Is God of War 3 The New Front-Runner for GOTY?

If Metacritic is used as the measuring stick it appears that God of War is still holding a strong second to Mass Effect 2 in the race for GOTY. With 95 reviews for Mass Effect and a meta score of 96, the game currently holds a two point lead to God of War III. God of War III with only 33 reviews currently ranks at a meta score of 94. With the games release date still a little over a week away, God of War III has built a strong score base pre release and has earned "Universal Acclaim" thus far.

News for Gamers meta review shows God of War with an average score of 9.4 out of 70 reviews. The same site also show Mass Effect 2 rating a 9.5 overall with 327 reviews. Game of the Year 2010, not likely to be ran away with by anyone at this stage of the game.(more)

[Darkeyes]

Ah... The meta debate. It's a nominee for sure and possibly even GOTY from numerous sources. But we don't even know the entire 2010 line up yet.. I am still thinking TLG is gonna be an equal contender.

Still using meta and pointing out a 0.1 or 0.2 difference is useless... It's opinions of reviewers and that too it's weird, but every time I see meta, I don't find consistency meaning 1 game will have 100 reviews while some will cap off at 80.... So it's useless to base a GOTY off those 0.1-0.2 difference.

[Genesis5]

You got it Darkeyes. Unfortunately fanboy journalism hurts metacritics credibility. It's quite obvious some reviewers score games with metacritic in mind.

GOTY is hard to pick because it's hard for everyone to agree on one title. My game of the year might not be the same as the person next to me. But I really don't think we can use metacritic as a source.

[deadreckoning666]

So far the frontrunners are ME2, GOW3, and BC2 from what I can tell. I think GT5 will be the definite front runner when it comes out.

[zeeshan]

I like Mass Effect 2, I am on my second playthrough but GOW3 I already looks miles better than Mass Effect 2. At least when you talk about graphics, the game looks epic!!!!

[Cyrax_87]

Now people are basing GotY off metacritic? Haven't we learned anything from GTAIV yet?

[joydestroy]

i've played ME2 for over 60hrs, mate. i seriously doubt i'll be putting that much time into GoWIII. i see two playthroughs, possibly 3 so that's about 30hrs max.

and i personally don't think it's a front runner for GOTY. it's equal with a few other titles that have come out thus far.

edit: and i'm seriously considering either cancelling my pre-order or going half in with someone else. 9hrs just doesn't warrant a purchase imo. i could play it 3 times with just one rent.

[presto717]

God of War is epic Yes.
Best game this year so far. Yes

But we have not yet seen The Last Guardian and GT5. Not to talk of Killzone 3 that might be coming out by the end of the year. Insomniac might also pull a surprise with R3.

Its too early to start talking about GOTY

[Strange_Evil]

If this game were to come out late this year, then I would definitely think it would get GOTY, but in my recent memory, no games coming out in the 1st or 2nd quarter has won GOTY, I feel same will be a case with this and even ME2. But from the reviews, the game seems breathtaking.

But basing a GOTY off meta=stupidity since as 1st post suggested, not all games get equal reviews, and the fact that most reviews of 2 games on different platforms come from different sites (meaning both platform games get certain 'exclusive' reviews from few sites which I find rather funny and unfair). Also, not to mention that many games are from different genres and so they are scored as per the genre.

Still, GOW is a huge contender, but I got a feeling that it will go to something that has multiplayer and comes out late.

[Dark Collosis]

Being able to load up my profile and the choices i made in ME1 effect ME2 is awesome,and make the wait for ME3 that much harder on me. I loved Mass Effect 2 and i have played through the game twice.. I owned and played both GoWars 1&2 and though they where epic in scale the combat did get repetetive. I have very high hopes for GoW3, but not so high for me to like it more than the Mass Effect series. Still i try not to compare the two games because there two completely different style of games and both are EPIC.... Gow3 is the main reason i purchased my PS3 and i know i will not be disapointed. Its all based on someones oppinion anyways so what does it really matter?

[HolyOrangeCows]

Action game of the year, at least.

The only sites that will say otherwise are Edge and Eurogamer. They'll choose the disproportionate alien witch.

[tronz]

ME2 Has a 9.6 average on Metacritic with 95 official review sites.
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

GOW 3 has 33 official reviews with a 94 average.
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

I don't think GOW3 has enough perfect scores out of the gate with official reviews to catch a 9.6 average. I will be shocked if a Hack'N Slash coming out at the beginning of the year wins GOTY with so many games coming out in 2010.

[bobrea]

Awesome response, dude. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[HolyOrangeCows]

"I don't think GOW3 has enough perfect scores out of the game with official reviews to catch a 9.6 average"

Maybe we could wait for the other 2/3 of reviews before we make such a call, hmm?

[Hakimy]

"If Metacritic is used as the measuring stick" fortunately it isn't.I don't know why people always mention metacritic when talking about goty.I only use that site to check what some certain sites said about certain games.another thing I want to point.higher scores don't mean that a game will definitely be goty.for example gamespot gave chose demon's souls as 2009 game of the year and it wasn't the one with the highest score.the same thing happened with ign in some years:
2005:
RE4 score: 98 GOW score: 97
goty: GOW
2006:
Gears of War score: 9.4 Okami score: 9.1
goty: Okami
see what I mean?
besides,we are still in March! wait until we reach the end of the year then we can start talking about goty ;)

[Marceles]

lol @ measuring GOTY status by length of time spent playing the game. RPG vs. Action Adventure...of course you'll play the RPG longer

[Bathyj]

My stool has more consistancy than Metacritic. They're a joke.

If you need proof, how does FFXIII on XB have a higher Metascore than PS3 when everyone knows which is the better version. Sure, no one has a problem marking a PS3 multiplat down a few points for a minor bug or missing shadow, but when a big name game with real differences comes along, all the scores are even. Pathetic.

And while all the 9's for GoW are great, and I really dont care if it scores a 2, I'm still getting it, I can't help but notice the 10's dont get handed out quite so easily when its a PS3 exclusive, compared to a multiplat (GTA, MW2) or an XB game.

Deny it if you want, I call it how I see it, and I'm getting sick of what I see. More and more, I'm thinking I dont need any games media to enjoy games anymore. Quite the opposite.

M$ raised the bar with Gears, Sony has done it about half a dozen times since then. How about credit where its due?

[KimDongHwan]

and all of the PS3 Exclusive games have to deal with "some" websites that always review them with 70~80 while the same websites review the other games (XBOX360 and Multiplatform) with 90~100, so not so much logic to base GOTY on Metacritic.

[Minimox16]

Agreed, i had 120 hours right now playing White knight chronicles and im not even in half of the time for the platinum(600 - 900 for plat) so if time that i play the game then WKC need to be a GOTY.. :/ ( its a great game :D btw! very addictive online)

Kratos FTW! XD

[badz149]

Metacritic gives the average receptions on games among reviewers but but since when did we started deciding the overall GoTY based on meta scores? every websites has their own GoTY and none of these meta will ever be relevant comes the end of the year!

[jack_burt0n]

GT5 will not brake for anyone.

[SullyDrake]

So Kratos will break it himself

[ChozenWoan]

He's gonna want to take a vacation cruising along the Autobahn after all the hard work he's put in over the years with the whole "overthrowing the Greek Gods" thing.

Wonder what type of ride Kratos would pick... hmmmm? ;)

[UnSelf]

pegasus

[mrv321]

Nope, it came out too early.... trust me, barely any pre-august games win GOTY.

[ps3hasonlyflopgames]

Basically the same game as 1&2 only now with poor textures and graphics.

God of War 3 got a 9.2 and mass effect 2 got a 9.6 in meta. And I can see score of mass effect 2 is better than god of war..

God of War doesnt have the profile to be a huge game of the year.

fact.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

GOWIII is at 94 on metacritic, there's still dozens of reviews to come.
Let's at least wait for the smoke to settle before calling out misguided opinions as facts, mmkay buddy?

[user858621]

Mass Effect 2 Is Basically Mass Effect 1 Dumbass.... -_-'

[FanboyAttack]

Yea probably too early for GOTY predictions we are barely 2 months into the year.

[tiamat5]

GOW3 is definately a strong contender, if not the winner

[Al Bundy]

Let's wait for Gran Turismo 5, The Last Guardian, and Agent.

[lelo2play]

Gran Turismo 5 will probably come out this year. The Last Guardian and Agent i have my doubts, probably next year.

[Bnet343]

Gran Turismo 5 will get high scores but I doubt they will give a racing game GOTY. They'll give it racing GOTY, but I can't see overall.

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Might be a Contender but there's still a big number of games that arent even released yet and offer Multiplayer to . And yall know how people love Multiplayer games.

[kenpachi]

funny retard GOW 1&2 already won GOTY, GOW 3 will be the same how many did Snore Effect 1 get

[x5exotic]

ME2
GoW3
GT5
TLG(idk wtf is this but....Ico..)
maybe uncharted 3?

those are good enough and deserve it
anything else will piss me off(especially bayonetta and heavy rain)

[Morituri]

Did anyone else feel like it ended way too abruptly?

Bioware did a lot of refining of the gameplay, but I honestly was expecting more storyline and missions attached to the main quest. The bulk of the game was doing loyalty missions, side missions and mining like a madman. I was expecting many missions dealing with the reapers to send me on a escapade around the galaxy, but as is, it feels like I only played a handful of missions for the main storyline and then it I get sent on the last mission. Really a big letdown for me.

[keysy420]

that f'ed up

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

Im still going for uncharted 2(i kid)GOW3...and MAG...((((SOCOM 4)

[happy_gilmore]

its boring mini games are the only redeeming features of that game.

GOW 3 is an epic win for all gamers (except pc nerds and xbots)

[Obama]

Definitely a very stronger contender. The best graphic alone makes the game well worthy.

[madmonkey0]

the meta scores are not really a good indication TBH, reviewers use a higher standard for PS3 games than 360 games, so maybe mass effect 2 is worthy of a 96 on xbox 360 but it might not be considered the same on the ps3.

for example. mass effect 2 got a 10 on graphics from ign (i think) whilst god of war 3 got 9.5, but if mass effect 2 was competing with ps3 graphics it would be less.

(sorry for bad writing, im a little bit drunk)

[tronz]

Not a different standard they just prefer the art and the visuals of ME2 better. Yeah looking at your comment I believe the drunk part. If anything they took it into account that ME2 is a RPG.

[madmonkey0]

i don't think i got my point accross very well in my last post,

what i meant is that reviews have differant standards for each platform, a prime example would bee ff13, it currently has 83 on metacritic for the 360 version and 82 for the ps3 version, even though most reviewers agree that the ps3 version is slightly better.

if deadly premonition or the last rebellion came out on the wii they would probably score 10s for everything, but as they are ps3 and xbox games, reviewers have to use a higher standard.

[DelbertGrady]

Definitely. Until Halo: Reach is released at least.

[Biggest]

Halo: Reach is supposed to do what exactly? It'll have the best use of jetpacks I think.

[MiloGarret]

It'll also pounce on anything else released the same year, both in terms of reviews and sales. You may not like it, but unless you're really REALLY stupid, you know its true.

Personally I seriously doubt GOWIII will even compare to the awesomeness of ME2, but that's just me. I think the best games of 2010 are still to come.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

I dunno.. Maybe people should actually play the game before you call it anything?

Purely off Metacritic and what the reviews are saying it looks like a contender for sure, front-runner, no. But I say that because I haven't played it but I'm been through the ME2 story twice now and it's hands down my GOTY so far.

[thrust]

halo reach it will be,

hmmmm has the ps3 ever got a GOTY?

[GiantEnemyCrab]

The last 2 years have been PS3 exclusives as GOTY (LBP and UC2)

Let's see if I get a disagree on this comment.

[DelbertGrady]

Uncharted 2 took it home last year. Very deserving. Great single player and awesome multiplayer.

[Al Bundy]

2007 Metal Gear Solid 4
2008 Little Big Planet
2009 Uncharted 2

You were saying?

[thrust]

nice did not know, you may have 4 games by the end of this year :)

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Who gave MGS4 GOTY?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

It seems that most gave it to Modern Warfare or Bioshock or even Portal or SMG. I do see a couple awarded for it in 2008, which is weird.

Good game regardless.

[thedisagreefairy]

mgs4 came out in the summer of 2008.

so yeah....

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

@thrust

Ignorance is a bliss!!!

http://img519.imageshack.us...

[Raoh]

so far i'm betting on ME2, HR, GoW3, possibly ffxiii (not that it should win, i dont know havent played it yet but its got enough hype around it to end up a nominee)

[tudors]

I cannot see one game alone taking the GOTY award this year, as I have said I am not a hack and slash fan so GOW3 still would not be my GOTY, but having said that the quality shines through, but can you really say a game like GOW3 can be better than a game like Mass Effect 2? to fully appreciate how good GOW3 is I suppose you would have to dumb down the graphics so that all that was left was the game, but it's not just graphics with GOW3, it really does look epic, it certainly will win the GOTY rush factor.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Yup, if Remedy deliver like they did with Max Payne then we could for sure have another one to add to that list.

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

and it will fall on its face

[TheMailman]

Is not fair comparing last gen games with next gen games...

[Nicholas Cage]

yes i think god of war3 is good enough to be game of the year, i also think mass effect 2 is...although this time, im going for god of war 3, the game is just that good.

[MiloGarret]

I take it you've played it then? Can I ride in your time machine?

[PimpHandHappy]

with 96 reviews for ME2 you can say EVERYONE of those sites will have a game of the year edition come the end of the year....!!!!

so
Game of the year on the 360 will no doubt be ME2 unless Reach really does step up the game... wait and see... maybe Alan Wake but from what i seen i doubt it... Fable? Nah

Game of the year PS3 will be one of three or four... maybe add a couple
God Of War
Socom 4
Agent
GT5

anyway
arguing GOTY is stupid because we will see 20 different sites with a GOTY poll

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

@PimpHandHappy

ME2 is not even a Self exclusive for Xbox 360.

Halo and Alan Wake, those are self exclusives.

[sasukeftw]

its too early to determine goty let alone on metacritic,rockstar's ps3 exclusive is yet to be revealed and trust me its gonna be spectacular.

[MiloGarret]

I don't trust you.

[OpenGL]

With Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Halo Reach, Gran Turismo 5, Resistance 3, ModNation Racers, The Last Guardian, Agent, LA Noire, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Portal 2, Crysis 2, Max Payne 3, Starcraft 2, Mafia 2, and Rage still on the way, it's just too early to call the GOTY winner.

[tronz]

Red Dead Redemption will be what and Next-en GTA should have been but in the old wild west. A lot of people in gaming are excited for this game.

[The Maxx]

Ofcourse GoW3 is a GOTY contender. So will GT5, ME2, MW2 and yes...Halo Reach like it or not.

[bviperz]

to cast my vote for Game of the Year...

[lovestospoodge]

why, you're a madman!!

nah you have a point...actually theres not really anything else one can say

[Arnon]

Honestly, I'd put Gran Turismo 5 over God of War 3 for GotY. Unfortunately, I don't think Gran Turismo 5 is even confirmed now for 2010. I'd really want The Last Guardian to come out, but again... no release date. But... the list goes:

-Alan Wake
-Crackdown 2
-Crysis 2
-Fable 3
-God of War 3
-Halo: Reach
-Mass Effect 2
-Max Payne 3
-Metroid: Other M
-Portal 2
-Splinter Cell: Conviction
-Starcraft 2
-Super Mario Galaxy 2
-The Legend of Zelda Wii

Again, I'm only going by games that are actually confirmed for 2010. I think it's asinine to just list games that are rumored.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

You didn't mention a lot of Games coming this year for PC (mentioned few for PC) and PS3.

Why is that?

[Arnon]

Because the games on the PS3 are not confirmed for this year. I would gladly list things like Killzone 3, Resistance 3, Gran Turismo 5, The Last Guardian, etc.

Also, the list for PC is way too damn big for me to name them off. There's a good 200-300 games coming out for PC this year.

[gamer7804]

To correct this article, Mass Effect 2 is at a 96, not a 95, with over 300+ reviews.

[dustgavin]

According to Metacritc it is at 96 with 95 reviews.

[sasukeftw]

God Of War 3 is my game of the year nuff said

[MiloGarret]

Nuff said!

NUFF SAID GOTDAMMIT!

Nuff said.

[DigitalAnalog]

The constant surge of "Epic" and "Scale" and all other technical marvels have obviously got "weight" (compared to others) when it comes to be receiving awards, no doubt GOTY-contender. If we want to get GOTY based on storytelling, GO WATCH A FRICKEN MOVIE!

-End statement

[bjornbear]

it is earlyto start comparing

but i'd say so far this year the GoTY contenders are HR, ME2 and GOWIII

however....there will be more to add to that list =D

[BLADE_X8]

Mass Effect 2 got great scores....and I played a little on my firends 360. (VERY IMPRESSIVE!) Until I play god of War 3, I must admit that M2 is the GOTY leader right now.

Also, Final Fantasy and FF Versus, Halo Reach, The Last Gaurdian, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Mario Galaxy 2 are not out yet. (2010 is great, so far.)

[jalen247]

As I see it Mass Effect 2 and GOW III are the first strong contenders.

Heavy Rain might be a contender for its innovation and graphics but the metacritic score might be too low to get GOTY...

This year's GOTY will probably be different for different publications.

I don't think one game is going to run away with it like Uncharted 2 did last year.

[dustgavin]

Agreed. It is far too early and there are so many more games yet to be released. With so much variety, it will not be a slaughter like last year.

[olos]

i wonder why the bioware fanboys seems to have inflitrated everything as of late
they would have you believe that ME 2 is the perfect game..........

far from it

GOW isnt either but i foudn alot of things that were poorly put togethe rin ME2 that no reviewer even mnetioned

the worst thing i heard somebody say about it was it had bead female hair designs..........seriously

how about repetitive shallow gameplay

oh well

neither are my games of the year so far

[beavis4play]

and there are many other games to look at before the year is out.

[glennc]

you lost me at metacritic

[KiLLUMiNATi_89]

Well ME2 and Gow3 you will get your money worth.But its to early to determine thats theres how many month left til the yrs is over.My point theres too many games left.

[SDF Repellent]

It will be the New Zelda game for the Wii. All this fight is for nothing.

My 5 best bet thus far will be:

1. Zelda Wii
2. Halo Reach
3. Mass Effect 2
4. GOW3
5. Alan Wake

[tudors]

forgot about that one.

[tunaks1]

if Zelda Wii comes out 2010,
you might as well begin to troll because it will dominate. And if it doesn't come out this year, my bets on The Last Guardian.