Fans of punishing battles rejoice! God of War once again rears it’s Cerberus head in the form of Ascension, a prequel depicting Kratos’s capture and imprisonment by the Furies. With a deep splattering of multiplayer being offered up for sacrifice as well, could this be the perfect package for the GoW enthusiast?

Story

The sprawling saga of the God of War universe spans several games. All of them involving Kratos beating the living mythology out of any and all comers, be them mere Centaurs or even demi-Gods, all eventually fall to the flailing antics of our protagonist.

Attempting to portray a more human, emotional side to Kratos is the focus of this entry, with all the bloodshed he’s responsible for, surely there’s some remorse or regret there somewhere? Either way, Kratos has got himself into a spot of bother regarding his blood oath to Ares, enter the most extreme debt collectors this side of the River Styx.

As a prequel; involving the aforementioned Furies, you won’t be crossing paths with any of the staple series of Gods such as Zeus or Poseidon. Whilst this shouldn’t be a shame, the fact is, they’re just not quite as interesting or engaging as the others. Not to say that the Furies don’t rub you up the wrong way or anything, it’s just that Zeus has a form of stage presence that’s tricky to follow!

Gameplay

What it might lack in terms of complex plot devices, Ascension more than makes up for it with  lashings of God of War trademark, visceral combat. Whilst you might not find the sprawling epic locations of which GoW 3 made it’s name, the combat itself feels a little tighter and more refined. Especially useful when timing is certainly something worth becoming proficient at! Instead of the vast hordes of Hades’ damned chasing you down, enemies tend to spawn in small numbers, often requiring different tactics dependant upon the encounter. Only at one point in the game does this change; wow it’s brutal! The now infamous ‘Trial of Archimedes’, is beyond anything you will encounter up until that point, but then it wouldn’t be God of War if it didn’t have at least one rage inducing, pad smasher section!

To balance the unfortunate lack of alternatives to the Blades of Chaos, Kratos has been given some new toys to play with. Gone are the satisfyingly hulk smash-like Nemean Cestus and the nippy Nemesis Whip, replaced instead with ‘World Weapons’. More akin to disposable items with useful effects than anything permanent or upgradeable, these five weapons have different uses for various situations. Use the club to create some much needed space or fling the spear repeatedly to whittle away at those pesky, evasive creatures. With a limited amount of uses, it can be wise to only use them when needed! New to the arsenal is a long range tether-like grab, incredibly useful against both flying enemies and standard weaklings, on certain enemies you can simply hold them in place whilst harassing something else. Finishing both enemies off by simply throwing said tethered enemy at another for a sarcastic finish always earns a smile!

It’s not like you don’t have anything to play with however! Over the course of the game, the Chaos Blades will become imbued with the element of four different yet iconic God’s. Whilst able to equip just one at a time, these can drastically affect your playstyle. Some are quicker; deal less damage, but in return, can make enemies drop magic orbs letting you unleash hell more frequently, which is nice! Whereas a different element may force your defeated foes to drop health orbs, very handy in a pinch! Your blades themselves will need levelling up as well with the usual 1000’s of red orbs rewarded from chests and general slaying, just to keep pace with the tougher foes. Upon unlocking each individual element, you may upgrade them to unlock special moves, magic attacks and Rage attacks. The amount of unlocks may seem a little underwhelming, but the drastic effect they can and will have on the battlefield just about makes up for it.

The puzzle’s are pretty much a standard affair, unfortunately due to the camera pretty much highlighting the solution in a cut-scene prior to you getting your mits on it yourself. There is some saving grace later on however when you unlock something that can manipulate the health of certain objects leading to some pretty interesting game mechanics. Another power-up creates a Kratos clone, whilst obviously a necessity for some puzzles, the real fun comes in utilising these powers during battle. Slowing enemies whilst your faux Kratos jumps about like a hooligan can be genuinely helpful!

QTE’s, the constant bane of some peoples (myself included) experience. Yet this is the one game franchise I will not only let off, but encourage their usage! The thing that normally winds me up is the obstruction of view from what is inevitably an exciting scene. GoW puts the required button inputs on the periphery of the screen, giving the deserved action it’s rightful place. Some of the more intimidating creatures now have ‘minigames’ instead of out and out QTE’s. Alternatively, you mash away with either triangle or square whilst looking for cues that your opponent will attack you, to dodge, simply move the left thumbstick either right or left. These are not only much more satisfying, but also vastly more immersive. With no on-screen help, the sense of accomplishment when you brutally cleave an elephants head in twain is glorifying yet horrific!

The multiplayer portion of the game feels very solid; it’s a cracking first attempt at a competitive online GoW experience. Many groaned and sighed upon news of an online GoW, but it’s got some real depth; it definitely should not be dismissed quite so easily. Going through the tutorial (an online pass is needed for this) will have you learn the basics of combat. The game will go through everything from, character colour clues to help recognise what your opponent’s state is in when he is vulnerable or invincible etc. to teaching the basic attacks and combos needed for survival out in the big bad world. Clueing you up early with basics such as these are paramount should you plan to take your experience online and survive for more than 5 minutes. Believe me!

With more unlocks than you can shake a spear at, fully kitting out your perfect killing machine is not going to be easy! Several classes such as warriors and battlemages are available as a base; pledging your allegiance to a certain God will grant you differing abilities, inevitably affecting stats, powers and the like. With equippable armour and weapons each having their own strengths and weaknesses, finding a compromise takes some time and is a nice change from the formulaic, ‘this one unlocks last, ergo it’s the best!’

Presentation

As always, it looks stunning, the visual fidelity can even surpass other exclusive titles on the platform. With expected camera pans and sweeps that zoom out for Kratos to become a spec upon these huge landscapes is no mean feat; it never fails to impress. Audio wise, it’s honestly one of the better sounding games I have heard in a long time, effects are punchy; voices are concise. One breath of fresh air is that there is, an albeit limited, choice of codecs for all the audiophiles out there. Even just putting a couple on, solidifies how much effort and attention to detail Santa Monica Studios have put in their game. Hopefully this catches on as it’s always nice to get the best possible sound out of your setup. An unusual, but welcome, inclusion is the ability to play the game in Greek, not only do things sound more authentic, but it drags you deeper into the sordid mythological world that little bit deeper.

Should You Buy?

For all it’s good, nay great points, there are a few irksome notes to point out. Firstly, this isn’t the longest game in the world, it will take approximately 8 hours to complete on normal; that’s with acquiring all the collectibles too. Hopefully the multiplayer will appeal to you, it can certainly make you realise just how bad a GoW player you are and also how much button mashing can be a somewhat effective tactic despite feeling cheap, just thinking back upon some bitter deaths there! There is also a bit of a lull in the middle where it feels like re-treaded ground, the same block puzzles crop up from a generation of consoles ago. More so, the boss battles and story are decidedly not as epic nor as exciting as God of War 3. However, if you like slashing mythical creatures up into disturbingly graphic portions, like I do, then you can’t go wrong here! It’s got replayability and multiplayer in lashings, just be aware that it’s not quite as good as God of War 3.

Reviewed on the PS3.