Hmm… sure, yes. I wouldn't say it's flawed, but I'd say it's different, and I much prefer the Japanese way of doing things here where it feels I'm precisely choreographing a movie fight instead of doing as much damage as possible to anyone in my immediate vicinity.

I'd still say GoW3 is peak western action, and quite fun to play. I would not rank it on the same level as DMC5, Ninja Gaiden II, or Bayonetta, but I'd rank it fairly close—like a step or two behind.

As of the franchise as a whole, yeah, it's not the best, but many franchises aren't, TBH. I love Bayonetta, for example, but that franchise is all over the place. It's almost GoW backwards… higher peak than GoW, for sure, but still messy overall.