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[Darknight]

Thumbs up from me.

If you go into this game "tired" of the IP even though its been like 3 years since the last one, then skip it so we dont have to hear whining. If you like action games, get it.

Anyways, besides the graphics, its great to have strong female antagonists go against Kratos. Not like they had a chance at the end but was pretty cool. Locals were fun, puzzles were fun, gameplay is still fun.

Only downsides is the re-use of enemies with new coat of paint, audio glitches, some bugs and some actions scenes that look like they come from Uncharted...LOL. For real. I look forward to getting platinum and playing MP.

 

[Teknoman]

The first real boss: Infected Hecatonchires looks amazing, and actually made me say "Damn." out loud when it pulled back...but man is the battle itself giving me a hard time on hard mode. The game zooms out too far at times, and you have no real area effect attacks.

One thing i've never liked about God of War as of late, is that you cant seem to interrupt enemy attacks...unless i'm doing it wrong.

 

[moolhy]

Should have been a Vita game.

 

[Salz01]

I enjoyed the game. I can see where some people wouldn't like it. It didn't blow my mind, but its GOW. MP is trash though. I agree they put in lots of padding and puzzles. I'll go play parts of it. Will actually play the trials just to get better at it. I hope that GoW4 they have a better story, and focus on boss fights. Will not trade this game in though. And that's just because of the dumb demo for last of us.

 

[SillyEskimo]

It's a fair entry in a fair series. I don't really get the complaints.

 

[Mr. Fix]

I wouldn't consider it a mainline game. It's filler.

 

[Teknoman]

Apparently i'm a dummy and forgot I unlocked the cyclone attack. Guess the change in control threw me off. (hold square instead of L1 + square).

 

[Pachterballs]

One thing i've never liked about God of War as of late, is that you cant seem to interrupt enemy attacks...unless i'm doing it wrong.

UM, there's a counter move. L1+X it creates a counter bubble. You time it right to block. You're playing it wrong. that or grapple R1+throw to disrupt attacks

 

[AgentChris]

I don't consider non-numbered God of War games mainline. The MP is amazing though.

 

[Gold_Loot]

I actually think this one is about as good as GoW2. I enjoyed the little changes, +DAT final chapter.

 

[Dusky]

The game is nowhere near as impressive as GoW III was but it's still good, not entirely sure if it deserves the stick it's getting.

I'm very much liking the fluidity of combat and its added complexity. It's a shame there is a lack of variety in weapons though as the sub-weapons really do feel quite redundant and the powers Kratos acquires pretty much all feel the same. Oh and I should add the sounds effects in combat and the whizz of Kratos' blades are astounding. Shame that can't be said for the sound in general, odd moments during cutscenes and QTE's where the audio occasionally falls out of sync or impacts seeming limp are quite frequent.

The tether system and "minigames" are also a welcome addition.

The plot is forgettable and the SSM team seem to have run out of ideas of what to do with Kratos' story.

Like the OP has mentioned it was a bit of a let down to see re-hashed enemies and brutal kills for some.

I've only tried the MP during beta. Based on my experience I think it has potential but I ought to play the finished product before making a proper judgement.

Overall I am enjoying it. I can see why some die hard fans may be disappointed with this entry due to the overall package being a downgrade from previous instalments. In my eyes it has improved on minor aspects such as combat fluidity and some areas of its visuals (I do feel the art style is different though and perhaps not as pretty as GoW III, but maybe that's just me). For me GoW has mainly been about combat and from that perspective it does not disappoint, I would even go as to say that GoW:A's combat is the best yet for the series.

Well my post turned into a review in the end which wasn't my initial intention but oh well.

 

[Chamber]

Nope, that's God of War 1.

 

[The Hermit]

Nope, that's God of War 1.

he asked for the worst, not the best.

And yeah OP, as soon as I saw the trailer I knew they were milking the cow dry. The end of the 3rd one is good (could be awesome, if that evil Deus EX Machina Pandora Box thingy didn't existed and just showed that all Kratos did was murdering and dooming everyone) enough to end the series.

 

[Bad_Boy]

Mainline.

What makes this mainline? Because it's on PS3? lol

 

[Chamber]

he asked for the worst, not the best.

I didn't mention God of War 2, playboy.

 

[Teknoman]

UM, there's a counter move. L1+X it creates a counter bubble. You time it right to block. You're playing it wrong. that or grapple R1+throw to disrupt attacks

Im good now, just was getting beat down by the large amount of enemies in a small area. I need to get used to the parry after coming fresh off Revengence though, especially since a miss leaves you severely open.

 

[AwRy108]

I think it's the combat for me, combined with the extremely aggressive and damage sponge-y enemies.

This is my experience exactly. In trying to make the combat more "hardcore", they side-stepped the part where they're supposed to make it fun.

That said, I do find the MP rather intriguing and refreshing, so at least I'll get my mileage out of the purchase.

 

[Chamber]

That said, I do find the MP rather intriguing and refreshing, so at least I'll get my mileage out of the purchase.

I can dig the MP, I just wish it wasn't built around XP and unlockables. It's God of War, I just want to make a character and smash things and people. Forget this grinding stuff.

 

[Sid]

What makes this mainline? Because it's on PS3? lol

You know what forget this mainline garbage,I basically meant the native console games.

 

[RockmanWhore]

I don't agree with the combat being worse, it's much better IMO. It's a shame that they've abandonned the Cestus of course, but alternative weapons have always been a problem with this series, the blades of chaos are too great (powerful, flexible, long range...), but the core mecanics have been reworked and the flow of the game is more fluid now. They could have done more with the secondary weapon things though, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but outside of the shields and hammer, I don't see much tactical interest to steal weapons. They should have expended the "ride creature" feature too, it's an awesome feature and it's barelly used even though they have this system working since GoW 3.

As a whole I think this game lacks polish, some areas look absolutely gorgeous, but some others don't, and the whole game kind of feels that way. I don't know if it's a problem of a rushed release, or a lack of motivation (after all these GoW games, the guys at Santa Monica might want to work on something else...). Sony should let Santa Monica work on a new franchise next, GoW is awesome, but it's getting stale.

 

[B.O.O.M]

Best combat in the whole series.

 

[RedAssedApe]

how is the sex mini-game?

 

[TDSpartan]

I really don't understand the hate at all.

I mean, sure.. the story is a joke. A complete waste of an opportunity... no Kratos rising through spartan ranks, no Kratos serving Ares etc. Just generic crap.

but...

+Best combat
+Best puzzles
+Best platforming
+Best items
+Best environments/art (or at least.. on par with GOWII)

I do feel that it was a couple of boss fights, a couple extra enemy types and an hour or two short of being the clear best GOW singleplayer (and of course a story not scrawled on the back of a napkin) but this is a high quality game.

The addition of the phenomenal multiplayer makes it, as a package.. the best GOW by far for me.

Can't believe the hate. Reskinned enemies? Yeah cause GOWII didn't do that....

 

[Sn4ke_911]

*raises hand*

 

[Dion Blaster]

Dat double negative.

Who is he, an NFL announcer?

 

[Sid]

Best combat in the whole series.

How? locking moves behind a rage meter,rage being gone with one hit,broken parry system,cheap goatmen etc. make this fall behind every entry bar the CoO and GoS I guess.

I really don't understand the hate at all.

I mean, sure.. the story is a joke. A complete waste of an opportunity... no Kratos rising through spartan ranks, no Kratos serving Ares etc. Just generic crap.

but...

+Best combat
+Best puzzles
+Best platforming
+Best items
+Best environments/art (or at least.. on par with GOWII)

I do feel that it was a couple of boss fights, a couple extra enemy types and an hour or two short of being the clear best GOW singleplayer (and of course a story not scrawled on the back of a napkin) but this is a high quality game.

The addition of the phenomenal multiplayer makes it, as a package.. the best GOW by far for me.

Can't believe the hate. Reskinned enemies? Yeah cause GOWII didn't do that....

MP can go F itself when the expectation was that it'll improve on GoW 3 just like every GoW game has over it's predecessor on the same console.

 

[Valnen]

What makes this mainline? Because it's on PS3? lol

Because it's not a spinoff.

 

[burnfout]

Not sure why folks are not loving GOWA.

I'm having an absolute ball.
- The combat is much more fluid & complex than any other title in the series.
- The art, level designs are very gorgeous!
- It offers grater insight into the making of Kratos and

Spoiler

the origin of Ares purpose for him.

- The music is stunning and the mini boss fights varied/fun

Simply put, I'm loving the game... only 4 more chapters to go!

I'm only half way, but this is how I feel.


The opening in GOW3 was better, but overall I'm enjoying Ascension more!

 

[Carnby]

I still think Ghost of Sparta was the worst entry.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Wait a minute...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=50004525&postcount=2039

What happened bro?

lol. classic.

 

[Criminal Upper]

When you're trying to tell the story of a one dimensional character as well as the world in which he inhabits for the 6th time in a row, you're bound to hit some narrative and design problems.

I haven't played the game myself yet, but I was bored when it was unveiled as it showed so little creative energy, and actually fell asleep when I watched the 30 minute single player demo a few weeks back.

I've said it a thousand times, they should have focused on a new world/mythology and released it for the PS4.

 

[Sid]

lol. classic.

Did you read the my post after this?

 

[LightofRohan]

Who cares. It's about the MP... that was their big focus on it, why are you surprised?

And the SP was still a fun and exciting experience... no reason to be dramatic.

 

[BadAss2961]

After I finished it a couple days ago, I had it ranked as my 2nd favorite God of War after GoW2. Playing it over again on hard, I might like Ascension even more than GoW2. Though I probably do need to refresh my memory as i've only played through GoW2 once.

Ascension takes the scale and brutality of GoW3, mixes it with the locale variety and adventure of GoW2, then changes the combat system to force the player to use much more of Kratos' abilities rather than rely on the same couple moves over and over again... The results are brilliant.

Easily the most impressive visuals i've ever seen too. I repeat, easily... Somehow most of GAF hasn't caught on yet.