What are you currently playing? 4.0

[Foggle]

While I think Bayonetta is basically a perfected version of the DMC formula, I can definitely see preferring Devil May Cry (especially 3) since Bayo's combat is sometimes too overwhelming and ridiculously frantic.

If you posted this list up on any other board than this one, I guarantee that you'd have at least a dozen different users crying fowl at the lack of God of War on this list.

Fortunately, most NG and DMC fans know that God Of War can't even touch the genre's greats. GoW 2 is definitely in my top 10, though.

Finished DMC1 a few days ago. Good game, and I could only imagine how revolutionary it was to the genre when it first came out. The camera is pretty terrible, and there are a few irratating bosses, but I love the games setting, it makes the game feel like the love-child of Resident Evil (not too suprising since this game started out as RE4) and Castlevania.

The first game is basically Castlevania in 3D with really intense combat. There's nothing else quite like it out there. So while its combat may be considered rudimentary nowadays, it still has a certain flair to it that most hack 'n slash don't.

I also tried playing a level of DMC2. It was...pretty embarrasing, to say the least. Still, it did introduce a few concepts that would make it into 3, so I guess it's not totally bad.

Make sure you get up to Mission 5 (or was it 4?). Shouldn't take too long since Normal mode is brain-dead easy. The tanks and helicopter are by far the most embarrassing things I've ever encountered in a hack 'n slash.

Actually, there are a lot more games in the hack n' slash genre than just Bayonetta, DMC, NG, and GoW. The reason you guys don't know about them is because most of them were shallow pieces of junk that quickly got forgotten over time. That said, there were some mediocre to decent hack n' slash games that, while not great or even really all that good, were stuff that I at least enjoyed playing, myself. Some of these games include:

I also really enjoyed the Wolverine game and Onimusha titles. Nowhere near the level of DMC and NG, but still awesome. Meanwhile, I can certainly appreciate what Shinobi and Nightshade did, but I wasn't really a fan since they were too hard for me.

Another great little-known hack 'n slash is Blood Will Tell. The gameplay isn't the best, but it's serviceable enough, and the story is just amazing.

Chaos Legion is okay. Don't really have much to say about it. Never liked Kingdom Hearts, but that stems more from my irrational hatred of Squeenix's storytelling than anything else.

I've only played one game in the genre that I outright detested, though... Bujingai: The Forsaken City. The first boss fight was really flashy and cool, but everything else was utter trash.

EDIT: Oh, and Nano Breaker was also complete shit.

[gunswordfist]

I really want to get Wolverine and Onimusha 3 (and 1, 2 and 4) I want a modern update of Onimusha (by modern, I mean up to date controls and a damn jump button. Resident Evil with a sword sounds as stupid as it sounds...actually, that sounds like a damn good time    )

I also want to get Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, mostly to piss off Foggle and Desen. My brother had the last Prince Of Persia game but our mother traded it in at Gamespot. UGH! Oh well, I'll get it for 360.

Sucks that it was the last revolutionary game in the genre, only because no one tried to learn anything from Ninja Gaiden and again, the genre has so few games.

Instead, people decided to copy God of War and its shallow combat system just because its popular instead of building upon what DMC and Ninja Gaiden started. Such a shame too, I'd really love to see more DMC/NG-inspired hack'n slashes.


Don't forget about Darksiders. I think Chaos Legion counts too, but I haven't looked at enough gameplay footage to make sure. There's also a few Action-RPG's with Hack'n Slash-style elements like Kingdom Hearts II and the upcoming Final Fantasy Versus XIII (or whatever the hell it's called).

I think people think God Of War is legitimately the greatest hack n slash out there or are just so impressed by it's graphics...lol

Oh yeah, Darksiders. I want to get that and its sequel (is it out yet?!) I didn't know FF Versus XIII was going to be like a hack n slash. I haven't seen anything on it since one of its first CG trailers and I kind of assumed it got canceled or something.

[gunswordfist]

Chaos Legion is pretty average. I think it's completely playable except some parts that take too long to beat.

[Foggle]

I also want to get Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, mostly to piss off Foggle and Desen. My brother had the last Prince Of Persia game but our mother traded it in at Gamespot. UGH! Oh well, I'll get it for 360.

Why would that piss off Desen?

Also, Heavenly Sword is the most boring fucking game. Imagine GoW but more brain-dead, with input lag and a crap story. Now imagine playing a different game because that one sounds like shit.

[gunswordfist]

I also want to get Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, mostly to piss off Foggle and Desen. My brother had the last Prince Of Persia game but our mother traded it in at Gamespot. UGH! Oh well, I'll get it for 360.

Why would that piss off Desen?

Also, Heavenly Sword is the most boring fucking game. Imagine GoW but more brain-dead, with input lag and a crap story. Now imagine playing a different game because that one sounds like shit.

Desen doesn't like Enslaved...or has never played it and doesn't like how it looks. That reminds me, I need to get the Maximo games.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've noticed that for some reason Dante's Inferno has gotten sort of a cult following fan-base for no apparent reason whatsoever. They usually tend to defend the title's status despite it being an obvious and utter rip-off of God of War's combat. To be fair, I don't think God of War has a bad combat system (I just find that it pales in comparison to DMC/Bayonetta/NG), but the fact is that Dante's Inferno is a more derivative version of that and at that point it becomes apparent to me at just how boring it is.

To be fair to God of War, and to prove that I'm not just mindlessly bias toward that series, I would say that GoW3 has a legitimately above average combat system in terms of depth. None of the extra moves besides your basic button mashing really seem to be required to beat it, but I still at least appreciate the effort of putting in a wide variety of combos to choose from to keep the combat from feeling too stale. That said I still honestly couldn't bring myself to play it for more than 30 minutes before I got tired of it (I was playing it on my friend's PS3). I remember I fought that water-horse boss thing on top of the titan at the beginning of the game, and visually it looked impressive, but mechanically it was just a matter of tapping the square button over and over again. I think that's why I just can't get into the game, honestly. The visuals can be the best around and it can have the largest scale and the best presentation, but in terms of actual substance it feels way too lacking to hold my interest for very long. I don't really dislike these games, but honestly it does kind of tick me off that they are the most popular hack n' slash games around and among the few that ever really well well, when IMO there are clearly better games in the genre. I wouldn't be so negative towards these games with my comments if they weren't as popular as they were, of course.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I also want to get Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, mostly to piss off Foggle and Desen. My brother had the last Prince Of Persia game but our mother traded it in at Gamespot. UGH! Oh well, I'll get it for 360.

Why would that piss off Desen?

Also, Heavenly Sword is the most boring fucking game. Imagine GoW but more brain-dead, with input lag and a crap story. Now imagine playing a different game because that one sounds like shit.

Desen doesn't like Enslaved...or has never played it and doesn't like how it looks. That reminds me, I need to get the Maximo games.

I never said anything about it except that the combat is pretty shallow. I have a friend who really likes the game, but it's not for the combat.

and yes you should play the Maximo games.

YOU ALL SHOULD.

[Foggle]

The first boss in GoW 3 is so tedious and easy. Takes fucking forever to beat and I'm pretty sure you actually can't die on Normal mode.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh yeah, someone mentioned Darksiders. I tried about an hour of that game. It has decent visuals and its certainly not bad, but once again the shallow combat kind of gets me bored of it before long. I know that sounds contradictory for me to say since I claimed to like some hack n' slash games with shallow combat, but those games also had something else to offer me to hold my interest. With Darksiders, it attempts to be part Zelda which I would really like, but its puzzles are insultingly easy to solve and it doesn't feel all that much fun to explore any of the areas in the first game. Hopefully the sequel turns out to be better.

Another hack n' slash game that I sort of like what I've played of despite having shallow combat and not being a great game in general is Defiance. Yeah, its makes for a shitty Soul Reaver game, but I guess just the fact that it was a standard hack n' slash with Soul Reaver characters was enough to get me interested in trying it. Unfortunately the copy of it that I had rented back when it came out kept freezing on me about a little over an hour into the game, so I never got to play too much of it.

[gunswordfist]

I also want to get Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, mostly to piss off Foggle and Desen. My brother had the last Prince Of Persia game but our mother traded it in at Gamespot. UGH! Oh well, I'll get it for 360.

Why would that piss off Desen?

Also, Heavenly Sword is the most boring fucking game. Imagine GoW but more brain-dead, with input lag and a crap story. Now imagine playing a different game because that one sounds like shit.

Desen doesn't like Enslaved...or has never played it and doesn't like how it looks. That reminds me, I need to get the Maximo games.

I never said anything about it except that the combat is pretty shallow. I have a friend who really likes the game, but it's not for the combat.

and yes you should play the Maximo games.

YOU ALL SHOULD.

Well I just remember you saying you don't like the game. I liked what I played of the demo and wish Ninja Theory was doing that instead of DmC.

And yes, I want to play the Maximo games.

Oh yeah, someone mentioned Darksiders. I tried about an hour of that game. It has decent visuals and its certainly not bad, but once again the shallow combat kind of gets me bored of it before long. I know that sounds contradictory for me to say since I claimed to like some hack n' slash games with shallow combat, but those games also had something else to offer me to hold my interest. With Darksiders, it attempts to be part Zelda which I would really like, but its puzzles are insultingly easy to solve and it doesn't feel all that much fun to explore any of the areas in the first game. Hopefully the sequel turns out to be better.

Another hack n' slash game that I sort of like what I've played of despite having shallow combat and not being a great game in general is Defiance. Yeah, its makes for a shitty Soul Reaver game, but I guess just the fact that it was a standard hack n' slash with Soul Reaver characters was enough to get me interested in trying it. Unfortunately the copy of it that I had rented back when it came out kept freezing on me about a little over an hour into the game, so I never got to play too much of it.

Is Defiance a Blood Omen game?

I've also been thinking about getting New Legends.

[Foggle]

Is Defiance a Blood Omen game?

Yes. It's the last Legacy Of Kain game, and basically a crossover between Blood Omen and Soul Reaver iirc.

[gunswordfist]

OK. I liked what I played from one of the Blood Omen games. I remember liking that old Soul Reaver demo too.

[Rynnec]

Also, Heavenly Sword is the most boring fucking game. Imagine GoW but more brain-dead, with input lag and a crap story. Now imagine playing a different game because that one sounds like shit.

I played the demo, and it was pretty underwhelming. Also, the faces look pretty freaky too. The only reason I think people even payed attention to it in the first place was because it had a "Hot Chick with a Sword" that ripped off God of War, and was promptly forgotten about a few months after release.

I've noticed that for some reason Dante's Inferno has gotten sort of a cult following fan-base for no apparent reason whatsoever. They usually tend to defend the title's status despite it being an obvious and utter rip-off of God of War's combat. To be fair, I don't think God of War has a bad combat system (I just find that it pales in comparison to DMC/Bayonetta/NG), but the fact is that Dante's Inferno is a more derivative version of that and at that point it becomes apparent to me at just how boring it is.

I think the reason for its cult fan-base is because it was sort of hyped up as "The next God of War" so-to-speak. The game looks pretty mediocre from what I've seen. I'd like for a game set in Hell where you fight a bunch of Demons and what not, but I'd rather it be in an over-the-top fun way ala the DMC's, NG's and Bayonetta's. Dante's Inferno looks to bland for my taste.

Oh yeah, Darksiders. I want to get that and its sequel (is it out yet?!) I didn't know FF Versus XIII was going to be like a hack n slash. I haven't seen anything on it since one of its first CG trailers and I kind of assumed it got canceled or something.

While the combat isn't pure hack'n slash style, it does have a few elements that bring the genre to mind since it's being done by the same team who did KHII.

And I think everyone thought it was cancelled until the most recent trailer last year. 

[gunswordfist]

  Ah, ok. I haven't been keeping up with games since I can barely afford to get any.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I thought Darksiders was more of a Zelda-like game?