![]() ![]() Sometimes a franchise simply runs its course. I'm not even sure I'm making criticism of the game so much as I'm making an acknowledgement of what I find missing from the God of War experience writ large. That's not the game, though, and that's fine. ![]() Could there be other tales to tell that don't include a man destined to kill every single god and creature he encounters? I suspect there could be. Maybe it's time to put our savage, rage-filled hero on the shelf for a while and explore other ways that this violent Greek mythology could be expanded. Really, nothing in Ascension is enough to make this feel like a franchise that needed to be revisited, at least with Kratos as the protagonist. I do think the new elemental powers for the Blades of Chaos are nice additions, but they're not enough to keep the game fresh. In the same way I didn't much care for the new Dante in DmC, I'm just not that into spending time with Kratos, even if I do enjoy the God of War universe. I just want to create my own character at this point, and choose my own weapons. Maybe it's Kratos or maybe it's the redundancy of it all or maybe it's a little bit of both. The action-adventure game is near and dear to my heart, but I feel too limited in Ascension even with the new elemental powers available to Kratos. I would trade every last bit of cinematic camera work in this game for a player-controlled perspective in a heartbeat. We're constantly shifting angles to watch as Kratos slides down icy slopes or leaps across a gorge or as you fight your way up the back of a snake and the camera just keeps pulling further and further out until really you can't even see where your character is anymore. Second, the fixed perspective makes the game more cinematic. If the camera points you right, go left and you'll find the treasure and be on your merry way. This means that once you learn the trick (one suspects, many games ago) you just always go the way the camera isn't indicating and you'll find a chest or two. It seems like the entire use of fixed-perspective is intended to do two things:įirst, to hide secret chests out of view. Now shut up and get ready for the next QTE. Why can't I- oh stop asking these silly questions. ![]() ![]() Why can't I go search over here? Because this invisible wall is blocking me. Why can't I run this way down the ramp? Because the perspective ends. In God of War, the fixed perspective is used to artificially render some areas out of bounds. In Ascension, I'm reminded of how little I like fixed-perspective games. Likewise, it's a shame that the level design itself doesn't match the level aesthetic. It's just a shame that it all invariably ends with a QTE. Riding giant snakes through the mountains to turn the wheel of some mythic apparatus or facing off against a huge, scarab-infected statue-god.this is great, imaginative stuff. Whatever is gaudy and over the top and cringe-worthy about Kratos and the ultra-violence he meets out is wonderful and breathtaking when it comes to the actual vistas you encounter. The best part about Ascension is sort of the same thing as the best part about God of War 3-epic set-pieces that push the boundaries of the PlayStation 3 and make our jaws drop. Some of the mini-bosses are really tough, and the backdrops where all these fights take place are stunning and massive and ludicrous (in a good way.) That being said, there are still some very satisfying fights in Ascension. It's like Sony Santa Monica relishes changing the rules on you mid-fight, and it's irritating to no end because games are about fixed rules, about taking a system and learning and perfecting it.Īctually, I think QTEs are all about changing the rules of the game in ways that are intrinsically opposed to the nature of gaming, and very rarely succeed at improving gameplay at all. Either way, there's too many QTEs.Īt times you latch onto a big monster and have to prepare yourself for that button flashing on the top/bottom/left/right of the screen and at other times you're just expected to slash away at the beast. I was hoping for less of this in Ascension, but it's still everywhere. It's one of those love-hate things, where every time combat starts to get interesting I'm forced to press O, now mash X, now hit triangle just at the right moment and Kratos will do some super cinematic kill move that's all gratuitous violence and no actual game. The game can be hard and satisfying at times, but fights are so often punctuated by Quick Time Events (QTEs) that I want to quit out of principle. Combat in the series has also only ever half-impressed me and once again Ascension succeeds and fails in equal measure. ![]()
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