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During my university days, the classics were something I struggled to cope with. As any English literature student will tell you, classics are an important part of the curriculum. So, I tried to ignore these as much as I could. But you'll be hard-put to ignore classics as a gamer. Mythology and classics have often provided the best source material for games. And God of War: Ascension (Rs 2,999) is no different. A word of caution: The game isn't for the faint-hearted - there's a lot of blood and gore at every turn.
In the seventh instalment (fourth if you discount the releases for the portables) of this PlayStation-exclusive series, you're once again the very, very angry Kratos who will spill rivers of blood and maim practically every living being in sight to extract revenge - for the evils done to him. If that makes your head spin, wait till you start playing the game, especially if you're a newbie.
No offence meant, but someone playing the game for the first time will have no option but to aimlessly hack and slash through the first chapter, which, incidentally is a brilliant set-piece. It's all the more baffling because the game is touted as the prequel to the series - an origin story if you will.
But for others such as yours truly, the game follows in the tradition of the series - take action first, ask questions later. Once you stumble through the beginning, the story will be revealed part by part via a series of flashbacks, and it's well worth the bewilderment you might have faced initially.
The game begins with Kratos being kept a prisoner by the Furies for having broken a blood oath to the God of War, Ares. And it progresses through adventures and mini-puzzles to reveal the tragedy of Kratos. The special qualities and powers that the weapons of Kratos have will ensure that you feel all the more pleasure as you maim and murder the monsters in battle. Combat always was and still remains the God of War's USP. The weapon of choice remains the Blades of Chaos, while his secondary weapon can be changed. This time, Kratos can cycle through four different types of powers for his blades, making it all the more interesting.
With each successive level, one feels more comfortable with one's weapons, and the opponents also become better to keep up the challenge. You also realise that the timing of your moves become critical as you progress. While gameplay is a pleasure with some great visuals and dramatic cutscenes, the artificial intelligence ensures that the boss battles are challenging. One word about the cutscenes - while they are premeditated ones, the game's design ensures these don't appear staged.
As with most recent games, Ascension also has a multiplayer component, a first for the series. One can play as an unmade player and choose one's allegiances and skills. This brings in a different dimension to the experience (you aren't playing as Kratos) and while I had approached this mode with trepidation, I wasn't disappointed. The modes in multi-player, though, felt basic and I still prefer the single-player campaign.
I doubt if you'll sympathise or even empathise with the character, despite the tender moments (if we can call those so) in flashback. For all practical purposes Kratos was, is and will be a killing machine, his periods of grief notwithstanding. What shines through is his rage.
As the series turns eight, the prequel, set some 10 years before the happenings of the original God of War, attempts to explain how the great Spartan general became rage personified. Ascension succeeds to do so, though I'm not sure if that humanises Kratos, or even attempts to do so. Anyway, we're much happier with the bloodthirsty Kratos.
God of War: Ascension has all elements a die-hard would love and I would have paid more attention to the classics back at the university had God of War existed then! The game is "unputdownable".
