God of War Ascension, the multiplayer experience

God of War Ascension offers a grand adventure, comparable to the early GoW titles. However it has another major selling point, it is also the first time that Sony Santa Monica created a multiplayer combat title using the GoW engine. The studio wanted to see if it was possible to assign Kratos-like combat to an online game. Would it still be engaging to audiences? Would the type of combat work well when scaled up from 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, or 4 vs 4? How large, and interactive would the maps have to be so the stages wouldn’t feel limited? The only way to find out was to build the game, and see. Not many people know that for GoW III the studio was starting to build an entirely new combat engine from scratch. One that would control, animate, and feel like the previous GoW titles. Except that the new engine would actually work in 3D environments when fighting opponents with similar powers, and abilities. The transition to the new fighting engine was so seamless that most people didn’t even notice.

One of the first steps in designing a multiplayer game would be coming up with a leading character, somebody that worked in the GoW universe. This person had to have roughly the same size, and build as Kratos. By doing this the developers could work with roughly the same camera angles, and stage layouts that they had been used to. They wouldn’t have to completely change the assets used in the game for Kratos. The other advantage was for audiences. They would already be familiar with the attack range, and defense of the character if he was the same size as the ghost of Sparta. There were a few Kratos-sized figures in Ascension that could have fit the bill. In one cut scene we visited the streets of Sparta, and saw his soldiers becoming him to return. One of those faceless Spartans could have been a good fighter to start with. Instead Sony Santa Monica wanted a blank slate for players to identify with, and play through. It was decided to create a bald (or shaved head) muscular figure, almost exactly the same build, if not slightly more muscular than Kratos.

The studio referred to this nameless person as the Redeemed Warrior, he would eventually earn the title as Champion of the Gods. We first saw him in the early stages of Ascension. Kratos is chasing after Megaera while in the prison of the Hecatonchires. The warrior praises the gods because he thinks Kratos is there to liberate him. Instead an infected arm of the Hecatonchires breaks the roof of the cell, and it appears that the monster kills the warrior, but instead he actually disappears in a flash of light. When the multiplayer game begins we are returned to that cut scene, but see the warrior reappear in the Rotunda of Olympus. It is a circular arena surrounded by the statues of several gods. Here we are prompted to represent one of the patrons; Zeus, Ares, Hades, or Poseidon in their tournaments. Each god has specific blessings that they grant the warrior. These are advantages in attacks, or defense with magic, and physical strikes. The diversity of different strengths, and weaknesses helps make each selection unique.

The Redeemed Warrior may have been as big as Kratos, but he wasn’t his equal in combat. He was just a hair slower, he moved, dodged, climbed, and recovered just a fraction slower than the god of war. The idea for the champion was that he was superior to a regular warrior, but not the equal to the ghost of Sparta. WIth that said he was someone that could have served as a Lieutenant in the Spartan army under Kratos. Sony Santa Monica did not want to create the Blades of Chaos for the champions to use, but they did introduce different armaments that were just as memorable. Once a player had selected which god to represent then they were prompted to use one of four main types of weapons. These were sword, spear, hammer, and gauntlet. Those that were familiar with the previous three numbered GoW titles had experience with each weapon. They would remember that some had greater range than the Blades of Chaos, or did more damage in close combat. Not only that, some of the named weapons such as the Blade of Artemis (GoW), the Barbarian Hammer (GoW II), the Nemean Cestus (GoW III), and the Spear of Destiny (GoW II) could be earned by winning multiple tournaments.

Not only could audiences fight with a main weapon type, they would also be able to pick up secondary weapons that spawned around the various stages. These second weapons were not as powerful as the main ones, not only that, but they would eventually break if overused.

The nice thing was that they were still useful to set up combos, and even be thrown at opponents to break their defenses. The five secondary weapons were actually featured during the Kratos story in Ascension. The first of these was the Sword. The developers at Sony Santa Monica created more than just one look for the secondary weapons. We could pick up alternate versions of the sword.

There was also a Shield, but that wasn’t half as interesting as the Club.

You might find a club had a stone build. Or the club was forged of iron. Or the club was polished metal with spikes.

There was also a ranged weapon known as the Sling.

You could hurtle fireballs at opponents, but also swing it up close like a mace.

The other ranged weapon was the Javelin.

The secondary weapons actually played differently than the main ones. The majority of secondary weapons were one-handed. This meant that they were mostly smaller, and lighter than the main weapons. Even the two-handed ones like the Club, did not play at all like the Hammer. They were faster to use than main weapons, so a combo could be started with a secondary weapon, but the majority of the damage would come from primary weapons. Sony was aware that some players didn’t want to grind to earn main weapons. They could purchase DLC as well. Some of these weapons I think gave us a hint as to where the franchise would be headed next.

Previously in the blog I talked about how the series had introduced multiple weapons for Kratos to earn, and upgrade. Unfortunately I thought that they were too similar to the Blade of Chaos, or didn’t change the game play enough to warrant wasting experience points on them. Sony Santa Monica found the best way to expand the game play was by adding these disposable secondary weapons. They were fun to use, and could be traded out when a different one was found.

The multiplayer experience not only allowed gamers to collect different weapons, but also entirely different armor sets as well. They weren’t just aesthetic differences between the armors, but gave buffs to defense, attacks, and even resistance to magic as well. Some of these outfits were limited DLC, and some were rewards by being in a test group. Several alternate costumes were even available to replace Kratos during the story mode in Ascension. Of course having a unique library of weapons, and armor wouldn’t mean anything if the combat, and the environments were fun to play.

There were several different types of multiplayer games. Team Favor of the Gods, Capture the Flag, Match of Champions, and Trial of the Gods. They didn’t all necessarily have to be 4 vs 4 battles. They could be enjoyed with smaller groups, against a boss, such as Hercules, or with a one-person wins all challenge. Those that had a score to settle with an online opponent could even call them out in a 1V1 Bout of Honor.

The four main weapons, and five secondary weapons helped make the multiplayer game unique. It allowed audiences to discover what sort of armament, and play style suited them best. Some players were defensive, some preferred magic, and others just threw themselves headfirst into battle. There were certain combinations of armors, and weapons that worked best for them. Players could even switch patronage to a different god if they wanted to explore what special features they offered.

The stages were by far the most impressive thing that Sony Santa Monica delivered for the experience. They contained multiple objectives, traps to spring onto opponents, goals that evolved as the stage progressed, and were layered so that the action was distributed evenly on every corner of the map. Almost every location was a call back to a place that Kratos had visited during his journey. These included several sites from Ascension, such as Archimedes Furnace within the Statue of Apollo, the Streets of Sparta, the Oracle’s Chamber, the Tower at Delphi, the Landing at Delos, the Whirlpool of Alecto, and the Canyons of Kirra.

The other stages were essentially a love letter to the franchise. From GoW III there was the Chamber of the Flame, The Labyrinth of Daedalus, and the Forum of Hercules. We had fought Zeus, Skorpius, and Hercules at each spot respectively. We visited the Desert of Lost Souls, which was featured in the original GoW. It was the place that Cronos had wandered with the Temple of Pandora chained to his back. This time there was an enormous cyclops named Polyphemus (the cyclops from the Odyssey) menacing players from center. There was the Bog of the Forgotten. It was near the Ruins of the Forgotten, and the Temple of Euryale from GoW II. This temple featured the captured body of the giant gorgon Stheno. She was the sister of Medusa, and Euryale. The original stages created for multiplayer were brilliant as well. The Rotunda of Olympus, the Coliseum of Persia, and especially the Walls of Troy. The mythology geek in me absolutely loved the details that were packed in these stages. The Trojan horse, and Statue of Apollo were in the background of Troy, but teams could launch fireballs at both from a catapult in the foreground, and destroy them. The fact that I could revisit these locations again, and again made it feel like the classic GoW experience was infinite. The world of Ancient Greece lived on through these places. The fact that the stages were dynamic, and the teams were unpredictable meant that no tournament was going to be even remotely similar. 

Sony hoped that the multiplayer games, and DLC would continue to generate profit for the franchise. The company had plans to roll out new armor sets, weapons, and stages had Ascension, and the online matches continued to sell. Unfortunately the response from fans, and reviewers was tepid at best. Ascension didn’t sell the units that Sony wanted. Many felt as if the GoW series had just burned out. No matter how well this game was made audiences just didn’t show up in the numbers that Sony required. Which was a shame. In recent years many gamers that stream or have YouTube channels are coming around, and admitting that the multiplayer in Ascension was quite good. Not only that, there is nothing even remotely close to it today. It gave the series life well beyond its release date. 

I can only hope that in the future Sony considers creating a separate GoW adventure, and GoW multiplayer game so that the developers can focus on one thing at a time. That’s me wishing out loud. As amazing as Ascension turned out there was actually much more in the planning stages that was cut. In the next blog we're going to look at the ideas that the studio had developed for a co-op mode. For now I’d like to hear your thoughts on God of War Ascension. Did you play the multiplayer game? Do you think that the GoW series could work as an online multiplayer experience? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Marvel Contest of Champions Legacy, part 4...

 

Thanos was a frightening villain in the comics, cartoons, and movies. Obsessed with Death, as in the physical embodiment of Death, the Mad Titan didn't see a problem destroying reality and reshaping it to his ideal. In order to do this he needed to tap into resources far older, and more powerful than his own. This was when the Infinity Gems, and Infinity Gauntlet came into play. The origins of the Infinity Gems were not the same in the live action movies, they actually went back to when the Marvel universe was still evolving. The first Infinity Gem, the Soul Gem appeared in Marvel Premier #1 in 1972. The comic written by Roy Thomas and the penciled by Gil Kane introduced audiences to a gold skinned alien known as Adam Warlock, owner of the stone. The other gems were introduced a few at a time over the next several years. All six would not appear until a Silver Surfer story from 1988. The majority of these gems were owned by one of the Elders of the Universe. There were almost two dozen Elders that had been revealed in Marvel continuity, but only a few had the Infinity Gems. The Elders were extremely powerful, even without the gems. Nobody thought however about how powerful one would become if they possessed all of the gems. That changed a few years later. Adam Warlock was acting as a cosmic detective, investigating the movements of Thanos. The clues were pointing to something catastrophic.

   

The original Thanos Quest, written by Jim Starlin, and penciled by Ron Lim, was a story from 1990. Starlin used to write and draw for Marvel in the '70s and had done a lot of the cosmic world building back then. He was keenly aware of the Infinity Gems and had plans to use them, but it wouldn't happen for decades. Not until he returned to the Marvel Bullpen. In his story he had Thanos scour the cosmos and take each Infinity Gem from the Elders, one at a time, often by tricking them. The Soul Gem he got from the In-Betweener, an agent and prisoner of Lord Chaos and Master Order. The Power Gem from the Champion of the Universe, an Elder that was like a blue-skinned, nine-foot tall Hulk Hogan. The Time Gem he got from the Gardener, and Space Gem from the Runner. The final two he got from the most familiar Elders. The Reality Gem from the Collector, and finally the Mind Gem from the Grandmaster. Each gem was capable of shaping a portion of reality to the will of its owner. All six combined were incalculably powerful. I was glad to see the Champion introduced into the game at the end of 2018. His martial prowess, and arrogance was legendary. I was sure he could easily hold his own in the contest, but I digress.

   

The Thanos Quest planted the seeds for a longer saga. It was something that Marvel editors played close to their chest and surprised the comic community. Marvel readers didn’t expect there to be a series with the gravitas of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Marvel would debut the Infinity Gauntlet in 1991, the Infinity War in 1992 and the Infinity Crusade in 1993. I remember when my little brother read the first few pages of the Thanos Quest he told my older brother and I that if Thanos wasn't stopped he would probably come to Earth and wipe out all of the heroes. We laughed at the idea. There was no way Thanos could stop the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, or Inhumans. We figured that any one of those super-powered teams would be enough to beat him. Heck, the Silver Surfer was arguably the most powerful cosmic hero. He could have stopped Thanos by himself. Fans expected MCC to give audiences another take on the Infinity War. This was when Kabam took things one step further.

 

The Contest of Champions was not just an adaptation of the Infinity War, but instead something more spectacular. It pulled together characters from different timelines, different dimensions, different realities, and dropped them into the middle of a new battle. This new showcase featured the alternate reality where Erik “Killmonger” Stevens was the King of Wakanda. He possessed something called the Infinity Claw, a gauntlet made of ornate vibranium, and had disposed of T’Challa, the Black Panther. The Battlerealm had its own Infinity Gems which were different than the ones Thanos originally claimed. In the Kabam title these gems were Evolution, Genesis, Chaos, War, Nightmare, and Death. They also shaped reality in different ways. The fight for power was on a scale not previously seen in any comic book or movie. From a fan perspective it was the best of all worlds. How this happened was an act of trust between multiple companies, and departments. At the heart of the project were a few faces that you should know about. Chief among these people was Kabam Creative / Art Director Gabriel Frizzera.

   

No less important was Creative Director Chris "Cuz" Parry, Design Director Tim Molyneux, Marvel Games Executive Creative Director Bill Rosemann and Marvel New Media Vice President and Creative Executive Ryan Penagos. This group worked well together, and accomplished something seemingly impossible. A mobile game that honored the Marvel canon, was able to keep up with the television, and film IP, and was still was fun to play. Very rarely had so many different branches of a major company worked so well together with a developer. The reason why was because everyone associated with the project was a die-hard Marvel fan. They knew the stories forward and backwards. They also knew that video games based on comic books were not always good. They were around when some of the worst Marvel games, like Captain America and the Avengers were released, but also when some of the best like the X-Men was in arcades.

   

There was enough creative freedom to allow Kabam to essentially add an entirely new chapter to the Marvel portfolio. All of the men pictured above were relatively young for their positions, they had grown up knowing the best stories from the '80s, and '90s. They saw what it took to make a good comic,  super hero movie, or game. They were able to bring that love, avoid the pitfalls, and corner the mobile market, even above the Marvel Future Fight game. In the next blog we will look at how solid leadership could make all the difference in the world. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

30 years of Street Fighter, 30 Days of Characters; #22

Boxing characters are as old as the fighting game genre itself. Every generation of the Street Fighter series has featured at least one boxer. In the original Street Fighter (1987) it was a scrappy young man named Mike. No doubt influenced by Mike Tyson, the young heavyweight champion. In Street Fighter II (1991) the boxer had grown up and went by the name M. Bison, as in Mike Bison. At least that was his name in Japan. As you already know the Shadowlaw boss names were swapped around when the game came to the USA. Did you know that Mike was not the original choice for a boxer in the Street Fighter II? In the planning stages the designers were looking at a classic boxer named Jack Dempsey. Jack was active from 1914-1927, he was notable for winning and defending a championship, being the first fighter to break a million dollars at the gate and ranked among the best of all time. Dempsey influenced the character Makounochi Ippo in the manga and anime Hajime no Ippo. He uses the "Dempsey Roll" a nonstop barrage of punches and dodges to take down opponents.

The boxer for Street Fighter II was called Dick Jumpsey but he seemed a little bit antiquated. That was why a more contemporary Mike Tyson served as the template for Bison. The seeds for a classic boxer had been planted at the Capcom offices. It would take a while for that archetype to return. Many studios had their own variation of a boxer. Most wore shorts or training clothes. They looked exactly like a pro fighter should have in the current era. That was until 1997 when Street Fighter III debuted. The gentlemanly boxer Dudley was literally cut from a different cloth. He was an aristocrat that happened to be a boxer. He traveled in luxury automobiles, with butler Ortho K. Gotch at his side. He fought while wearing fine suits, he simply rolled up his sleeves when it was time to teach an opponent some manners. There were no fighters before or after that had as much personality.  

Dudley was a change of pace from the thuggish boxers that had taken over the world of pro fighting. Loud braggarts like Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. that flashed their money and acted questionably seemed to hold the title forever. When classy fighters Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis captured heavyweight gold in the '90s it was a refreshing change of pace. Dudley was created as a reflection of this new reality. Of course he was a way over-the-top in his mannerisms and ability. There has never been a character as eccentric as him and there probably never will be again. Because of this we want to celebrate Dudley on Street Fighter's 30th anniversary. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!