The live stream of God of War: Ascension’s multiplayer has come and gone. For those of you who joined me for my live blogging many thanks, but for those of you who missed it here is a recap of today’s happenings.
Today the Playstation Blog’s Jeff Rubenstein interviewed God of War: Ascension’s Game Director Todd Papy delving into what was a surprise to most of us, God of War multiplayer. The live stream had many side bits including but not limited to the videos I posted in this article, but the main course was the multiplayer material. Things moved quickly when it came to the two’s discussion of multiplayer, this is what I gathered from it.
God of War: Ascension will have a multiplayer component that according to Papy will not “take away” from the single player offering, but will still offer the same grand scale GOW fans have come to know and love. This was probably the most comforting thing to hear, because we all know of games where multiplayer was shoehorned in and the single player suffered for it. So let’s take Todd’s word for it and remain optimistic. Also Mr. Papy said that the design for multiplayer was almost like Power Stone in nature, which by default is a win.
The multiplayer will support up to 8 players in various competitive multiplayer game types. The one shown during the live stream looked to be an amalgamation of domination, capture the flag and tug of war with a dash of tower defence. Essentially what was happening two teams (red and blue) were fighting over control points to lure in a shackled Megalops (a really big Cyclops) to their side; once one team had secured the Megalops to their side and captured a god sphere (large glowing trident of sorts) the winning team and MVP of said team would unleash uncanny amounts of carnage on the Megalops. That was the gist of that mode which remains unclassified at the moment.
Another component of multiplayer that I found interesting is how teams are formulated. GOWA multiplayer will break its players up into one of four teams with their own endorsement/allegiance to a particular god. So teams branded red will fight for Ares and those branded blue will shed blood for Poseidon while wielding god specific weapons. Each god will give its units a unique look with up to 6 customizable options for the player’s avatar. Whether or not those customizable options will enhance the player’s abilities or are strictly cosmetic remains to be seen. The only caveat and was mentioned by Papy a few times was keeping lag to a minimum. If Santa Monica wants to maintain the frenetic pace of combat, which is a staple of GOW over the PSN, that must remain paramount in their design, because no matter how good this sounds conceptually if it runs like crap they will be crucified for it.
Regardless, I can whole heartedly say that I am excited for God of War: Ascension and its multiplayer components. I would be lying if I wasn’t sceptical when I first heard about it, but having seen some conceptual design that looks like it could work makes me feel much more confident with it being present. Also Santa Monica Studios knows what they are doing so I have faith that this addition will only supplement what will be a kick ass experience even more so. So stay tuned for God of War: Ascension coverage and for a more (and slightly less formal) description of the live stream check out the live blog.
