Okay, in the last 12 months Ive played a large number of 3rd person action games (Force Unleashed 1, God of War 1+2 HD Remakes, Dantes Inferno, Darksiders, God of war 3) and I have to say that out of all of them this is game is the best.
It does take some adjustment to get used to its style vs the other abovementioned titles – namely that it has a large focus on story/narrative in addition to splitting the gameplay elements up into combat, platforming, puzzle solving.
Think of it as Metal Gear storytelling meets God of War in a medival setting (i.e. The game is split up into levels that follow the core design of Begin level-Cutscene-Action/Puzzle/Platform section-Cutscene-End level).
I like to think of it an evolution of the action adventure games that graced gaming in the late 80s-early 90s (i.e. Last Ninja Series) where there was minimal handholding and it was up to the player to explore every noonk and cranny of the level to find the secret areas.
The game starts off well enough but gets even better later on with huge boss battles and set pieces coming thick and fast.
In terms of game length/value for money this game is about as good as it gets (on a par with GoW1+2 collection if you havent played those before).
Dont plan to finish this off in an evening or two as the games story mode is easily 3 times the length of God of War 3, plus the gametime is extended even further by replaying the levels to complete the challenge modes.
In summary, this is one of the top 3 games I have played this year (along with Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2).
If youre a fan of 3rd person action games dont let this one pass you by.