It would seem that 2013 has been the year of the prequel, with huge franchises such as Gears of War, Tomb Raider and God of War taking trips back in time and filling in some backstory.
God of War was never a series that delved too deeply into character development. We know who Kratos is and why he's disembowelling all and sundry but we never get to enter his head and empathise with him.
God of War: Ascension is a prequel that tries to flesh out the character of Kratos, albeit unsuccessfully. We don't really walk away from Ascension any wiser than when we started. But it's not important. Much like Miley Cyrus was "just being Miley", Kratos is just being Kratos - violent, revengeful and bloodthirsty.
The enemies in Ascension may not be as menacing as the Titans from previous games but the Furies and Primordials certainly provide a challenge worthy of sticking around for. Hopefully, whatever path the series may take in the future, the creatures will once again be awe-inspiring colossi, even if they're not mythologically "accurate".
New to the series is a multiplayer option - Team Favour of the Gods, Match of Champions, Trial of the Gods and Capture the Flag. All are extremely well done, my favourite being Trial of the Gods, a two player co-operative horde mod. Though the single player campaign doesn't bring anything to the series, the multiplayer alone is worth shelling out for.
