Why cant other developers say something good about others? oh thats right... there cocky bastards. For example, Gabe newell "I hate everything that isnt a PC." He makes great games, but he needs to shut up or eat more donuts so he can shut up permanently.

That is an impressively long neck...

Awww he looks so cute and cuddly.

@Mukatsuku: t@Mukatsuku: ok the word right of my mouth...
it be funny if Myamoto said he liked bioshock xD

He forgot about "fun", Geoff.
Or maybe just plain old "gameplay"...

A good opening is very key to the game as is his other examples, but what I think completes the good opening is also a good theme.

Very important to me (SMRPG for example).

@Heliophage: his neck isn't an issue when you look at his eyebrows-_-

@Heliophage: Your missing the point video games need a clear, concise (looks at picture)...damn! His neck is long!

he looks like an Ostrich. but i like the fact that a developer says nice things about other games.

Heavenly Sword was awful.. a total rip-off of God of War 2 and way too short =/

I thought Heavenly Sword was a great game AND short. It was similar to God of War, but that's not a bad thing. To me the length doesn't make a game good or bad. I'd rather play a short game that was entertaining and void of tedious filler.

Bioshock had the grand daddy of all openings Imho.

But agreed, an opening isn't just a CGI screen any more. It's a big part of the game that sets the tone for hours. the first 40 minutes can mean the difference between playing the next 40 hours or not.

and he's forgetting Oblivion, another amazing opening!

@Shiryu:

Fun is implicit; most/all of the factors mentioned contribute to the experience of the game, and everyone and his dog knows that overall it should be fun.

@GEOFF KEIGHLEY:

I think you should be an official Kotaku editor. I like your writing style. Serious yet entertaining.

I gotta say, the game has to play well.

@AaronMD: But what if games start becoming 2 hours long (movie length) would it still be ok? Games are getting shorter and shorter these days and no matter how you cut that, it's not good for gamers. Personally I'd rather have a game that is of decent length AND is good, but I have to disagree with you, Heavenly Sword not only copies God of War 2 but it does so poorly. Take for example the context sensitive button pushing they added to the game, in GoW 2 these always came up in the right context where they make sense whereas in Heavenly Sword they add it in areas which are totally irrelevant (the notorious climbing cliffs part) and so where they add it, it ends up detracting from the game rather than enhancing it. You can get away with copying some things but when it becomes as in your face obvious as what Heavenly Sword does, each time the context sensitive crap comes up God of War immediately comes to mind to remind me of how much Heavenly Sword sucks in comparison. Anyway, just my personal opinion (shared by many reviewers apparently) =)

@IntelSilver: I was just about to comment and say the same thing! Geoff, can we keep you? :)

@Soldrak:
Whats isnt a rip-off these days from god of war?

@Mukatsuku: Every game in any genre that is not action adventure.

@Mukatsuku: Heavenly Sword is the only one I can think of, can you name any others? In any case, if there are other rip-offs then they all probably suck as well.

@sophist: Drake Uncharted is action adventure and it isn't a rip off of God of War. It in fact is better.

Heavenly Sword has no story to speak of. It has incredibly flat characters (the super evil villains with no redeeming qualities, the angelic goody two shoes 'rebellion') the graphics look washed out (blooming effects to the max baby!) and the art direction uninspired. I actually think GoW 2 looks a lot better than Heavenly Sword, it's sad that a PS2 game can actually look better than a 2nd generation PS3 game.

@Heliophage: Any neck is impressively long (even a Hippopotamus's) when compared to Gabe. ;P

@Huginn: I loved Oblivion, but thought the opening was boring. It didn't set the scene at all. I think they should have had something of what was to come with the Oblivion gates to really set the scene.

@Soldrak: And how many games aren't rip-offs of others?

As for the article? I found it to be fun, short, and an engaging story. I still go back and re-play sections to try and better my scores. If anything, it needed less "unblockable" attacks from enemies and more of a requirement to use the different combos (aka less button mashing).

I still go back and re-play sections to try and better my scores. If anything, it needed less "unblockable" attacks from enemies, more of a requirement to use the different combos (aka less button mashing) and to be a few hours longer.

@Doshu: I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree then. I would probably give the game a 5 just to make the point that this kind of blatant copying and shortening of games shouldn't be tolerated. If we let this kind of attitude go on, we'll soon be seeing 2-hour long games and devs who still expect 9's and 10's for that kind of effort.

And like I said before, if there are many games that are just rip-offs of others then there are many games that are crappy and pieces of shit. Last I checked, many games are crappy and pieces of shit.

Being in the same genre by the way is not the definition of being a rip-off. Copying things blatantly like context sensitive gigantic buttons on the screen is a humongous rip-off. I could not be any clearer on that.

Geoff, I think you're getting some serious demands from folk to continue blogging for Kotaku in some capacity. Once you're in the fold, it's going to be hard to leave.

The Kotaku mafia and all that...

S

@sascha23:

Once he decides to leave, he will get pulled back in.