A new spin in fantasy world
User Rating: 8 | Ascend: Hand of Kul X360
Ascend hand of Kul Signal studios The Good New take on mmo Visually appealing The Bad Lacking storyline Repetitive combat Features I would like to see Co-operative play Cinematic cutscenes Improved smartglass feature Ascend Hand of Kul is a free to play game created by Signal Studios that is currently available on the Xbox live marketplace, The game is still in its beta phase so expect a few hiccups here and there. You are Caos a behemoth summoned by man in a time where giants and titans rule the world, to wage war against the old gods and the new. Your objective prevent the rise kul and prevent the spread of the other alignment gods by conquering shrines and altars. "The Caos are giants of towering strength" Ascend Hand of Kul starts you off with a basic but thorough tutorial that teaches you everything you will need to play and survive the world of Ascend, the combat system gets very repetitive after about an hour of gameplay, changing only ever so slightly depending on wether your using a two handed weapon or a one handed weapon. The repetitiveness is however forgiven by the chance of performing finishing moves that can be performed by knocking an enemy’s health down, each enemy comes with its own unique set of three finishing moves that make the combat very worthwhile plus the bonus experience gained from this action. The in game currency is souls which can be gained from combat as well as purchased through the only version of micro transactions in bulk. Souls are used for everything for your character, be it a new piece of armour or upgrading a spell. Newer players to the game will find that they are spending excess amounts of souls by repairing their equipment as the game does not mention that back in the sanctum they can repair their equipment for a different cost, the cost being time but a great tool to use when logging off the night. The combat system also has its own unique way of throwing a twist at you by letting you defend any shrines or altars that you have captured and turned to your Gods alignment by sending other players Ascended Caos Champions to take away your control points to help their gods own personal war in the crusade. Ascended Caos do not follow the generic combat that you will get used to from all other enemy’s that you will encounter through the game, All Ascended warriors come to battle wielding what they have been ascended with, from armour, spells and weapons each Caos is unique so be warned when approaching these foes as they can and will knock you back a few times, The in game system isn’t stupid either if your breezing your way through these ascended champions The Gods will send more experienced Caos to knock back and destroy your hopes of defending your gods dominion. "The New Gods arose as the faith of mankind returned. Dominion is now their sustenance, for without the fear and prayer of humankind, they fade into dream." "Of all living things, Only the Caos can Ascend, dying in one world and rising in another." All in all Ascend: Hand of Kul is very good game to play, however due to the missing factor of cutscenes, cinematic or just a new area pan over, and the repetitive combat system most players will find that an hour or two of gameplay at time is about all that they will throw into, bar achievement hunters and soul grinders. I have seen a lot of players asking for co-op play and pvp on twitter and in the signal studios forums and from what I have gathered from signals responses is that these features will indeed be coming to the game but when has not been confirmed. My own little section now on what I would like to see come to the game is co-op play and as mentioned before signal studios have said it will be but no date announced, what I want out of the co-op is the ability to team up on taking shrines and altars as well as some very nice co-op executions. A nice twist I think would be some new spells to compliment the co-op with healing being the obvious one. My next thing is the smartglass option which at the moment is very basic only showing you a very simple if not boring showing of your current Caos’s gear and his alignment, what I would like to see is an option to view your current Caos in all their splendour as well as an option to read through any in game lore that you’ve found. Written by Chaos0vt For more reviews please check out my website at http://pika-boo.wix.com/ifoundasquirrel and follow me on www.twitter.com/ifoundasquirrel
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