The lack of dialogue from the familiar voice of Terrence C. The shiny visuals of God of War 3 (some of the best graphics seen on the system) have been replaced with what appears to be a pastel-esque colour palette and for reasons unknown, there is very little dialogue in this game and those familiar with the series will know that Kratos is very vocal. Ascension just somehow manages to miss the mark, failing to reach the grand scale of its predecessors, least of all God of War 3 which might possibly be one of the greatest games of all time. God of War: Ascension’s combat is fast, fluid and fun (excuse the use of alliteration) and brutally slaying your foes is as satisfying as ever. Not to be misconstrued, I did enjoy Ascension thoroughly, the problem is that just doesn’t feel like the first three games, serving as a companion to the series rather than a full-blown continuation. While there are indeed some changes, Ascension plays fundamentally the same as its predecessors with its ‘modified’ God of War 3 engine. To say that the game mechanics have been radically altered or bettered since the Spartan’s last outing simply wouldn’t be true. Ascension gives us a more humanized Kratos as he struggles to come to terms with the loss of his family. What God of War: Ascension does offer is a look into Kratos’ past as it expands upon the character’s mythos, namely the death of his family and his betrayal to Ares. Basically, the antagonists in Ascension, be they serpent, beast or Fury, never stood a chance to begin with. To compound matters further, since Kratos has pretty much killed every prolific character in Greek mythology, God of War: Ascension is populated with lesser-known characters that less face it, are lesser known for a reason and because this is a prequel, Kratos wouldn’t have eliminated any of the gods because Ascension is leading up to where the first game begins. Unfortunately, not much can be said about the latter as the Furies pale in comparison to the Gods of Olympus (Gow 3′s Poseidon battle anyone?) and as a result of this, the Fury battles never really feel like boss battles. The three Furies Megaera, Tisiphone and the Fury Queen Alecto serve as the main antagonists in Ascension. God of War: Ascension is set ten years before the events of God of War, in which the narrative begins with Kratos being tortured by a Fury (Furies were spawned into existence before the Titans or the Olympians and are the guardians of honour, punishing those they deem to be quilty) for the crime of oath-breaker, after Kratos renounced his servitude to Ares. Your initial thoughts may mirror my own, who exactly is left for Kratos to kill (torture and maim) and how exactly does Santa Monica Studio intend on progressing the narrative? Well that’s the real question isn’t it, because after the events of God of War 3, the only direction that they could’ve gone is backwards and that’s exactly what the developers have done as Ascension serves as a prequel to the entire series. Can Ascension match the epicness of God of War 3? In short, no. Like I said, interested but not necessarily overly pleased. It's still worth a look for grown up gamers who crave finely tuned brawling action - especially fans of the series who have always wished they could test their godly war skills against other humans in online multiplayer - but don't expect the experience to have quite the same impact as that of previous games in the series.The God of War series is one of Sony’s most lucrative franchises so needless to say I was interested upon hearing that there would be life after the last instalment. Maybe it's simply that Kratos' story, which has followed an epic arc that includes what felt like a conclusion, feels like it should be over. It could be that it is becoming too familiar, that players have seen everything they want or expect to see at this point in the series. From a technical and graphical perspective, it ranks highly among achievements in PlayStation 3 games.Īnd yet it's still lacking a certain something. Plus, the wildly over-the-top, undeniably cinematic boss fights are nothing if not memorable. Tweaks to combat - including a new ability to pick up weapons lying around the world - have been expertly inserted into action that otherwise feels welcoming and familiar. God of War: Ascension is impeccably designed and perhaps the most visually grand entry in Sony's PlayStation-exclusive action series.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |