God of War Ascension is a good game that shows that Santa Monica knows very well how to build epic and action-packed experiences, however, the story it has and the fact that it includes a multiplayer mode are a sign of how stagnant of ideas they were in terms of what direction they wanted to take God of War, their flagship franchise.
Literally throughout the entire game one half of me was going "Wow, this is pretty amazing" and the other half was going "What's really the point of this game?", haha, I really, really don't understand what the point is. Making a game that tells the story of how Kratos broke his oath with Ares is unnecessary and redundant, and while the story tries to be "good", it's just there for decoration to justify a new God of War game. It's pretty forgettable and carries no weight whatsoever in all the other games. I think if you want to know more about Kratos' past, God of War 1 and Chains of Olympus itself tell more than enough to know why Kratos is such a trauma guy.
(I won't cover the multiplayer in this review, because although it looks entertaining and I just found out that it's still running as of this writing, I don't think there are many people playing it at this point and I don't have much interest right now either).
But hey, as unnecessary as this game is, I won't deny that it's very pleasing to see another God of War game with the same production values as GoW3, and by that I mean showing off scenery and animations with a ton of quality; if you ever, for some strange reason, wondered what an elephant's brain would look like, this God of War answers that question. Combat is just as refined as ever, there are a couple of changes to the button configuration and interface, but everything is done with the same care as the other God of War. A mechanic of being able to take secondary weapons is added, but the way it works, it seems like a mechanic taken from the multiplayer mode that doesn't end up working really well in the main campaign, I guess you can see it as a small addition and nothing more. I guess the only new mechanic that is tied in with the story is that Kratos can't do his iconic full combo with the Blades of Chaos as he needs to fill up a fury bar to unlock it, which fills up when you do a big combo in a row without taking damage, and it's a weird change that I didn't really like, but I guess it doesn't really affect much in the grand scheme of things. Speaking of the new powers that are there to expand the combat of this GoW, there is actually very little variety of weapons and magics this time around, as there are only 2 in the entire game, but it's made up for with the elemental Blades of Chaos. In total there are 4 elements and each one expands and changes Kratos' combos in its own way, as well as giving you an unlockable special move once you reach the last upgrade. I really liked the elements thing and it was a very nice addition that makes it cooler to fight with the Blades of Chaos.
The locations you visit in this game look spectacular, yes, Santa Monica worked some black magic to make this run on a PS3, it's simply mind blowing, and there is a very good variety of scenarios, although because this game lacks justification, many times I felt like I was visiting a bunch of random places with no connection and really no apparent reason. But what was great for me is that in this game there are a lot of puzzles, I think it is the game in this series where more attention is given to them and where I had more fun doing them, and the best thing is that later in the game you get a magic to solve puzzles related to time manipulation, and it shows once again the capabilities of the PS3 by how spectacular it looks in action.
One thing that bothered me at first is how cinematic this game tried to be with some sequences, but then those same type of sequences were repeated later on and they really weren't as bad as they seemed, I even enjoyed them for how they played out with the scenery, I'm sure Santa Monica took a lot of inspiration from Naughty Dog and the Uncharted series for some of these sequences.
Conclusion
God of War Ascension is a good game that contains all the elements to be a main game... well, almost; It lacks one vital element for me, which is a story of magnitude, which even a Spin-off like Chains of Olympus has, I mean, part of the core of every God of War game is that there is something to unveil, or that there is a final act that carries a repercussion for later games, every game in the series has this without exception (not counting Betrayal because that game was only played by 5 people), every game with the exception of Ascension. Here everything Kratos does feels insignificant, and somehow makes this God of War feel incomplete by lacking an interesting story to tell. I feel that this God of War is the least transcendent for that very reason, but at the same time, it is undeniable that Santa Monica Studio did an excellent job with this game, as it is a quality game with the same length as any other main game.
Literally throughout the entire game one half of me was going "Wow, this is pretty amazing" and the other half was going "What's really the point of this game?", haha, I really, really don't understand what the point is. Making a game that tells the story of how Kratos broke his oath with Ares is unnecessary and redundant, and while the story tries to be "good", it's just there for decoration to justify a new God of War game. It's pretty forgettable and carries no weight whatsoever in all the other games. I think if you want to know more about Kratos' past, God of War 1 and Chains of Olympus itself tell more than enough to know why Kratos is such a trauma guy.
(I won't cover the multiplayer in this review, because although it looks entertaining and I just found out that it's still running as of this writing, I don't think there are many people playing it at this point and I don't have much interest right now either).
But hey, as unnecessary as this game is, I won't deny that it's very pleasing to see another God of War game with the same production values as GoW3, and by that I mean showing off scenery and animations with a ton of quality; if you ever, for some strange reason, wondered what an elephant's brain would look like, this God of War answers that question. Combat is just as refined as ever, there are a couple of changes to the button configuration and interface, but everything is done with the same care as the other God of War. A mechanic of being able to take secondary weapons is added, but the way it works, it seems like a mechanic taken from the multiplayer mode that doesn't end up working really well in the main campaign, I guess you can see it as a small addition and nothing more. I guess the only new mechanic that is tied in with the story is that Kratos can't do his iconic full combo with the Blades of Chaos as he needs to fill up a fury bar to unlock it, which fills up when you do a big combo in a row without taking damage, and it's a weird change that I didn't really like, but I guess it doesn't really affect much in the grand scheme of things. Speaking of the new powers that are there to expand the combat of this GoW, there is actually very little variety of weapons and magics this time around, as there are only 2 in the entire game, but it's made up for with the elemental Blades of Chaos. In total there are 4 elements and each one expands and changes Kratos' combos in its own way, as well as giving you an unlockable special move once you reach the last upgrade. I really liked the elements thing and it was a very nice addition that makes it cooler to fight with the Blades of Chaos.
The locations you visit in this game look spectacular, yes, Santa Monica worked some black magic to make this run on a PS3, it's simply mind blowing, and there is a very good variety of scenarios, although because this game lacks justification, many times I felt like I was visiting a bunch of random places with no connection and really no apparent reason. But what was great for me is that in this game there are a lot of puzzles, I think it is the game in this series where more attention is given to them and where I had more fun doing them, and the best thing is that later in the game you get a magic to solve puzzles related to time manipulation, and it shows once again the capabilities of the PS3 by how spectacular it looks in action.
One thing that bothered me at first is how cinematic this game tried to be with some sequences, but then those same type of sequences were repeated later on and they really weren't as bad as they seemed, I even enjoyed them for how they played out with the scenery, I'm sure Santa Monica took a lot of inspiration from Naughty Dog and the Uncharted series for some of these sequences.
Conclusion
God of War Ascension is a good game that contains all the elements to be a main game... well, almost; It lacks one vital element for me, which is a story of magnitude, which even a Spin-off like Chains of Olympus has, I mean, part of the core of every God of War game is that there is something to unveil, or that there is a final act that carries a repercussion for later games, every game in the series has this without exception (not counting Betrayal because that game was only played by 5 people), every game with the exception of Ascension. Here everything Kratos does feels insignificant, and somehow makes this God of War feel incomplete by lacking an interesting story to tell. I feel that this God of War is the least transcendent for that very reason, but at the same time, it is undeniable that Santa Monica Studio did an excellent job with this game, as it is a quality game with the same length as any other main game.