Galeo Deus wrote...
Good topic.
Since these are 3 of my favorite games this generation, and action/adventure is my favorite genre, I guess I'll give my in depth opinion, as I am passionate about these games.
For comparative purposes, I'll break it down into combat mechanics, replayability, and design, which for me are the most important parts of games like these—graphics and such are just icing on the cake. I’ll also pretend all these games are the same age for fairness (for example, NG was the only in its class at the time, but right now its different). Also, I’m talking about the hardest difficulty for all the games (the only way to play them IMO).
Ninja Gaiden (with HP1)—
Combat: 10/10. Still phenomenal even though it’s well over a year old. Very fast and skill based. There needs to be more combos, though, and it is not possible to cancel certain attack animations to intercept/defend.
Replayability: 9/10. Excellent because it is mostly action-based. With certain areas having unlimited enemies, it is very possible to be in good control of the outcome of a level by getting a good amount of yellow orbs. Great length as well.
Design: 7/10. A ludicrously small amount of save points, particularly towards the end. Though definitely cool, the game went waaay overboard on the non-humanoid monsters towards the end. The most fun enemies in the game to combat are the ninjas and their fast-moving humanoid derivates like the cat fiends. The camera also can create big problems, most notably against the triceratops fiends—you just can’t fooking see them to defend properly. Battles against more than one of these at once simply turns into a battle of attrition. Also, why why why why did Itagaki put those ridiculous ghost fish in the game? Too much backtracking as well. The entire underwater segment needs to go. Boss battles range from phenomenal to just plain bad. Horrible bow controls, too. Bad English voice acting. I feel that going back and beating the game again as a chore for these reasons.
Devil May Cry 3—
Combat: 9/10. Fun as hell and the fastest paced there is. Excellent damage avoiding capability almost makes up for the fact there is no block or defend maneuver (yes, I am aware of Royal Guard). Wherein lies the problem: though there are 6 styles to dink around with, it is widely agreed that there is no point in playing the game in anything but Trickster if you want to be the most successful. Also, though there is a good amount of weapons there are not enough combos for them. On Heaven or Hell mode this is quite simply the most challenging game I have played (which is a good thing). Though it works well enough, I don’t like to have to target enemies to fight them will full combo ability, because of the limitation of crowd control that that implies. The biggest flaw with the actual mechanics is that the same tactic works against 90% of the non-boss enemies in the game, so the bulk of the experience is not very diverse.
Rplayability: 10/10. Holy cow. It is obvious that this game was DESIGNED to be played again and again. Access to all levels of all difficulties when beat once, you can level styles and gather orbs to your heart’s content. Incredible.
Design: 9/10. Dante is one of my favorite characters in videogames now. He’s an ass, but a lovable ass, and he is surprisingly deep. The cutscenes are incredible. I love the personal story and kept the enthralled the whole time. Boss battles are the best in any game ever, and they are consistently incredible the whole game. I hate the long load times, the lack of progressive scan, and the fact the music, while excellent, is unvaried. Too much backtracking here, too.
God of War—
Combat: 9/10. Though not as deep as Ninja Gaiden’s, as fast a DMC3’s, or quite as responsive as either of them, it is just as fun because of the sheer diversity of tactics required. The Blades of Chaos are the coolest melee weapons ever in a game so far, and the fact it has a ton of combos nearly makes up for the fact they are only 1 of 2 weapons in the game. Though I don’t like the fact that it is impossible to cancel most of your opponent’s attacks with your own (unlike NG and DMC3 where you are encouraged to), the game has to be like that otherwise Kratos would be so overpowered it would be laughable—you are given almost all the tools both Ryu and Dante has. I don’t like that there is no effective way to escape a situation where cornered or surrounded except to blast with Poseidon’s Rage (if you have sufficient mana)—Ryu can run up or adjacent to a wall to escape and turn it into an attack and Dante can jump 30 feet in the air, air dodge, and float there with Ebony and Ivory for a couple seconds. My biggest beef is that the action doesn’t feel as much like a “fighting†game that the other two do, but more (albeit incredibly deep) hack and slash.
Replayability: 7/10. Has neither the expansion of NG or the amount of difficulty levels of DMC3. After getting used to the mechanics, even God mode is way too easy. The only reason I’m not giving it lower is because the game is so damn fun.
Design: 8/10. No unlimited enemy spots or controlled, in-battle health application (potions in NG, stars in DMC3) points to the fact that the action is not primarily the focus of this game, which it should be. The boss battles are long, boring, and in the case of the last one, frustrating. Thankfully there are not many of them. However, this game takes the cake in style: one of the best original soundtracks in a game ever, my favorite art style of the three, the most gory, and c’mon…ancient GREECE! How cool is that? (I’m a big mythology buff). The wall climbing and rope traversing segment need better controls. Also, the whole
*Spoiler deleted*
just has a rehash of all the enemies and has boring and frustrating platforming haphazardly tacked onto it. They could have done a lot more with the story.
To summarize for everyone (cause I doubt anyone read that lol), IN MY OPINION:
Ninja Gaiden: Has the best core melee combat mechanic ever. Some horrible design decisions really pull down the game experience in the face of the other two.
Devil May Cry 3: The most non-diverse combat of the bunch (and therefore my leas favorite) is mostly offset by the incredibly fun and varied bosses. Probably the best game in terms of pure longevity (depends on if there will be another HP for NG).
God of War: Though the combat is not as deep as the other two, it is by far the most varied and is the most visually appealing. Some bad design decisions keep this from the “perfection†this game could easily have exuded.
There ya go. Each has strength and weaknesses. I can’t tell you what my favorite game is.
