Best Current Gen Action/Combat Game?

We've had a lot of entries in this area with the current gen console systems so I'm curious as to what particular game or franchise you guys thought brought the best balls to the wall action. The main criteria here are that it be a 3rd person melee based action although some games kind of bleed into this area like Vanquish but that game felt more like a 3rd person cover shooter along the lines of Gears of War/Binary Domain with action bits thrown in but if you want to count it here then cool.

Here's the list so far:

Bayonetta
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Devil May Cry 4
DmC
God of War 3
God of War: Ascension
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
Ninja Gaiden 2 (or Sigma 2)
Ninja Gaiden 3 (Razor's Edge)
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Spider-Man: Edge of Time
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I'm probably missing a bunch of others so let me know what else to include but:

A) Which is your personal favorite single game?

B) What would be your top 5?

Captain America Super Soldier?

It was a good game when compared to the other Sega published Marvel based games.
That it is on the list when the series it completely ripped off isn't, is kinda funny though.

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Originally Posted by Joust Williams

Captain America Super Soldier?

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Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

It was a good game when compared to the other Sega published Marvel based games.
That it is on the list when the series it completely ripped off isn't, is kinda funny though.

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I'm a little unsure about how some of these should be categorized since the line is getting more blurred. They all have various degrees of exploration but games like Metal Gear Rising, DmC, and God of War are more linear in design and combat focused compared to say the Batman and Uncharted games which have their own combat systems but feel more like action/adventure so I dunno.

#1 Bayonetta (precise categorization doesn't matter because nothing on the cusp beats it)

Runner Up: Ninja Gaiden II (even with its flaws and a few setbacks from its predecessor)

I haven't played MGR: Revengeance but people seem to like it.

Those genres are all over the place. On no planet is Darksiders an action game. The best action-y game of this generation is Uncharted 2 with nods to its brethren, Gears, Tomb Raider (2013), and Vanquish in no particular order. I'm sure I'm forgetting some too.

If you prefer melee, which I don't, Bayonetta and Castlevania are the two best I've played, but I haven't played either DMC or MGR yet.

edit: Shit, I forgot about Batman... and Binary Domain... and the Transformers games. Damn it.

edit2: I think you almost have to split it between shooters and melee, because they're pretty damn hard to compare head-to-head.

edit3: This list is also a couple weeks too soon, because The Last of Us is going to have a say soon.

Yeah, Bayonetta takes the cake for me too. I haven't played any of the Spidermans but that Shattered Dimensions looked real nice and seemed like the combat would be good.

Probably top 5 from that list would be:
1. Bayonetta
2. GoW 3
3. Castlevania: LoS
4. MGR:R
5. Wolverine (liked this one way more than I thought I would)

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Those genres are all over the place. On no planet is Darksiders an action game. The best action-y game of this generation is Uncharted 2 with nods to its brethren, Gears, Tomb Raider (2013), and Vanquish in no particular order. I'm sure I'm forgetting some too.

If you prefer melee, which I don't, Bayonetta and Castlevania are the two best I've played, but I haven't played either DMC or MGR yet.

edit: Shit, I forgot about Batman... and Binary Domain... and the Transformers games. Damn it.

edit2: I think you almost have to split it between shooters and melee, because they're pretty damn hard to compare head-to-head.

edit3: This list is also a couple weeks too soon, because The Last of Us is going to have a say soon.

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Of the lot Darksiders certainly has a lot more exploration and is more action/adventure but it's combat system has more in common with the melee ones like say God of War so that's why I grouped it in but I'll probably take out a few of them.

Alright so let me try to make it a little less muddy.

Tactical Action Shooters: Primarily focused on shooting and a strategic cover system but also has additional melee moves thrown in. Generally has plenty of shooting galleries and a more linear approach to progression in levels. May have light exploration for additional ammo, collectibles, etc.

• Gears of War
• Binary Domain
• Fuse
• Vanquish
• Resident Evil 5 & 6
• Max Payne 3

Action/Adventure: Has well developed/balanced combat system and is medium to heavy in exploration, generally these games have a more open world.

• Batman Arkham Asylum & City
• Captain America: Super Soldier
• Darksiders I & II
• Uncharted Trilogy
• Spider-Man Web of Shadows/Amazing Spider-Man
• Red Dead Redemption

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

Yeah, Bayonetta takes the cake for me too. I haven't played any of the Spidermans but that Shattered Dimensions looked real nice and seemed like the combat would be good.

Probably top 5 from that list would be:
1. Bayonetta
2. GoW 3
3. Castlevania: LoS
4. MGR:R
5. Wolverine (liked this one way more than I thought I would)

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Yeah Wolverine was really fun, especially considering how disappointing the movie was.

Melee action games
1. Bayonetta
2. Mount & Blade: Warband
3. DmC

Shooter action games
1. Gears of War
2. Stranglehold
3. Vanquish

Where the hell do these fit action games
1. Bionic Commando
2. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine
3. Zeno Clash

I was about to mention Warhammer Space Marine. It got ignored, but it's a great game. More shootery, but getting up close for skull crushing was always great.

The best 3D brawlers (still trying to find a good name for this genre), in loose order:

Ninja Gaiden 2 (at the very top, probably)
Bayonetta
Revengeance
DMC4
Anarchy Reigns/Max Anarchy (underrated campaign)
DmC

And then everything else. I'm considering putting Dark Souls and Monster Hunter in this category, as they certainly have more in common with DMC or GOD HAND or whatever than Final Fantasy or Diablo or whatever, and the Musou games fit, too. Not that any Musou games would deserve to be on this list, lol.

I have Warband but haven't played it. I should.

The best third person shooters, in loose order:

Vanquish
Resident Evil 6
Binary Domain
Resident Evil 5
Gears of War
Uncharted 2
Stranglehold
Gears of War 3

...not too sure about that one, aside from liking the top games a bunch and liking the bottom games a good amount. Probably forgetting a bunch.

Regarding Ninja Gaiden, do you guys prefer the Ninja Gaiden Sigma games on PS3 or Ninja Gaiden Black/2 on 360? There seem to be key differences there.

Bayonetta, Vanquish, and MG:R are easily the best with the caveat that I haven't played DmC yet. I could classify the others all day but those are the standouts.

NG2 would make a nice fourth.

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Originally Posted by Will

Regarding Ninja Gaiden, do you guys prefer the Ninja Gaiden Sigma games on PS3 or Ninja Gaiden Black/2 on 360? There seem to be key differences there.

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I haven't played the Sigma games myself but going by my time with NG3 and seeing videos of some of the shittier parts of Sigma and Sigma 2, I can assume I'd prefer Black/2 to Sigma/Sigma 2.

Earth Defense Force 2017 needs a spot on this list somewhere, and I have very high hopes for the 2027 earning its spot as well.

James

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Originally Posted by Will

Regarding Ninja Gaiden, do you guys prefer the Ninja Gaiden Sigma games on PS3 or Ninja Gaiden Black/2 on 360? There seem to be key differences there.

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People have their preferences.

Sigma is pretty close to Black, it has a new weapon that some regard as overpowered (I barely used it) and 3 new chapters with Tits McGee that play very differently from the regular game - I personally liked them but many didn't.

Sigma 2 is radically different from 2 though. Team Ninja built the game up with their NGS engine rather than port over the game. It has a lot less enemies on screen, reworked levels, etc. NG2 had some problems but most people feel S2 went too far in the opposite direction.

I honestly wasn't crazy for 2097. It's a significant step down from its predecessor in terms of variety and that kinda dampened the whole thing. I do have high hopes for 4, though.

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Originally Posted by Tain

I haven't played the Sigma games myself but going by my time with NG3 and seeing videos of some of the shittier parts of Sigma and Sigma 2, I can assume I'd prefer Black/2 to Sigma/Sigma 2.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

People have their preferences.

Sigma is pretty close to Black, it has a new weapon that some regard as overpowered (I barely used it) and 3 new chapters with Tits McGee that play very differently from the regular game - I personally liked them but many didn't.

Sigma 2 is radically different from 2 though. Team Ninja built the game up with their NGS engine rather than port over the game. It has a lot less enemies on screen, reworked levels, etc. NG2 had some problems but most people feel S2 went too far in the opposite direction.

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Ah okay thanks guys.

I just kind of want to buy them all on one platform and wanted to know the pros and cons so I'll get Ninja Gaiden Black digitally, Ninja Gaiden 2, and then Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge at some point.

That's an alright way to go. I personally played through Sigma on Vita.

Wolverine is super-underrated.

DmC and Bayonetta are my 2 favorite, but I haven't played Revengeance yet.

Where do the Yakuza games fit?

And Sleeping Dogs has really awesome fighting IMO, but I guess it's more of an open world game, right?

And Tekken 6 Scenario Campaign is better than almost half of the games on that list.

Wolverine is way better than it should have any right to be, but it definitely starts to drag. Lots of needless filler in that game.

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Originally Posted by Korly

And Tekken 6 Scenario Campaign is better than almost half of the games on that list.

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Given my ability to deal with shitty controls and my fondness for Fighting Game Dress Up, I should try this.

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Originally Posted by Tain

Given my ability to deal with shitty controls and my fondness for Fighting Game Dress Up, I should try this.

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Just remember:

When locked onto an enemy, you have standard Tekken controls using the D-pad (back blocks, double back backdashes, up and down sidestep, etc) and you can press rb to change who you are locked onto. If you want to run around and grab a chicken or a super-electric-soda or something, you can move with the analog stick which gives you free run. I can't think of any way they could have improved this control scheme and still give you full Tekken control (they made "Devil Within" mode from T5 completely seperate, and it sucked).

Yeah, I don't know how either. Being able to use a fighting game's worth of options against a large group of enemies is sort of a holy grail for me, and I've daydreamed about someone doing it with VF5, but it's going to be hard to adjust to no matter what.

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Originally Posted by Tain

I honestly wasn't crazy for 2097. It's a significant step down from its predecessor in terms of variety and that kinda dampened the whole thing. I do have high hopes for 4, though.

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I got lucky and played it right- 2017 first, then the PS2 Euro Global Defense Force (actually EDF 2) afterwards. It made for a good progression, and the trade-off in graphics for variety was perfectly fair.

James

What would Stuntman: Ignition be classified as?

Awesome

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

What would Stuntman: Ignition be classified as?

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The best game.

Well, yeah.

It really was.