10 Things to Focus On in 'God of War: Ascension''s Chaotic Multiplayer

Despite the lack of a number "4" in the title, God of War: Ascension is every bit the game that God of War 3 was—and then some.

"When you hear '4,' you automatically think of it as a sequel," Ascension Game Director Todd Papy told us at Sony Santa Monica Studio on Monday night. "This is a prequel. That right there is the main reason [behind the name]."

Papy said that they wanted to "let the trilogy stand" as it is, and this time show Kratos's human side for once instead of continuing the story chronologically.

"We never really explained how he went from being Ares' servant to being indentured to other gods," Papy added. "The whole idea behind the story is: how do you induce selling your soul to the devil?"

That sounds great, and we're looking forward to playing it some day. But during our visit to Sony Santa Monica we were treated to a few sessions of Ascension's multiplayer. It's a first for the series, and it's definitely unique as far as multiplayer games go.

The levels that we played weren't huge, but they've got a lot going—so much so that we decided to write a list of all the things you can focus on during any given multiplayer match. Check it out.

The first thing you'll want to do in God of War: Ascension multiplayer is pledge allegiance to a god. Your allegiance determines your stats, to a certain extent, as well as your magic type and starting weapon.

Pledging to Ares nets your multiplayer Spartan fire magic, a big-ass sword, and dominant physical prowess. Devotion to Zeus is awarded with a hammer, superior electric magic and improved defense and "escape" abilities.

Those aren't the only two gods—Poseidon and Hades were visible as well—but they were the only ones available for us to test out.

No modern multiplayer game is complete without character customization. God of War: Ascension lets you choose your Spartan's armor (helmet, upper, lower, etc.), weapon, equipped item (with healing and other extra effects), and equipped magic.

Though there is a leveling system, it's mainly armor that will determine your stats in battle. Of course, you can always ignore that and just choose whatever looks more badass.

There are plenty of things to do in God of War: Ascension's multiplayer, but there's one thing above all that you'll be doing more than anything else: killing.

Multiplayer battles in Ascension are all about who gets the first hit in, but there are always opportunities to reverse your fortunes—a well-timed parry or dodge can give you the upper hand, and you can always surprise your opponent with some magic you've been holding in reserve. There's plenty of strategy involved.

Unlike in free-for-all Favor of the Gods games, where the goal is simply to get the most poinst by killing your opponents, there are multiple ways to up your score in team Favor of the Gods matches.

We got to try out both modes, and team is by far more interesting. It's easy to get distracted and caught up in fighting your opponents, but what you're really going to want to focus on is capturing points. This aspect is like a typical domination mode, but with a ton more going on.

So what else can you do in team Favor of the Gods besides capture points and kill your enemies? You can set traps, for one thing.

On the level that we played this week, there were multiple fire traps in strategic locations. The traps are activated via nearby levers, and once activated, they'll only go off when your opponents step over them. You can tell which team currently owns a trap by looking at the icon hovering over the lever; if a trap was activated by the opposition, you'll want to skirt around it and pull the lever yourself to reverse its allegiance.

Scattered around the multiplayer levels in both free-for-all and team Favor of the Gods modes are treasure chests that can be opened in the heat of battle (though it's smarter to wait for a lull so you don't get sucker punched).

For the most part, these chests will contain extra points that are instantly added to your or your team's total, bringing you that much closer to victory.

Each player's specifics magics are determined by their allegiance and loadout, but magic isn't available to you during battles until you access a blue fountain. The fountains are spread throughout the levels, and accessing one releases blue orbs that grant you one magic casting (alternately, green fountains restore health).

That's just as well, since magic is extremely powerful in God of War: Ascension. The lightning spells that Zeus granted to our Spartan drew in enemy players and caused massive damage.

The particular levels that we played this week also contained special world weapons that weren't included in players' loadouts, but were scattered around for them to pick up, use and discard.

On the larger team FotG level there were massive maces that caused slow but heavy damage, while the small free-for-all arena dropped a number of different weapons in throughout the matches—one of which was Kratos's classic Chaos Blades. Players fought over those tooth-and-nail, but the one who eventually got ahold of them wound up dominating for a time.

After all this, you may be asking yourself: why is it called Favor of the Gods? The answer is simple: that's what you're competing for.

In free-for-all, you're competing to be the top warrior, but the story behind the team FotG level that we played a few times is different. In team mode, each team is attempting to win the most points, and the easiest way to earn the most points is by slaying the ten-story-tall cyclops chained at the top of the arena.

Partway through the match, a huge spear appears near the center of the level. A fight over the spear is inevitable, but the team that ends up getting ahold of it and slaying the cyclops will earn a massive bonus.

Sure, your team's score increases when you kill enemies, capture points and open chests; but like catching the snitch in Quidditch, killing the cyclops is the main goal of any team Favor of the Gods match.