Why is it that developers model their action games after God of War. We all know God of War is an amazing action game that is probably the best in the genre (which I get is the reason the clone it), but there are other games worthy of being cloned as well (has any of you heard of Ninja Gaiden).
Developers need to take a step back and do for the genre what God of War did when it was first released instead of hitting Ctrl C , Ctrl V. Take the time out to blend other genres into your game to set it apart from the normal action hack and slash.
For example, Heavenly Sword is a very good game, and it does have some similarities to God of War, but it's not as much of a God of War clone and people
make it out to be.
First the chain blades in Heavenly Sword do little to nothing in combat which is something developers can take advantage of. Allow the chain blades to be used as a method to transverse the environment in a Spiderman-esque way effectively eliminating many of the QTE's (this would also mean ADD A JUMP BUTTON). This would also be a quick fix for making the game longer as you would have to move from environment to environment adding 5 - 15 min. of platforming gameplay per level (and we all know Heavenly Sword was way too short). Now think about how the chained blades could be used in combat as well. I mean it would be cool if you're fighting a group of enemies and you jump up, chain blade swing, grab someone while swinging, switch to dual sword or heavy sword and air juggle them to knock them into oblivion with out the slow down jumping effect. What I guess I'm trying to say is make it more fluid.
Secondly the story is the biggest difference. Heavenly Swords story is a breath of fresh air, while it's about revenge, salvation, and saving your dwindling lineage it manages to come off as something so believable unlike many other games. There's no magical powers which limits the game to combat only, so focus on a DEEP combat system.
Finally Heavenly Sword felt mature in an adult way rather than a bloody gory mess. Many hack and slash are all about how you can rip limbs off (Ninja Gaiden 2 and God of War 3). Make the injury system more elegant in Heavenly Sword. Show deep cuts, bruises, and neck breaks, but don't make it fingers flying off, decapitations, etc...
So you see 3 simple changes have turned one game from being a GOW clone into something unique which is what makes a game a success. When GOW came out there was nothing like it on consoles, when Halo came out there was nothing like it on consoles, when Mario came out there was nothing like it on consoles. So devs take the time out and think about if there's anything like you game already, and if so take the time out to think about how you can make your game better than what's considered the best. I know I have.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
The only GOW clone I've heard of is Dantes inferno, and thats being made more for the 360 only owners
GoW introduced great story/story telling with both ninja gaiden (it has no story at all) and DMC (Come on story is so cheesey!) do not have.
(For some reason I can't reply directly. What's up with this thread?)
@Gun_Senshi:
Hey, those are hardly facts.
Ninja Gaiden has had a story since the very first game on NES. The Xbox version is the first in a reboot. "It has no story at all" is plain wrong.
'Great' and 'cheesy' are your opinionated words on the matter. The fact is DMC was here and did those things well before GoW (as similar games and concepts precede DMC).
GoW is a great series, but c'mon it's about as ground-breaking as Halo.