God of War is the western equivalent of Dragon Quest, in that it takes a few elements and implements them to that cross-section on the graph chart where the accessibility line intersects with depth. David Jaffe put it like this - the original was inspired by Devil May Cry and Ico. The game doesn't live up to the combat of Devil May Cry, much less the puzzles of Ico. But it has better puzzles than Devil May Cry and certainly more visceral and fluid combat than Ico. These are implemented with a consistently impressive art design and and an enjoyable story. These ingredients make up for a winning recipe and certainly one of my favorite series. We've had a lot of imaginative indie games, but I still think God of War III was the most artistic game I've seen this generation.

The Arkham games... I have Arkham City on Steam and just want to get a controller to play this game via big picture mode. The first game really reminded me of Metal Gear Solid. You're on this one island, it's fallen into the wrong hands, and you take it back over this 15-20 hour journey where you master a breadth of gameplay mechanics and endure some trippy trout along the way. Very excellent, very surprising game. It's particularly rewarding if you're a comic fan. I like how they actually took Batman's moves in the panels of the comics and actually turned it into a video game. They also have the best combination for Bruce Wayne and the Joker ever when it comes to voice acting.