Long time lurker, first time poster.
I expected GOW Ascension to garner reviews in the 7 to 8-ish range. If it's "more of the same", I'll still happily play it. Nevertheless, I do understand the creeping sense of familiarity... which of course, breeds contempt.
If there is an actual God of War 4 at some point down the road, I'd like to see the game still retain Kratos as the primary protagonist, but perhaps meld the game play to be kind of like Zelda where there's a large over world and underworld (temples, perhaps?), more fiendish puzzles, and of course, combat. In this version, Kratos would have to destroy the remnants of the Greek pantheon (such that they are after GOW3), as well as gods from other mythologies.
I know that battling gods from other mythologies is something that has been brought up before as a possible alternative to the formula... In fact, wasn't there a version where Jaffe offered up the idea that after Kratos killed off Zeus, his death lead to the sudden emergence of a portal which allowed for other gods to invade Kratos' world (which in turn, would allow Kratos to travel to their worlds and bring destruction).
In essence, it was the power of Zeus that had kept the other gods at bay (I believe Athena said in GOW2 that "Zeus IS Olympus", if memory serves), and with the vacuum created by his death, it lead to a power struggle amongst Norse and Egyptian gods. I'm sorry, I'm not remembering the whole thing... But I thought bringing that element coupled with perhaps a Zelda/Demon Soul's like world might be a viable option for the series to ponder.