Unless you’re playing God Of War: Ascension on its easiest difficulty setting you’re going to have a tough ol’ ride against some of the challenging opponents the game throws at you.
Follow these beginner tips to help you come out on top…
Tame those button-mashing fingers
In the heat of the moment it’s easy to get carried away and button-mash like crazy to try and make quick work of your enemies, but some of them have a nasty bite. Look out for signs that they’re going to attack and always keep your finger right over the block button ready to parry their advances, or use your right analog stick to dive swiftly out of the way.
Some of the tougher enemies have a blast circle which will appear on screen. If you’re in it, you’re either going to get hit, or you won’t be able to penetrate this shield. In this case, getting out the way is key to your survival so evade and wait for the blast circle to disappear.
Time your attacks when your foe is vulnerable by watching their behavioural patterns. Blocking is crucial, so don’t always try and string combos together as you’ll get caught out. Block an attack, then make your move while your enemy is composing himself.
Learn the counter-attacking moves for each weapon (press START and INSPECT weapon) and use them regularly. Also, look out for spears lying around and use your ranged attack to get a few sly hits from a safe distance.
Do put all your orbs in one basket
Collecting red orbs will allow you to power-up your weapons, so explore all areas in order to find hidden chests containing this precious commodity. Keep an eye on your orb counter in the top left-hand corner of the screen. You can upgrade weapons at any time during the game by pressing the ‘Start’ button.
Assigning orbs to your elemental weapons will increase the damage of items, decrease cooldown times and increase their area of effect. There isn’t really that much need to switch between the various weapons so put all your orbs towards your weapon of choice and tranform it into an all-conquering, freak-slaying beast.
Crowd control with Rage
You’ll often be in a situation where you’re surrounded by enemies. Don’t forget your RAGE power, activated with the R2 button. This can quickly clear an area and give you breathing space, as can using the new kick action to knock enemies across the screen. Look out for the white symbol above the head of enemies while they’re down. You can now pick them up and use them as a battle ram to clear space. Use this manoeuvre to target the bigger enemies in the group. These are the guys that will do the most damage so you want to try and get rid of them first. Unless you’re up against a particularly slow enemy and can move around the arena seeing off the small guys, go for the big dude first as he’ll be the one who’ll cause you the most damage if he gets a clean hit.
Don’t underestimate the power of the chain grapple
Kratos’ dual blade is an impressive tool of mass destruction, but his chain grapple can be more devastating if used correctly. Grapple enemies with R1 and then toss them around the arena. You can swing them around an Olympic hammer thrower to smash other enemies out of the way and keep one at bay by tethering him to a chain while you dish out punishment to the others. The chain grapple is perfect for pulling the shields away from goat-men (Satyrs) to leave them vulnerable. Grab their shields and tap on ‘O’ to prize them from their grasp.
Steal weapons
Pressing ‘O’ will activate your secondary weapon. Look out for weapons lying around. Spears are great to use from a distance and shields can be used to block or ram opponents. There’s also hammers and swords that can be picked up from low-level enemies. Each secondary weapon has a super attack, executed by a trigger and button press, so you can do cool things like send spears raining down from the sky on opponents. Weapons will fall from downed foes, so if there’s a weapon that you enjoy using (we love the hammer) then target the enemy carrying it first so you can steal it from him.
Read the review of God Of War: Ascension here.