Considering God of War Ascension is already out in North America and we’ve had the game for a while, you might wonder why our review isn’t out yet. The most obvious guess would be that we’re holding on to the game so we can test out the multiplayer, we wouldn’t want another Gears of War 2 problem where no damn review site told it’s readers that the multiplayer was BROKEN.
That’s actually not the case at all, in fact I’ve managed to play a few matches the other day and it works surprisingly well on a technical level. The real reason there isn’t a review on the site (The UK embargo ends today) is simply because I’m stuck, that’s right. I am stuck on a videogame and at the time of writing am unable to proceed any further, at least not within the time constraints I’m working with to get the review done.
I have a long history with the God of War titles, I started back in 2005 with the original release and have played each game in the series since then. God of War II and Ghost of Sparta are my favourites in case you’re wondering. I usually play through them on normal difficulty and generally have a smooth playthrough, unless we’re talking about those stupid rotating spikes from the first God of War game.
With God of War Ascension I once again find myself playing through normal difficulty and progressing nicely at a steady pace, a handful of stupid puzzles aside. At this point I’ve put about 7 hours into the campaign, an educated guess suggests that I’m nearing the end of the game but unfortunately it appears that the developers aim to kill my desire to ever bother finishing this God of War title.
Nothing of what I’m about to describe could be considered a spoiler but if you are touchy regarding that stuff then I suggest you leave, just in case. Right towards the end of the game in God of War Ascension there is basically what amounts to a “gauntlet elevator” sequence, the game throws a ton of re-spawning enemies at you which isn’t the hardest thing in the world. The problem is that you’re expected to repeat the process three times with no checkpoints in between and no real chance to recover your life.
Listen I’m okay with getting my ass handed to me, in fact I recently praised Metal Gear Rising for providing me with a challenging boss battle but the same does not apply to God of War Ascension. There is a difference between kicking my ass until I become a better player and being frustratingly annoying to the point where I start looking for ways to exploit the game mechanics to my advantage.
The God of War series features a ton of combat and yet it isn’t the sharpest tool in the box, I have fun with these games but it’s hardly Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden. The combat in God of War has always been easy to pick up and play, it’s more about visual spectacle than it is about delivering an in depth combat system. This is fine and I don’t have a problem with it, my problem lies in the fact that I feel the developers are not giving me the tools necessary to overcome the challenge. I don’t mean to sound off like I’m crying about my lack of ability but rather it’s my issue with the gauntlet sequence being nothing short of cheap.
Whenever you struggle in a combat originated title it’s always best to stop going all out offensive and review your defensive options. You’d be surprised how often people overlook the good old counter attack as an option. In God of War Ascension you’re basically given two defensive options, the evade roll and the block/parry system. The evasive roll is as rubbish as ever, a quick flick of the right analog stick sends Kratos in that direction but sadly there is a short pause before you’re able to perform another roll. It’s fine when you’re dodging an attack, not so good they there are numerous enemies surrounding you.
Something that I always found amusing about the roll was the ability to essentially “break” the mechanic all together. Ever since the original God of War, players have been able to press an attack button at the end of a roll in order to “cancel” the short pause and perform another straight away. Whenever I find Kratos running a little too slow for my liking I abuse this in order to traverse through environments quicker. Given how this has never been “fixed” since 2005, one would assume that it’s an intended mechanic but considering how the “exploit” requires a thumb on the right analog stick and the index finger on the square button, the awkward nature of how you perform it has me thinking it’s not intended.
The second defensive option is the blocking system which kind of works, I say kind of because holding L1 isn’t going to block everything. Some stuff requires you to dodge out of the way and we’ve already looked at the problems surrounding the evasive roll under high pressure moments. The blocking can cancelled unto, press an attack followed by L1 and Kratos will go straight into a blocking stance which is fantastic. Now do a roll and hold L1, you’ll see that there is a small lag from rolling before Kratos goes into a blocking stance. This small oversight makes it impossible to transition from evasive to defensive options without leaving an opening.
An opening is exactly what you look for in a fighting game, gamers are always posting in online forums which moves are safe and which ones are not. It works well for a one on one fighter when you’re just eyeing out for openings to take advantage of but not so much when it’s Kratos vs. 7 other enemies all attacking at once. In order to overcome this stupid gauntlet it’s essential you take advantage of “invincible frames” during animation. In God of War you would refer to these as QTE sequences because once activated, it’s just you and one enemy with no one else able to deal damage.
Another set of animations that are invincible would be the magic attacks which are performed with a tap of R2. The gauntlet isn’t making me a better player, all is doing is highlighting the weakness in God of War’s combat system. It’s actively making me look for ways to break the game, overcoming this gauntlet appears to be nothing more than “How cheaply can I go from one OTE sequence to another”.
There’s a parry system in the game, in fact you’d think it would be a life saver under the right hands. Well some genius over at Sony Santa Monica changed the parry system from a simple tap of L1 to pressing both L1 and X at the same time. It’s utterly counter intuitive, it requires too much “thinking about doing it” rather than just pressing L1 on instinct and having it happen.
As far as I’m concerned the gauntlet with it’s stupid repetitive spawning enemies is nothing short of a dick move by the developers. Not only is it cheap as hell requiring you to exploit the game, it’s also a random difficulty spike for no reason other than “oh shit, the player is nearing the end. Let’s lengthen our game”.
I could of reviewed God of War Ascension and pretended I’d finished it, no one would of noticed but instead I decided to call out the developer on it’s bullshit design. I would love to make games journalism a career someday but I have no intention of “losing touch” with the gamers like so many other journalists have, I review games on a site and I got stuck no differently than the average gamer would so I want to share with you my direct experiences.
When I’m reviewing a game or simply discussing it on the site, I write it as if I were explaining it casually to a friend. I don’t hide behind fancy words, clever writing and or aim to be all that professional about it because the more you do that, the more you forget what it’s like to be a gamer sitting in a room playing videogames. This is why I prefer blogs and forums over big corporate sites, you’ll find people doing it because it’s their passion and not because it’s their job.
I don’t think this gauntlet is an impossible challenge, I will go back and I guess after a while I’ll be able to overcome it but it certainly won’t be as a result of skill. I’d like to think that an patch is in order, I don’t claim to be the greatest gamer around (and I admitted that to God of War Ascension when I selected NORMAL) but this gauntlet has seriously hurt my enjoyment of the game. Even worse is the message the developers are sending out, is this an oversight due to lack of testing or do they actually think this was a good idea. What purpose does the gauntlet serve other than to stop what I assume would be a great deal of players from ever finishing your game?
My name is Xavier Perez, I’ve…
- Completed Jet Force Gemini, yes even collected all those bears.
- Finished Resident Evil remake invisible enemy mode in under 5 hours.
- Done Gears of War on insane, yup even got past that stupid vechicle section.
- 100% F-Zero GX, even Chapter 7 on Very Hard.
- Even managed to top the SoulCalibur V leaderboards.
And yet I can’t even get past a stupid silly gauntlet on God of War Ascension on Normal.
Update: A lead developer on God of War Ascension has announced on Twitter that the game will receive patch in regards to the Trial of Archimedes. The patch will make that section of the game easier which is a good, I don’t have a problem with games that are hard, just games that are cheap.
