What was set up on the show floor was the eight player multiplayer level that we've seen since the first showing of the game mode. The Favor Of The Gods match consisted of a pretty vast level with Polyphemus raging in the background. The premise of the level is to gain the favor of your chosen deity through kills, traps, magic and treasure chest opening. This is all done through the usual ways that we are use to in the single player game play of the franchise, only with a bit of limitation based on your character level and "perks" opened up.

Since the actual mechanics of the game play stay the same from every other GoW title, let's move on to the set up before you go thrashing through the level killing.

First we were shown the "load out" screen were you need to select your Armor, Weapon and Magic for the match. Ares was the only "faction" being shown so this was a bit limited in selection but it basically boiled down to armor and weapons that split between "Fast and Light Damage" and "Slow and Heavy Damage." They did allow for the characters to look a bit different but really with what was shown could be boiled down to just that. Granted each one does allow for a different set of "special moves" but those mainly consisted of different animations to do the same amount of damage.

Next, and only kind of next as it is all on the same screen, was the magic system for the characters. This was also limited down due to having just the one faction so I only got to test out Fist of Ares and Ares Inferno. Like the Armor and Weapons, you only get to choose one of these and it is locked in for the match. They are also a bit ridiculous to try and pull off in multiplayer to the point where I forget I even have it. "Why is that?" You have to target real time with the magic and with all the chaos going on unless you have someone cornered you can pretty much assume you will miss. Granted this is still in the baby stages of the development so the team has time to tweak and fix this.

From there it is on to the actual match, which like I said is a blur of chaos. It is good chaos though. That was one of my fears of the multiplayer being added in; that it was just going to be chaos and not fun. But they managed to capture something I enjoyed more than any of the challenge rooms in all of the past God Of War titles. It really is showing your skills with the game against friends and strangers and not just the game's AI. It also forces quite a bit of strategy into a franchise that is usually focused around button mashing chaos. Just a bit more tweaking and I think you will have me 100% sold here.

I do have to say that in this mode I was a bit confused on how the matches "end." In all of the other demos where it was the devs playing it looked like only the winning team was allowed to enact the end sequence. In the matches I played, even though my team was the one who was on top, it comes down to whoever can snag the spear (showing they have the favor of the gods) and kills Polyphemus. Granted it only gave that team a bonus to their score, which needed to be 5000, but it was just weird and off setting. Kind of like my team did all the work and the other team could still get the payoff.

Please don't get me wrong, I enjoyed what I did play of the multiplayer in God Of War: Ascension, but it still feels in its infant stage. I am impressed with what the devs have got together and after much thinking I feel it fits. It just needs tuning. I guess we'll see in the coming months how it progresses as well as when God Of War: Ascension hits the PS3 on March 12^th 2013.