@Diablo 3The game is enjoyable, to an extent. I mean, I've logged some serious hours with it, so it's not terrible. But, there are so many glaring mistakes in it that will sink it for me. It misses the gothic sensibility. I might be crazy, but I actually really like the distinctive world and atmosphere that Diablo had set up. To the extent where my buddies and I occasionally set up D&D games set in that setting.
The real problem for me is Inferno. It's terrible. Not that it's too hard. It's a gear check, nothing more, and once you have the gears, it's no more difficult than anything else. And, even if you don't have the gears, it's not even that difficult, just tedious. Though they added enrage timers, a mechanic I had never seen before, which does more firmly enforce the gear check. It wouldn't be so bad if the other difficulties were not eerily easy.
Given that the skill system gives me no reason to ever make a second version of any class (you can respec at a whim, and there are only 6 skills at a time to choose from), the late game is all there really will be to this game in a while. And, they didn't bother to test it or make it really enjoyable. I also don't love how integral the Auction House is to playing the game.
That's the difference between D3 and a game that is really well-done (and I'm sure we can pick a few that are uncontroversial). You get a consistent sense of lack of attention to detail and that they lost the thread of what makes games like it truly enjoyable.
@God of WarI happen to love the franchise. I would never say that it's innovative. Although I find the gameplay much more enjoyable than Devil May Cry, for what that's worth. The enemies are also more varied and interesting than they were in Devil May Cry 4, the one I played the most. Though that may not have been the strongest one in the franchise. In contrast to Diablo, the storyline and the character of Kratos never really grabbed me at all.
But, everything in God of War is tuned up to 11, the game environments and the terrible things you do to things is all designed to be awe-inspiring. In that regard, the art direction of the game really succeeds. GoW III is a shortish game, but nearly every moment of it is breath-taking in a certain regard, and the game design manages to bring fresh life into the well-traveled territory of Greek myth. Even if doing so requires Clancy Brown and a bit of a heavy metal sensibility.
With regards to the plot, as others have noted, it's no LESS consistent than the Greek myths themselves.
@Oscelamo's comments: I'm pretty sure Ares neither knew nor could stop Kratos from coming back from the dead. The Greek gods are the opposite of all-powerful and all-knowing, and death isn't Ares' bailiwick. And, they're pretty famous for their arrogance.
Believe it or not, there actually is an explanation for their somewhat foolish behavior. Although I'm not sure what the criticism is of Poseidon's behavior -- he attacks the Titans as they lay siege to Mount Olympus. The war hadn't even started until then. Query the quality of the explanation, and it's not a game or milieu that thrives on such things, but there is one, and oddly enough one supported by Greek myth.
When Kratos opens Pandora's Box in order to gain the power to defeat Ares in GoW I, he has unleashed the evils trapped within which infect the gods of Olympus. Hermes is infected with Pride, Hercules with Jealousy, Zeus with Fear, Hera with Despair(?) or somesuch. Their behavior is supposed to be a bit wonky b/c of it.
