I consider NG, Bayo, and DMC (along with TW101 and God Hand) a cut above what GoW has always offered. Even the more B-tier stuff like MGR and Hi Fi I'd take over GoW.

NG always been my personal fav, but I see the big hitters in the aforementioned series' as being every bit as good. All just different spins on the genre, executing their goals to the same level. NG and DMC being the two extremes. NG all about being agile and on your toes, reacting to enemies who will delete your ass if you slip. Top notch game feel, every slice and crunch just feels perfect. DMC is like the Tony Hawk of 3d beat em ups. Mostly fighting punching bags, but that's fine. The challenge isn't about progressing through encounters, rather pushing the afforded mechanics as far as you can. And that shit goes stupid deep, mastering Dante is like learning to play an instrument, some people spend years refining their play.

Find a lot of the genre is somewhere between the two. Bayo clearly leans more towards DMC in feel and flexibility. Not quite as flexible, but the enemies make up for it with aggression and enemy mixing leaning more towards something you'd find in NG. And of course introducing its own wrinkles to the play, stuff like dodge offset being a brilliant mechanic that more games should adopt.

Anyways, bunch of great games, so much replayability. One doesn't really displace the other, I just play what I'm in the mood for.