actually a great idea as it allows you to experience each weapon for a few moments at a time so that they never get old.
One of the new features to this game is how magic and elements work. Instead of the extra weapons in previous games, Ascension forges your blades with the elements the Fire of Ares, the Ice of Poseidon, the Lightning of Zeus, and the Soul of Hades all of which allows for different attacks from each other. The different elements can be changed on the fly to increase the variety of combos and attacks. Each of these elements can be upgraded to increase the amount of attacks, the last upgrade unlocks that respective elements magic attack. These magic attacks are all different enough that it makes the players want to use all of them.
Three new relics have been added: the Amulet of Uroborus (LifeCycle mechanic), the Oath Stone of Orkos, and the Eyes of Truth. The Amulet of Uroborus allows Kratos to manipulate time by decaying or healing an object. A broken bridge can be constructed or deconstructed depending on the goal, with pausing during construction possible, thereby freezing items in place and allowing puzzle solving when needed. The amulet can be used on enemies, levitating the foe and drastically slowing them for a brief period of time. The Oath Stone of Orkos gives Kratos the ability to be in two places at once, creating a "shadow" version of himself that can depress plates, hold levers, or attack enemies. The Eyes of Truth remove illusions created by enemies and cast a blinding light against enemies.
All of that is great, BUT there is some bad to go with the good. In an effort to help the gameplay of the multiplayer portion of the game, the parry system has changed. In previous games a well timed block would parry a strike leaving your opponent open to attack. In this game you must hold down the block and then time your parry by pressing another button at the right moment. I'm sure some players had no problem, for me I never could get the timing down.
I should also point out that I felt this was the toughest game of the series on normal difficulty. 8.25/10
FINAL THOUGHTS
I should also point out that the puzzles in this game are very well thought out, often times during a puzzle I found myself stuck trying to figure out what to do next. Luckily after a few moments of trying different solutions I would solve the problem without getting frustrated. Overall even with the change to the parry system I enjoyed the gameplay in this game.
Going into the game I dreaded the Trials of Archimedes, which I heard was unbelievably frustrating. Not to sound boastful but I was able to beat it with relative ease on my second try. While it was tough, it does not hold a candle to the pillars you had to climb in the first game.
The biggest flaw to this game was the storytelling. Splitting the time like they did was jarring for me. The story itself is also a very average which was a disappointment for me, especially after the awesome commercial for the game. I know when Ascension was first announced I was very on the fence about it. In my mind the series had the perfect game and send off for Kratos in God of War 3. While the game was still up to the series standards, it didn't match GoW 3. I fear if there is another game in this series that stays on the level as Ascension, we will start to feel series fatigue.
Overall I feel like Ascension would have been an amazing game had it came out before GoW 3 and had a tighter story. I only played one round of the multiplayer component of this game, so I won't be scoring that portion of the game.
FINAL SCORE
7.75/10 (not an average). A good game in a great series. Out of the 6 releases I would place this in 5th place. But with the God of War series, that is still better than a lot of games out there. Kratos is still a God, BUT he is starting to show some weaknesses.
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