War Gods

"Good Marketing, Bad Game"

INTRO: With a very pronounced lack of fighting games available for N64, War Gods looked like a decent try. All the previews I saw and marketing on the game made it seem like a MK ripoff. But when I actually rented it I was completely disgusted. This is horrible on every level and should not be put anywhere near mention with MK!

GRAPHICS: Amazingly, War Gods looks worse than it plays! This is by the games greatest accomplishment, continually striving to be the absolute worst in every area. Seriously it is heavily pixilated, it's looks like MK4 trying to crammed on a Saturn. The pixilation ruins any art direction the characters or the environments might have, and none of the special effects are anything you haven't seen ten times better.

SOUND: Now I know the N64 is not held in high regard as far as sound clarity goes, but War Gods sounds like it is playing off a 16-bit cartridge. And maybe it's my imagination, but I swear only one track is plays the entire game! The sound effects are very muddled and not clear at all.

CONTROLS: The N64 controller wasn't really designed for fighters, (evidenced by it's very poor selection) but MK4 and Mace didn't handle all that bad. So yes I'm saying the game has failed terribly in this field as well. The whole button mapping is very haphazard and resorting to button smashing only makes things worse.

GAMEPLAY: First off let me say this game has no premise. Why these “gods” are fighting is never explained. Which could be overlooked if it was fun to play. But obviously if your reading this review you probably have figured out that I don't feel that way. War Gods tries to pull of the same special moves heavy combat that Mortal Kombat has become a juggernaut franchise from. The problem with that style of play is that there is little depth unless the special moves are balanced and intuitive. Also needed with this gameplay is good AI. And yes you guessed it War Gods fails in both areas. This unfortunately means the AI inherently has a very cheap advantage. And the lack of character gives you no reason to play no more than half an hour with a friend, if that.

BOTTOM LINE: I do not recommend this game in the least bit. MK4 and the obscure Mace: Dark Age are MUCH better choices to spend your hard earned cash. And if those games don't work for you, well sorry but look elsewhere because the N64 doesn't got it.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/06