To respond to the bolded section, of course I don't consider every game composed of platforming and puzzle solving, boring. GoW, however, has a particularly boring and tired puzzle system.

I also agree in theory that beating up the same braindead AI would be very tedious, however, I'm not sure you have played Ninja Gaiden, because the AI in that game is rather good, and the combat is quite refreshingly intense in every battle. Ninja Gaiden is the F.E.A.R. of the action genre, if you catch my drift. You have some very intense powers, but the enemies are strong and overwhelming, even just a few of them. Not to mention the far superior boss battle showcases in Ninja Gaiden which historically are the draws to these types of games.

Intense difficulty on the lowest setting usually lowers the review scores of a game. See Shinobi, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Devil May Cry 3, the original Ninja Gaiden, which was underscored by many outlets.

So, game developers, like Capcom, have finally given in to reviewers and made DMC4, which due to the ease of the game, dissapointed a lot of long term fans, including myself. However, it also added a lot of new fans to the series.

Now, I never contended that difficutly makes a game better. However, difficulty past a certain level accomplishes several things that make the game better to the audience at which it is targeted:

1. The game stuck by its guns. It didn't give in to the system, and therefore gets credibility with the core audience. Imagine the outrage if NG2 had been easy.

2. The game requires a much greater knowledge and skill behind the controller, due to intense difficulty, even on easy mode.

3. The game has much more replayablity, due to the bulk of its content not relying on story and puzzles that can easily be solved on the second playthrough, but instead relying on a combat system and many excellent boss battles that have interesting and unique tactics required for each difficutly level.

So, why if GoW sucks so much, did it rate so highly? Several reasons:

A. The story. GoW still manages to have one of the best narratives in gaming.

B. The production value. Excellent, all around, VA, FMV, Graphics. The trifecta.

C. The genres is repetitive by nature. GoW adds in variety, to break up that repetitiveness, and reduce the intensity of the game at the same time.

D. The game is "cool" as hell. Sex minigames, nudity. These things make the game stand out, so people take notice. The graphic violence and unforgiving setting also help to intensify the feeling of freshness.

E. Kratos is a great character.

What GoW does not do, is provide a deep or compelling combat system, a rich or rewarding playstyle, or the major feeling of accomplishment that you get when you've beaten a boss on DMC or NG with a complex strat.

GoW has several "good" elements, and I see how some people love it. I however, do not. I feel that all of those talking points simply serve to cover up the underlying gameplay which is as musty as the genre has ever seen. This genre has a long history of problems, as reviewers don't really like it very much. Never have, since the days of Final Fight. However, if to improve this genre, we need to destory it and rebuild an entirely different genre based on platforming and block puzzles, then count me O U T.

As for GoW2, watch the cutscenes on youtube and save yourself 30 bucks, unless your into block puzzles and clunky combat.

If you want an action game, with some actual fun action in it and a lot of playtime required to even be decent, pick up DMC3, NG1 and 2, or Shinobi.

That's my opinion, but I can see how some others would differ.

That is also why I agree with Edge, as without a doubt, the gameplay in NG2 is far superior and deeper to any we've seen in this genre before, bad camera and everything.

Not that it's important, but the graphics are also better.

Now you won't be getting a great narrative, but you will get some amazing moments of fighting in the rain, running on water, executing bosses in one strike, dying a billion times because you weren't good enough, and a hell of a feeling of accomplishment when you manage to do what most gamers and critics cry about because it's "too hard."

When you beat Ninja Gaiden 2, you feel like you're better than everyone else.

The day GoW does that, I'll give it a third chance.

If you've ever beaten a DMD mode, you should know what I'm talking about.

Considering the fact that God of War's Metacritic score is 94, God of War II's Metacritic score is 93, and God of War: Chains of Olympus Metacritic score is 91, and Ninja Gaiden II's Metacritic score is only 82, then I would say that in actuallity, the God of War series walks all over Ninja Gaiden II. I would also say that Devil May Cry 4 tops Ninja Gaiden II. DMC4's Metacritic score is 84 on both PS3 and 360. Finally, Ninja Gaiden II doesn't even walk all over Heavenly Sword. Heavenly Sword's Metacritic score is 79. So, Ninja Gaiden II's Metacritic score is only 3 points higher. Quite a bit different from the fact that even God of War: Chains of Olympus is 9 points higher than NG II and God of War I is12 points higher than NG II's Metacritic score and is equal to or better than that of other games including Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank Future which are far better games than NG II .

I can hear the publishers thanking the sheeple for taking review scores as gospel.

Halo 3 shouldn't be on that list, that's for sure.

So, quanitatively, you consider metacritic a good guide to compare games?

I think you say things that you don't really think through, friend.

Think of the implications of allowing someone like me to have free roam over your favorite games, while being allowed to destroy them by using metacritic(or to the industry standard gamerankings). Let me give you an example:

Wall-E is a much better movie than Pulp Fiction. Wall-E has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% Wall-E is in fact, the best movie ever made.

While we're at it, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is much better than God of War, and is in fact the 7th best game on the Playstation 2.

On the other hand, Symphony of the Night is literally garbage. It isnt' even ranked AAA.

The Orange Box on PS3 is also garbage. It only has a 87 percent rating. In fact, did you know only 5 PS3 games even rate AAA, and only 1 is exclusive?

Also, by your logic, GTAIV kicks Metal Gears ass, and also, MGS3 sucked.

Now, I know what you're going to say, "But Zen, those games aren't in the same genre."

Well, you obviously haven't put much thought into your posts, so let me enlighten you.

No, they are not. We're comparing them, and Edge is as well, but actually, GoW relies much less on combat, than DMC or NG, and in fact is what we call a "genre-breaker" like RE4 isn't a tps or a survival horror game. GoW isn't a brawler or a platformer.

If you were to rate it by the criteria present historically in action games, it would score terribly. GoW actually ranks so high because of originality, story, style, and characterization.

If you want a definitive answer here, you're not gonna get one. In web 2.0, I know it's not the norm to listen to people who like Edge who probably know a lot more about this particular subject than you do, and just switch to aggregate reviews when it suits you, but like the Wii library talking point, your "evidence" here simply wont' stand up to scrutiany, and is completely bogus.

You should form a cohesive argument, instead of trying to find a site that can "prove your opinion is correct" because I can tell you, on this forum, it's not gonna float, and I'll also give you a spoiler: That site doesnt' exist.

Also, for the people talking about the fact that Ninja Gaiden II's graphics are better than that of God of War 2. You know, the fact that they got the graphics right when everything else totally went south on NG II is the game's only saving grace. It's Metacritic score would be much lower than it already are is if it couldn't manage better graphics than a 6th generation game. Note, technologically the graphics in NG II are better; however, artistically the graphics in God of War II are still better than those in Ninja Gaiden II.

Finally, for the people saying review scores don't matter, why don't you try to do something really impressive instead of flippant like demonstrate how Philip Massinger's plays are better than those of Shakespeare when close to 500 years of critical opinion would say differently.

How bout the fact that according to you, Halo 3 kicks MGS4 and God of War's ass? Care to comment on that.

@ZenfoldorVGI: I think we're giving too much importance to guys who turn to gamerankings or other review aggregators as if they were any good for using in debates.

They most likely didn't even play the game, and just cherry pick whatever negative stuff they heard about it at forums and from reading reviews.

I don't have to use aggregate reviews, Zen. I can go use IGN's reviews and demonstrate much the same rankings in regards to the games as what Metacritic uses. The only difference is the IGN scores for the other games I mentioned are much higher in comparison to NG II as the Metacritic scores make them out to be further demonstrating that the God of War series walks all over Ninja Gaiden II.

Furthermore, you say you know far more about this subject than I do. Well, let's go look at a source that knows far more about video games than Edge Magazine. Play magazine the direct descendant of the Greatest American Video Game Magazine of All Time DieHard Gamefan. In his review of Heavenly Sword, Dave Halverson gives Heavenly Sword a 10. There recent review of NG II makes the game out to be no more than a 9 at best, so then, even Heavenly Sword walks all over Ninja Gaiden II.


"If you want a definitive answer here, you're not gonna get one. In web 2.0, I know it's not the norm to listen to people who like Edge who probably know a lot more about this particular subject than you do, and just switch to aggregate reviews when it suits you, but like the Wii library talking point, your "evidence" here simply wont' stand up to scrutiany, and is completely bogus."

It's fairly obvious that the guy has never played NG2, it's just very hard for me to get people to respond to my posts, because they are quite convincing, lol. So, I have to ask him small questions to goad him into starting a conversation, upon which time I will unleash my ultimate technique.