![]() And the writers don't do themselves any favours by telling the story of Ascension as a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards. Six games in, the creators have pretty much used up all the cool Greek gods - Kratos has already killed Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, Hades and a few dozen more - so we're left with third-stringers like the Scribe of Hecatonchires. The story here is the series' weakest yet. Most of these puzzle rooms require a familiar formula of block pushing, switch pulling and wall climbing, although they get more interesting after Kratos has found some magic artifacts. The carnage is occasionally interrupted by gigantic spaces in which you have to figure out how to get Kratos to the exit. This technique short-circuits your rhythm and effectively takes control away from you. Then the action shifts to quick-time events, in which you have to press buttons to match onscreen prompts. These typically involve beasts many times Kratos' size, so you just have to keep hacking away until you soften them up. ![]() It starts feeling creaky, though, when you get to the bombastic boss battles. Kratos is surprisingly graceful, and once you get into a rhythm of attacking, dodging and leaping, the combat is as smooth as ever. Most of the melees in Ascension begin with Kratos suddenly surrounded by swarms of low-level monsters that can be easily dispatched. The game occasionally drops limited-use weapons, like clubs or javelins, in your path, but the Blades - which can be tipped with fire, ice, lighting or the “soul of Hades” - are usually enough to get the job done. That means more of the brutal combat for which this franchise is known, with Kratos wielding his Blades of Chaos - twin knives attached to his arms with retractable chains. Once he escapes, he resumes his bloodthirsty campaign against the capricious Greek deities. A prequel to 2005's original God, the new adventure begins with Kratos chained to a rock and tormented by Furies. God of War: Ascension (for the PlayStation 3, $59.99 ) brings back the old grouch for another round of bone-crunching, head-splitting mayhem. The Spartan warrior got tricked into murdering his wife and daughter, and he's been rampaging across ancient Greece for five games now. That's all you need to know about the motivation of the durable protagonist of Sony's God of War series. Platform: PlayStation 3, Java ME, PlayStation Portable Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Capcom
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