• Publisher: SCEA
  • Release Date: Mar 12, 2013
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 456 Ratings

  • Summary: Ascension is a prequel to the initial God of War. 6 months have elapsed since Kratos stood before the bodies of his wife and child, his hands stained with their blood - duped by Ares into killing the only people he ever loved. Vowing to avenge them, Kratos shattered the blood oath that bound him to Ares. Sentenced to an eternity chained within a prison for the living damned, Kratos battles insanity at the hands of the Furies. He will be tested as he seeks freedom, redemption for his sins, and the clarity to avenge his family. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 87
  2. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Mar 17, 2013
    96
    Ascension is another 'instant classic' entry into the amazing God of War series.
  2. 86
    Instead of watching Kratos become less and less mortal, we are reconnected to him as a human betrayed by the Gods.
  3. Mar 13, 2013
    86
    Despite the greatness of the combat, the new additions that enhance our enjoyment of the brutal battle, the awesome spectacle and sense of scale, and the top-notch graphics, we do feel – to some extent – let down. We seem to be missing the very core of Kratos, the awe-inspiring nature of the series isn’t quite as obvious here, and the multiplayer isn’t up to par.
  4. Apr 1, 2013
    70
    Sadly, there are weaknesses here that are exclusively down to the new additions to the game, and this makes it tough to call Ascension a particularly great game in its own right.

See all 87 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 27 out of 155
  1. 9
    Wow! finally another God of War game which is my favorite video game saga ever! This game is great, especially if you like any of the God of War games. The graphics are beautiful, the sound is ok but cuts out at times in some places. The story is pretty good but not the best in the series and not as many boss battles as i would have liked. The bosses you do encounter are pretty sweet and the brutality is there and better than ever! Multiplayer is pretty fun and i like it alot better than i thought. The reason this game is not a solid 10 from me is because of a few glitches that are annoying throughout the game, hopefully a simple patch will fix them. Great game!! Highly recommend! Expand
  2. While Ascension is fun, it is nowhere near to Gow3. A weaker story and less satisfying combat. On hard mode, enemies are too much making it sometimes a chore to clear out all the spawns. Expand
  3. Ascension doesn't even come close to the epic scale of the other God of War games and misses a lot of its marks. Story wasn't very satisfying to play through, and the combat is beginning to show its age. The puzzles weren't very intuitive, and there was a bit too many platforming bits for my taste. The next game is going to have to pull out all the stops if the series wishes to remain relevant in the fast-paced video game industry. Still, it's worth playing when it comes down in price, or if you give it a rent. Expand
  4. 3
    For starters. The game seems just unfinished. The audio is quite flat for 5.1 surround. I honestly had to keep checking my sound system display to make sure it was outputting to all the channels. The graphics are, of course, over-the-top for vistas and cutscenes, but for the platforming and combat there is something just off about everything. Kratos moves in such a wooden manner that [evade] is pointless. Likewise, [double jump] is completely broken. Don't expect much reliability, accuracy or timing with that one in a boss battle. Don't expect precision from either if you are being swarmed.

    And that leads me to my main issue with the game: the difficulty settings are astronomically skewed. If you initially select Hard, be prepared to do a lot of the same stuff repeatedly until you just happen to luck your way past a fight. Why? Because of the above issues meet an egregiously reprehensible respawn implementation in the game. Apparently, the developers are so in love with their sweeping set pieces that they want us to experience them over and over and over and over ad nauseam et infinitum. Their idea of scaled difficulty is to overwhelm Kratos in a small area with defective defenses against a multitude of leveled-up enemies who cannot be avoided vertically And laterally. Death is quick and often. Restart is also brilliantly without full health and often before a long intro (to an even minor battle) that is not skippable! And some of these "cutscenes" you have to actively trudge through for no reason just to get back to the point of inevitable reset.

    I am all for a challenging experience but it has to be well-designed. And it cannot impede progress in the narrative. Easy Level typically means an all-offense approach will get you through. Normal Level requires some avoidance and some defensive tactics. Hard more defense, combos, wise upgrades. Insane hard plus precise timing, stealth, wait-and-see strategy. And all of those are fine if the gameplay mechanics of the release function and do so with balance to the enemy AI. Seriously, Santa Monica should have spent the wasted time of a multiplayer into polishing the interactive campaign portions which actually feel like a bad stiff multiplayer. One of the worst sins of game-making is undue repetitious gameplay in story mode; in multiplayer it is expected. But in this campaign, it causes a player to walk away from the console.

    Plus, even if it were working, it is just the same old familiar GOW you've done five games before. And in this latest one, you'll be repeating enough as it is.
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See all 155 User Reviews