When the original God of War was first envisioned we don’t think the developers realised just how long the franchise would run for, otherwise they would have given Kratos a stronger backstory that other tales could be spun from.
Take God of War: Ascension as an example – it’s a prequel to the PSP’s Chains of Olympus, which itself was a prequel. There’s still enough new ideas present to make Ascension worth playing though. Online play is one such new inclusion, which apparently is bloody good fun. If you’ll excuse the pun.
Scores so far include 7/10s from both Eurogamer and EDGE and 9/10 from SPOnG. “While this series’ singleplayer template is showing its age, there’s plenty in Ascension’s multiplayer that deserves to survive the transition to PS4,” said EDGE.
Sony are even releasing a new PS3 bundle in celebration, available for around the £250-mark. It’s also possible to buy the ‘gold’ controller that it comes with on its own, albeit for quite a steep price.
Then we have a sequel to Sniper: Ghost Warrior, a game that sold way better than it deserved to. Publisher City Interactive, who even now are still relatively unknown, put a lot of money into advertising and as such it managed to get a fair bit of shelf space, especially in the supermarkets where it has been in their in-store charts for yonks.
We’d be very surprised if Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 wasn’t a significant improvement over the first one. If City Interactive wants it to become a long running franchise then it has to be good – there’s no way people will be fooled into buying a bad game for a third time round. It should look nice at least, due to being powered by the CryENGINE3. A Wii U version is due at some point, where it’ll face stiff competition from the very good Sniper Elite V2 which is due out soon.
Taking a punt? It’s a not-quite-full-price release and the limited edition is available for the same price as the standard. Don’t get too excited – it only contains one new rifle and an extra character.
Naruto Powerful Shippuden is the sole new release for Nintendo formats this week. Just like last week’s Naruto Ninja Storm 3, reviews have been reassuringly positive. IGN gave this one an 8.0 – “Naruto’s latest is the goofiest game the franchise has ever offered, and it works.†It’s nearly twice as good as Castlevania in their eyes, then.
It’s also a quiet week as far as downloads are concerned. Arcade-like racer WRC Powerslide was due out last Wednesday on XBLA and PSN, but it looks as if it was held back for this week.
That’s joining Capcom’s Darkstalkers Resurrection, which is also on both XBLA and PSN. Eurogamer’s 8/10 review of this is well worth a read.
Demos of Naruto Powerful Shippuden and Chasing Aurora arrive on 3DS and Wii U respectively, while Viking Invasion 2 – Tower Defense storms onto 3DS eShop for £6.99. Pets Resort 3D and Jewel Master Atlantis 3D will be on the eShop from Thursday too – the former is a whopping £24.99 while the latter a much more modest £4.49.
You can also now give Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel a try via the demos on PSN and Xbox Live. We feel a bit sorry for Army of Two – it’s going to be released just a week after Gears of War: Judgment, which is going to seriously impact sales. The PS3 version may sell well off the back of PS3 owners wanting to play something similar, we suppose.
Next week: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U), Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS), Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Wii U), Dead or Alive 5 Plus (PS Vita), Gears of War: Judgment (360), Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (PS3), The Walking Dead (PS3, 360, Wii U) and the new and rather pointless Nintendo Wii Mini console.