God of War: Ascension

I just finished playing God Of War: Ascension. If you've been following the blog you know I'm a huge fan of the game. I did a review of the series two years ago titled "The complete God of War series" back when I thought it would end as a trilogy.

I'm happy that it didn't and I got to play the new installment of the series. GOW: Ascension, seemed like a prequel to the GOW trilogy. For breaking his blood pact with Ares, Kratos was imprisoned by the three Furies, the guardians of honor and punishment.  First he must escape, then defeat the Furies who hold the threads of his past. 

Like in the previous installments all the creatures are from mythology. Most are from previous games but the developers got creative and added a few new creatures like the Basilisk, and Hecatonchires that boosted the difficulty level. They also changed the character design and some of the attacks of creatures like the Sirens and Medusa.

Aside from the Blades of Chaos, which are Krato's standard ass-kicking weapon. You earn blades from different elements like Fire, Ice, and Lightening which are tailored to defeat particular enemies. The game play was fast paced with good graphics. If you're a fan of the series I definitely recommend playing the game. Below I posted a demo from the game check it out.

Fantasy Art

I came across the art of Susan Seddon Boulet (1941 - 1997) by chance while looking for a postcard for my Grandmother. There is something ethereal and majestic in her paintings. Susan loved folk and fairy tales as a child in Brazil and the influence of those stories is reflected in her art.

A lot of her paintings use First Nation (Native American) imagery. I call them first nation because the natives were in America and Canada long before Columbus and his goons arrived and exterminated everyone. 

Susan developed a distinctive style characterized by using rainbow bright colors to paint Shamans, Fairies and Goddesses where dream-like forms emerged. She would blend these mythological creatures with wolves, deer, eagles and other animals in complex layers of oil and pastels resulting in beautiful images.

Susan Seddon-Boulet is widely accredited as one of the founders of the visionary art movement. She died in her Oakland, Ca home April 28, 1997 after a long struggle with cancer. She was fifty-five years old. Below is a small selection her art. If you want to know more about the artist or see more of her amazing paintings go to website www.turningpointgallery.com by clicking the link.