![]() God of War has traditionally relied on the former and it’s never seriously hampered its longevity. It’s the thrill of outsmarting a system rather than the glory of competition, two qualitatively divergent sensations that appeal to two different types of players. It’s a shame, because the lackluster multiplayer only superficially resembles its source material and indicates that Sony doesn’t fully understand what draws people back to a quality singleplayer title, where obstacles are predetermined and satisfaction derived from finding ways to overcome them. The God of War control scheme will always show best in more structured single player environs because that’s what the engine was designed for, and fixed camera angles and close-quarters combat limit the potential for multiplayer design. It’s telling that the only worthwhile online mode is the solo time trial. The problem is that Ascension is struggling against constraints that predate the PlayStation Network. The barren online queues don’t help matters, though it’s evidence that fans haven’t been sticking around. The maps are dull and the matchmaking is abysmal, to the point that finding one live game every 30 minutes is remarkable. So yes, the God of War multiplayer is boring even though the regular gameplay is fantastic. It’s difficult to design compelling multiplayer – that’s why so many studios get it wrong – and regardless of the number of online features, a game isn’t replayable if no one wants to play it. Unfortunately, a bad game isn’t any more fun just because more are people playing. Multiplayer inherently offers the former, with fluctuating battlefields and matches are that will always be unique because human players are unpredictable. Unlike prior titles in the series, it makes the mistake of conflating variability with replayability. It’s therefore ironic that Ascension – the first God of War to offer multiplayer – is also the first God of War I haven’t wanted to play again. Arkham Asylum, Vanquish, and countless others descend from a similar lineage, as story-driven games with flawless mechanics that recognize that replayability and value come in forms other than the online death match. Truly great games offer a little of both, the first God of War being one of the earliest titles to hook players with that ‘stay for the combat’ approach to narrative design. With that in mind, was I replaying Spec Ops for the gameplay? Or was I replaying it for the story? The more difficult the challenge, the more the who, how, and why become subservient to the next chapter or checkpoint as the game becomes a puzzle to be solved rather than a narrative to be experienced. Like many people, I picked up Spec Ops because I’d heard the story was fantastic, and while that much was certainly true, that initial appeal fades with subsequent playthroughs. I was enjoying the game so I decided to keep playing, and the mechanics – though unoriginal – were tight enough to offer mastery through repetition. Then I did it again once that second playthrough was completed. I recently finished Spec Ops: The Line and then immediately restarted the game on a higher difficulty setting. So what’s changed? Sony Santa Monica has sacrificed its audience in a misguided attempt to rebrand God of War for a broader and more fickle multiplayer market.įor the first time in two console generations, the new God of War doesn’t measure up against the top (primarily) singleplayer titles of its era. Then again, the story in God of War is usually window dressing, a flimsy pretense for acts of excessive violence, and that’s never bothered me before. Ares has been reinserted as a primary antagonist, but that doesn’t carry any weight considering he’s been dead, absent, and largely forgotten since the first God of War. ![]() ![]() The mythology has been downgraded from EPIC to epic since the blood-spattered conclusion of God of War III, and while the prequel is deftly handled – Kratos actually appears mortal for prolonged stretches of the campaign – it’s impossible to overlook the fact that the franchise is treading water. To an extent, that might have been inevitable.
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