Sage Reviews – God of War: Ascension, 8.5 out of 10 based on 28 ratings

I think of Devil May Cry and MGR: Revengeance as the wire fu, over the top martial art action we expect from Asian cinema in gaming form. By the same standard, God of War is the Jean Claude Van Dam 90′s Hollywood blockbuster. Sure, asses still get kicked in roughly the same manner, but the refinement and technicality of Asian flicks are replaced with gore and explosions.

God of War: Ascension is the latest installment to one of Sony’s biggest in-house franchises. With the series well and truly wrapped up with the epic climax that was GOW3, the only way was back. Ascension takes place just after Kratos has slaughtered his own family and come to resent Ares. With his oath to the god of war broken, he finds himself hunted by the 3 furies, which is infinitely better than being hunted by 3 furries.

However, at least being hunted by sexually deviant cosplayers would result in some interesting dialogue and narrative. God of War: Ascension has one of the most lackluster stories ever to grace the PS3 and fails to give the player any reason to get excited at all. It’s hard to feel sorry for a more sympathetic Kratos when he’s still as bloodthirsty as ever. This prelude to future events adds nothing to the GoW mythos and simply serve to link together a series of battles and puzzles in a thinly veiled excuse for a new full price title with the GoW name on it.

This is hardly up to the standard of the previous titles, either. It was going to be a hard enough task to top the splendid master piece that was the intro to GoW3, but Ascension can’t even get the 1080p display of the previous entry, let alone the quality of gameplay.

Battles feel devoid of drama and I am not referring to the many times that the soundtrack will drop out unexpectedly. Your weapons feel ineffectual, with very little recoil effect on enemies, who will respond in kind with severe inescapable combos. Not only can enemies chain off each other before players gain a recovery period, but several enemies in the game have a reach beyond Kratos’ dodge, meaning even if you do get a moment’s reprieve, damage is going to be taken regardless.

Players will often find themselves unable to do anything in battle due to the amount of enemies cluttering the screen on top of the constant harassment. God of War: Ascension feels like a lost battle in which you merely scrape by–very rarely giving you the satisfaction of knowing it was your skill that pulled you through. I found the most effective way of winning battles was to exploit invincibility frames from throws and finishers, which made me feel almost cowardly, but got the job very much done.

Aside from the overpowered enemy attacks and combos, problems arise in combat from Kratos’ new array of power-ups. Rather than gaining new weapons, this time out the lovable blood-soaked Spartan can change his blades to use one of 4 elements that can be changed on the fly with the D-pad. These include Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Soul. Each has its own distinct advantage, be it extra damage, stun, or block-breaking abilities. Combine this with a new rage bar that opens up new combos when filled, but loses power when hit, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Take the ice power, for example. I found myself relying on it more than any other ability, as it seemed to cause knockback more often. Every 4 hits with the standard light attack would stagger an opponent, often keeping them locked in a perpetual stumble. However, if I hit them enough to build the rage bar until the combo extended, it lost its kick after 4 hits and left me open to attack. By succeeding, the game rewarded me with less effective weaponry.

I could go on about the combat. I could point out the ridiculous new enemy designs that rehash the 4 elemental powers previously mentioned, or the fact that only half of the creatures in the game seem to be recognizable mythological creatures, but I won’t. Perhaps I could get into the topic of the underwhelming new circle attack that allows you to utilize a series of weapons scattered throughout the game to such little effect that the button becomes superfluous. But we have to move on, because there is so much more to complain about.

You see, if God of War: Ascension has a redeeming feature, it’s the visuals. At times, it is the best looking game on PS3. From particle effects to the architectural design, the developers have honestly outdone themselves in crafting one of the richest worlds to have been created in the medium. This is all fine, but Ascension suffers from vanity.

GoW: Ascension will sacrifice gameplay in order to show you the beauty of your surroundings. I recently purchased a 47″ HDTV with all the trimmings and several times in this game I found myself unable to see my character. I’m not talking about sequences in which you walk up some steps to a panning shot; I’m talking about the middle of fights. Be it the middle of a battle or the crucial moment in a platforming section, the camera will draw itself out to show you the full glory that is ancient Greece. More than once I was treated to the game over screen due to these perspective changes, and I would see that screen many more times for a multitude of reasons–next to none of them my due to my own error.

Level design and interactivity in God of War: Ascension is almost criminal. Don’t misunderstand me; the levels in and of themselves are more than suitable, if a little called in–it’s the way they work. Often I found myself double jumping at ledges only to find Kratos has lost the ability to grab them. Several times I would swing on an interactive point only to fall to my death as the next point hadn’t activated yet. Even when led on a linear path, I often found myself falling to my death without any options available to me. On most of these, a second play-through would reveal that the platform I was meant to land on simply had not appeared the first time. The term frustrating simply didn’t sum up my feelings.