Sony kindly sent Just Push Start an invite to the God of War: Ascension multiplayer beta. This is the first time the God of War series has implemented any sort of multiplayer mode as hack-n-slash adventure games are usually only a single-player affair. The beta itself is 1.44GB large, although this does not include the many patches that have been added so far. PlayStation Plus members will be able to experience the beta for themselves next month but for now, this is what we thought about the game’s newly added multiplayer mode.
The beta starts where you have to pledge allegiance to one of the four gods that stand before you. Only Zeus and Ares were available in the beta, but the full game will have Hades and Poseidon added to the game too. Each god offers you varying weapons and attributes. In this case, Zeus gives you a huge sledgehammer for combat while Ares gives you a sword. It will be interesting to see what type of weapons Hades and Poseidon offers you in the full game.
First of all, fans will be relieved to know that the controls have all but been retained so God of War veterans will have an easy time easing themselves to the gameplay. The tutorial is a helpful way for you to learn all of the game’s moves and skills. Your fighter can execute a number of different combos that include both light and heavy attacks. You can also block and even parry an enemy’s attack. Best of all is that once you have stunned an opponent, you can press the “R2” button to finish them off in a brutal yet spectacular fashion. If you love the bloody theatrics of the “fatalities” seen in the Mortal Kombat series, you’ll love the violent animations featured here.
The main mode I got to play was called “Favor of the Gods”. This mode is like “free-for-all” where you had to fight on your own against up to 3 other players. The level that was included in the beta was the arena from God of War 3 when Kratos faced off with Hercules. You have a 10 minute time limit to accumulate as many points as possible, or you can also win by being the first to earn 8000 points. Earning points can be done in a variety of ways such as killing opponents, assisting others, grabbing special weapons, earning kills streaks and more. The other mode is callec “Team Favor of the Gods” which split people into two teams of four. Due to the miniscule amount of people playing the beta right now, I couldn’t access this part of the game since I could never find 7 other people that were available to play this mode…
