Perhaps it isn’t poor design in the puzzles themselves, it’s just that after five God of War games in eight years I know the answer before I even know what the question is. This is how most of the puzzles feel throughout the game, not challenging. For the first couple of puzzles it seems like an interesting idea, and it is, but it never builds upon the foundation it lays and just ends up falling flat. Occasionally, you’ll have to break an object first, or stop its “rebuilding” halfway between, but for the most part it’s the same thing over and over. The extent of most puzzles involves you going up to an object (which the game highlights indicating you can interact with it) and fixing it. The amulet allows you to restore objects in the environment to what they where years ago before they broke. Instead the amulet is primarily going to be used in puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles. Sure, you can use it in combat to temporarily slow enemies down, which is a tremendous help, but the game never really forces or encourages you to do so. The amulet allows you to speed up or slow down time, but not in a real time manner so much as it is used for puzzles. The other biggest new feature in Ascension is the use of the Amulet of Uroborus. At first glance it might appear like the “rage meter” works similar to Rage of the Gods in the past, but it doesn’t. Other than the basic moves that the blades come with, all the upgrades you buy can’t be used unless Kratos’s “rage meter” is active. The twist however, is that you’re practically handcuffed as a player and restricted on what you can and can’t use. You’ll collect a lot of red orbs and be able to use those orbs to buy upgrades as usual. These weapons can be handy in some cases, but for the most part are totally inferior to your fully upgraded Blades of Chaos. Kratos only has his blades at his disposal in terms of weapons, aside from the new twist that he can now pick up or steal enemy weapons. However, there is a new gameplay element in combat that really sends you for a loop. The controls are responsive and work tremendously well like they always have. Whipping out the Blades of Chaos and wreaking havoc on enemies is still as fun and fluid as it’s ever been. God of War Ascension’s combat takes a unique turn. I respect what they were trying to do, but instead of it ending up as something interesting to look at it just makes it damn near impossible to see what the heck is happening on the screen. To make matters even worse, the developers at Sony Santa Monica felt the need to zoom out the camera in many combat sequences for a “cinematic” perspective. Other than that though, most of the environments aren’t really that memorable and for a franchise that’s developed so many along the way (Pandora’s Box, The Labyrinth, Hades Underworld), it’s a shame to see so few inspiring places this time around. The giant prison that’s built/merged on Hetatoncaries (a Titan I think?) is a marvel to look at. In the past, God of War has been known for its huge sense of scale and some of the eye popping visuals the epic battles would have, and to some extent that glory returns in Ascension. Sure, the Gorgons have different visual designs this time around, but you’re still going to approach fighting them in the same manner as you always have. The enemy designs and even the levels just don’t feel as inspiring as they used to. None of it is bad by any means, it just all feels like familiar ground. You’ll get involved in big doses of combat, solve some puzzles, and that’s about it. The game mechanics themselves are the typical outing you’d expect from a God of War game.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |