The good and the bad
Gameplay is still relatively the same compared to the other games, however a new feature is the combo gauge which when full gives the blades of chaos more strength. The valor of Hercules move which has always been 3 strong hits is now only active while the combo gauge is full. This feature is a great new way to spice the action part up; this also enhances visuals as with an active combo meter, Kratos' blades will glow with the element active. Yes players can now select an element for the blades including fire, ice, electric and soul given by dipping the blades in shrines devoted to the Gods. This awesome feature however also has its downside, as the gauge depletes twice as fast as it fills, and as people who enjoy God of war will know that once you get hit by one enemy, the chain normally lasts a while in which time your meter is now depleted and back to square one.
Scenery in the game is still as amazing as it has always been; buildings look amazingly real as well as interactions with them such as smashing open doors or ceilings being brought down. Creatures still have a realistic feel to them that make players see them first time and go, 'oh my god that is cool.' That is one thing we all like about god of war, that the creatures look so real and that the executions of them are in such a brutal and grotesque way that we see it and say awesome and look forward to finishing of the next giant beast thrown at us.
God of war: ascension is the first of its series to introduce multiplayer. In this mode players choose a God to align too, each with different powers, abilities, weapons and armour. Then players can kit up and head to the arena where the games are made up of up to 8 players in a number of game modes such as the most popular 'favour of the gods' in which the object is to reach a set score by killing opponents, capturing alters and opening chests. Each map has a unique special scenario called 'gift of the gods' to aid in the match. This ranges from spinning the labyrinth to controlling the gorgons gaze. Fighting actions in multiplayer are similar to that of solo-play, with some differences such as red and gold bars above opponents and objects to signal that an interaction is available. This is anything from grabbing a feared opponent running and giving them a stab in the back to gruesomely finishing them of in the brutal manor we all love and expect from God of War. Interactions also go as far as controlling environmental weapons such as flamethrowers or ballista's to pulling levers and impaling people on spikes and more. I nice new feature that has been added to God of War is being able to pick up a secondary weapon; online players can use these to increase their destructive powers. These weapons include mace, shield, and boots of Hermes etc. If players don't want to play these modes against people they can play a challenging mode called 'trial of the gods' in which players can play solo or with another person to tackle increasingly difficult waves of ferocious mythic beasts such as Satyrs to Cyclops.
Although multiplayer takes the beautiful scenery and fast paced action of the God of War series to a higher level, it does have a few setbacks. The lack of game modes is definitely its biggest one as players can get bored playing on the same few modes. Also, one thing that new players will find is that there is no evening of levels. So a new player with standard gear might end up against a player who has top-notch gear, the result; not pretty for the newcomer.
Overall God of War is a must play game, even with its few setbacks it's a small price to pay to enjoy the fine detailed graphics, mind boggling puzzles and intense face paced gory combat.