God of War Ascension Hands-On | Explosion

"One of the big issues I had with God of War III is that it dehumanised the already-inhumane Kratos. In earlier games, there was some semblance of a motive behind his actions, abhorrent though they were. After the third game, I frankly just came away thinking he was a bit of a dick; worse still, I helped him achieve his dickhead goals, making me something of a dick-by-proxy."

[MmaFan-Qc]

"One of the big issues I had with God of War III is that it dehumanised the already-inhumane Kratos. "

uh, weird, i felt the complete opposite seeing Kratos and Pandora interactions and how he sacrified himself to give hope to humans instead of a power hungry olympian (Athena)

[lastdual]

But did you actually buy that Kratos cared about Pandora (or anyone)?

The redemption scenario seemed pretty forced to me, especially after how needlessly brutal he is to characters that aren't even a threat to him during the first 2/3rds of the game. His sudden change of heart simply felt out of character.

I enjoyed GOW3's gameplay (although again, the first half was stronger than the conclusion), but it didn't do wonders for Kratos in the character development department.

Part of what makes Ascension look promising is that the devs have acknowledged that and are looking to explore his human side in a deeper way.

[Ben_Grimm]

I agree, he goes out of his way to destroy the gods while sacrificing everything and everyone on earth. Then out of no where he cares for a little girl?

It would have been better for Kratos to just be a brutal killer throughout the whole series.

[Tontus]

Kratos did begin to care for Pandora after a while, she was almost like his second chance at being a father and in his mind caring for and protecting Pandora was a way for him to make up for failing his real daughter.

It wasn't forced at all, all the characters he acts brutally towards are in his mind insignificant sacrifices that were completely necessary so that he could achieve his goal to kill Zeus and free mankind from the tyrannical and absolute rule of divinity. His change of heart wasn't at all sudden, it clearly progressed as the game went on.

The entire game was pretty much perfect in every aspect; the music, graphics, art-style, gameplay, story, characters, pacing, boss fights are just the absolute pinnacle of what its genre has to offer. The opening is easily the best in gaming history which would make it hard for the rest to live up to, but it does with awesome scale and epic boss fights paced perfectly right up to the end of the game. God of War III did more for his character development than GoW2 did and was almost on par with GoW1 although that's not exactly a fair comparison because GoW1 was made to be a self contained story and was the industries first introduction to Kratos' character.

God of War: Ascension looks promising because it is being made by one of the most acclaimed developers of all time, they have constantly made hit after glorious hit and their next game God of War: Ascension is going to blow everyone way next year, GOTY 2013.

[fei-hung]

I and everyone I know who has played the game and or followed the series bought it. You can clearly see Kratos having a soft spot for Pandora through his journey of revenge, grief and acceptance. Pandora was key to the trilogy as well as being key to Kratos finding hope in himself to do what is right.

Those who followed the series would also learn that the gods including Zeus have their own agenda and do very questionable things to one another as well as their slaves/ workers and humans.

People complaining about Kratos being nothing but a brute heartless killer clearly have not been paying attention to the story. I don't blame them. With all the gore, limb tearing, decapitating and eye porn on screen, displayed through moving art of magnificent scale, I can imagine it to be somewhat difficult to pay attention to the story.

[garos82]

although the story isn't on par with the previous games I found the gameplay to be extremely tight responsive andmost importantly so much fun

[Tontus]

I love seeing people who understand and appreciate the amazing story in God of War III. It has so much depth but because there isn't a narrator spoon feeding people information a small amount of people just couldn't comprehend what was going on and why it was happening.

[DivineAssault]

Another great entry to GOW series.. Bloody bliss

[izumo_lee]

The God of War formula...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Too bad some developers (cough...Capcom..cough) do not understand that concept.

[BitbyDeath]

Don't forget Square Enix.

Can't wait for this game though.

[wastedcells]

Love this series, never disappointed.