I always like when a tent-pole game is released and there are those who are incredibly quick to bash it.
 
God of War 3 wascame out this week to near perfect reviews; GB's own Ryan Davis gave it a great score of 4/5 citing only familiarity as its main flaw. But there are those who would have you believe that, regardless of the fine-tuned mechanics or incredible scope, that GoW and other great releases like it, are not only unimportant, but simply disregard them. "Oh right then, so its God Of War", I read on the forums.
 
Well, yes, it is... but its God of War 2010 style!
 
Opinions are exactly that, and everyone is entitled to one, but consider: Over the last six months or so, roughly since Arkham Asylum's release, there have been a number of games which have kickstarted an evolution in game design. Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain (and AA as mentioned) and many more have all pushed boundaries. Its likely that storytelling and fundamental gameplay mechanics will continue to push what we expect from the medium over the course of the next few years. Likewise, GoW3 creates an unparalleled experience; what it does well, it does incredibly so.

Appreciate the medium: you're witnessing a boom era. Games are exploding thanks to adventurous developers and risk-taking publishers. Revel in it and turn your vitriol to something that warrants it.......
 
Like Leisure Suit Larry.

I always like when a tent-pole game is released and there are those who are incredibly quick to bash it.
 
God of War 3 wascame out this week to near perfect reviews; GB's own Ryan Davis gave it a great score of 4/5 citing only familiarity as its main flaw. But there are those who would have you believe that, regardless of the fine-tuned mechanics or incredible scope, that GoW and other great releases like it, are not only unimportant, but simply disregard them. "Oh right then, so its God Of War", I read on the forums.
 
Well, yes, it is... but its God of War 2010 style!
 
Opinions are exactly that, and everyone is entitled to one, but consider: Over the last six months or so, roughly since Arkham Asylum's release, there have been a number of games which have kickstarted an evolution in game design. Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain (and AA as mentioned) and many more have all pushed boundaries. Its likely that storytelling and fundamental gameplay mechanics will continue to push what we expect from the medium over the course of the next few years. Likewise, GoW3 creates an unparalleled experience; what it does well, it does incredibly so.

Appreciate the medium: you're witnessing a boom era. Games are exploding thanks to adventurous developers and risk-taking publishers. Revel in it and turn your vitriol to something that warrants it.......
 
Like Leisure Suit Larry.

Yeah, it's kinda scary how fast video games are progressing; in just 40 years we've gone from hitting a dot back and forth to gutting centaurs. 

" Yeah, it's kinda scary how fast video games are progressing; in just a few years we've gone from chasing monkeys with a net to Gods with a vengeance.

I hold completely the opposite opinion. As game development becomes ever-more expensive, I think this gaming generation illustrates the reluctance of developers to take risks and push the boundaries of video game design because failure equates to ruin. Because of this, developers are sticking to existing, established formulae that are guaranteed to make them money, and the result is an age of games characterised by uniformity. The video game market is flooded with shooters and sandbox games, all using the same rehashed gameplay mechanics and identical colour palettes. It's very rare  that a developer overcomes the fear to innovate, which is why innovation on the level seen in games like Heavy Rain is hardly ever seen. The previous generation of consoles saw some incredible advances in gameplay, but so far all this generation has achieved is providing gamers with a glossier, more cinematic presentation, and I find that very disappointing.

I don't undestand the romantic context people place the modern games industry in that suggests that developers are somehow brave, intrepid explorers pushing forth the "boundries" of gaming. 
 
That's just BS. 
 
Gaming doesn't "evolve", it's trendy. 
 
Heavy Rain doesn't do anything but what nearly EVERY GAME in the early ninties PC scene did... except with a lot more money behind it. Arguably it does it worse. 
 
All of these so called "boundries" that games are confined by, they imposed themselves by following blindly behind a trend. Adventure games became fighting games. Fighting games became FPS games. Now FPS games are becoming "cinematic action games". And then they will become something else. 
 
If gaming is really going to grow, then it needs to start making games of all types at all times instead of following the "buying a game is a vote for 10 more of the same game next year" model that gets us in a rut to begin with.

" As game development becomes ever-more expensive, I think this gaming generation illustrates the reluctance of developers to take risks and push the boundaries of video game design because failure equates to ruin. "

" I don't undestand the romantic context people place the modern games industry in that suggests that developers are somehow brave, intrepid explorers pushing forth the "boundries" of gaming.  That's just BS.  Gaming doesn't "evolve", it's trendy.  Heavy Rain doesn't do anything but what nearly EVERY GAME in the early ninties PC scene did... except with a lot more money behind it. Arguably it does it worse.  All of these so called "boundries" that games are confined by, they imposed themselves by following blindly behind a trend. Adventure games became fighting games. Fighting games became FPS games. Now FPS games are becoming "cinematic action games". And then they will become something else.  If gaming is really going to grow, then it needs to start making games of all types at all times instead of following the "buying a game is a vote for 10 more of the same game next year" model that gets us in a rut to begin with. "

" I can kind of see from the publisher's point of view. On wide release games, especially those with a reasonable budget, the companies want guaranteed sales, and therein lies the problem.  "

" @dankempster:@JazGalaxy:  Both your comments tie into each other, so I'll try and address them at theame time. When it comes to expense the gravity of a games success must weigh heavily on any publisher, and in turn, pressure the developers. Granted there are only a few games a year that push boundaries generally, my point was that in the last 6 moths, in various way, games have begun to break from their molds. This idea of trends in games is, hopefully (given what we're seeing) dissipating. Yearly sports titles have started to take hiatus (NHL being a prime example) and I'd argue that while Heavy Rain is derivative of 90's adventure titles, it more successfully grapples our emotions. It works on a very human level and the result is something which feels far less gamey. There's a long way to go (and dankempster's point about risk taking is particularly important), but its a relatively young medium. Hardware innovations like Wii and Natal will hopefully spur more creative gameplay advances while developers continue to advance what we've become relatively used to in storytelling.  You're calling "cinematic adventure games" a fad, but given their relatively close release, it seems more like a natural development. Music games are enjoying a huge surge (for better or worse) and fighting games, too, have been reinvigorated, so I don't entirely agree with your "trends" argument, but I can see where you're coming from.  Edit: At the very least, this has spurred a bit of decent discussion. "

i thought the way gow3 implemented portal style puzzles and echochrome style puzzles into the game was pretty awesome. i cant see how that was in any way compltely like the first.  
and besides, you can say its just like the last two, but at the same time no puzzle was the same, and no boss fight was the same and the graphics and audio were amazingly improved.  
 
the only thing uncharted 2 did to improve the medium was the fantastic and clever story telling techniques. gameplay wise, its pretty much standard fair with lots of awesome graphics and effects to wow you while you do really basic been there done that stuff.  
at least gow3 offers some really neat and sometimes challenging puzzles and lots of diversity in how you choose to brutalize enemies, not just shooting them with a gun. 

" by taking most of the RPG trappings OUT of Mass Effect 2, they're not making a better RPG, they're just making a watered down RPG that plays more like a movie. yay? "