God of War Ascension Review

After the great success of God of War 3 a few years back God of War Ascension is here. But does it stand up to everyone's expectations?

First of all i would like to say that i love the God of War series and consider it am awesome addition to the beat 'em up genre. I have beaten all the games both the console and portable ones and i enjoyed each and everyone of them. That is why Ascension was such a disappointment to me.

The game serves as a prequel to the story with Kratos finding himself in yet another quarrel with the gods who have punished him for breaking an oath he had taken. They leave him at the hands of the three sisters called Furies who continuously torture him until one day he escapes. Afterwards he once again goes to a quest to defeat all three sisters. This is also the part where my first complaint is based on. After going head to head with the olympic gods themselves and killing more than half of them including Zeus, it is kinda hard going back to killing mere pawns of the gods. Of course this formula worked pretty well on the PSP games but for a PS3 title i would have expected something a bit more epic. As for the backstory, the game does little to provide us with more info on the Ghost of Sparta. While in previous games the story was not what one would call a "masterpiece" with fleshed out emotional characters and narrative, it still managed to grip my attention and make me care about Kratos and his never ending suffering.

One of the most important aspects of every beat 'em up let alone God of WAR is the combat and here is where the game shines. Kratos feels more badass than ever with a refined combat system that focuses mostly on the blades of chaos which now can me augmented with elements like fire, thunder e.t.c. while the gap left behind by the absense of the rest of the weapons is filled by secondary arms such as maces and javellins that underline Kratos' great experience in war, being able to adapt to any situation and use anything to brutalize his enemies. Speaking of brutality, this aspect of the game has also been greatly amplified at such scale that you can almost feel the pain of your victims. It is a mind blowing experience and definetely memorable. The only detriment on all this is the repetitive and weak enemies that we have faced in previous games with only a few exceptions. The one moment that really stands out for me is the trial of Archemedes, not because it is nicely presented but because of its diversity to the rest of the game. Overall the difficulty of Ascension is probably the easiest of them all but this one section not only is it difficult, but at times it is also sadistic and unfair. There were moments where i would die and could do absolutely nothing to stop it. It is not impossible to pass the trial but it is frustrating to see Kratos die in this one small part more than he did through the whole game.

Multiplayer was a feature that took everyone by surprise when it was announced and it will surprice again people that play it. It feels like a genuine God of War experience. Going in battle alongside friends and strangers and slaughtering the enemy gladiators is an experience so worthwhile and fulfilling, it makes you wonder how come other games did not have it. Unfortunately there is little to no reward for people who actually make an effort to lean all the combos and moves and trying to aply them in battle. Button mashing often works as good as a masterfully performed combo. Overall the multiplayer is not something people will come back to. It is just a means of passing a hanful of hours with but that's it.

As you can see the God of War Ascension single player experience is enjoyable, there's no question about that but the weak story and easy combat make it probably the worst of the four console games. The multiplayer introduces something new to the series but is not as polished as many would hope. As for Kratos, he might fight like a beast in this game but the rage and fury driving him seems to be gone. Where is the monster that slaughtered his own family and murdered countless soldiers unlucky enough to cross swords with him?

Still not sure about the game? Why not check out some other reviews and see what other people have to say about it?

PixelEnemy Review