God of War: Ascension

pro

You won't get far into the game before you realize that the rather graphic death of Helios in God of War 3 is now a simple regular enemy finisher. This sets the tone for what is to be a brain-exposing, self-impaling but more importantly a fun and gory game. The combat is as quick and responsive as ever, making every battle a fun brawl to get through.

pro

It retains its trademark scale and this is clearly shown at the very beginning in a segment that falls just a little bit short of the impressive Poseidon fight in the previous game. The camera often predictably pans out to reveal the ridiculous detail the series is known for, and then throw you into an exhilarating quick time sequence which surprisingly never gets old in all its spectacle.

pro

For the most part it looks really, really great. Environments are huge and detailed and the enemies look amazing. Each battle is an orgy of colors and blood and visually God of War: Ascension is the best one yet.

con

The story, or lack thereof, is mainly very confusing. With no clear motivation for where you are, what you're doing and why you're doing it, Ascension ends up feeling very disjointed and thin. This feel unfair to the very impressive surroundings built around it because it makes it that much harder to appreciate it. In addition to this, the game is very poorly paced resulting in sequences that overstay its welcome quite a bit.

con

While tackling creatures the size of cities is fun, there is a severe lack of iconic enemies that will leave any kind of impression. In the end it feels like you're fighting the excess enemies that were cut from previous games due to just having better ones available at the time.

con

Your faithful Blades of Chaos is the only main weapon you will fight with. Unlocking the various states like fire, ice, lightning and souls results in some rather flashy battles, but really doesn't make any difference in the end as you can beat down anyone with anything. A few additional temporary weapons like spears and swords are scattered around but the fun is short lived.

con

Perhaps the most disappointing part of God of War: Ascension is the lack of polish. The music feels misplaced, underplays huge moments and sometimes simply vanishes. Loading occurs in the weirdest places, preferably mid-jump, mid-action or mid-someting-else. As mentioned it's also packed with a thin, badly paced story and this comes as a surprise from a studio that has released some of the most polished games out there. The end result is a somewhat boring experience that keeps reminding you how great it used to be.