God Hand

"One of the best beat 'em ups of the PS2 generation."

Story
This is the story of Gene, a cocky 23-year-old martial artist with a strong sense of justice, who happens upon a girl who's about to get clobbered by a group of demonized thugs. In an attempt to save the girl, Gene ends up getting his right arm lopped off by one of the bad guys. After the incident, he wakes up in a hotel only to find that his arm has been replaced by the mythical God Hand, which was used by another man to slay the devil centuries ago. How did Gene get this new power, and what was he supposed to do with it?

Graphics: 7/10

This is undoubtedly the weakest aspect of the game. The environments are plain and uninspired for the most part. The landscape is littered with generic-looking buildings and poor textures. A lot of the walls also have bad clipping issues when you get close to them as well. In all honesty, they probably could've been faithfully produced the environments on the Dreamcast without a problem. On the good side, however, the plain environments let you concentrate on the characters (especially Gene) who move very fluidly and the martial arts used look very pleasing to the eyes, with all sorts of cool effects, which is really what this game is about. Many destructible environments and objects are also a big plus. The main characters' models also look very decent, although the generic enemies are usually pretty low in the polygon department. A lot of this game is a parody of other classic beat 'em ups, so it leaves you wondering how much of the "bad" elements (such as the ridiculous looks of the enemies) are simply intentional.

Sound: 10/10

This is one of the ways in which the game truly shines. The great surfer/rock soundtrack fits in perfectly with the game's off-beat atmosphere. Some of these songs can really get stuck in your head. It's too bad the American version of the game didn't come with the original soundtrack. The sound effects are also very well done. From Gene's hilarious sound bytes while he's kicking bad guy butt to the way enemies scream when they're kicked into the stratosphere, you'll enjoy hearing it all. The voice acting is appropriately hammy for the story, and the cutscenes have some truly hilarious moments.

Gameplay: 9/10

If you've ever watched the trailer for this game, you'll remember the phrase "Ball-bustingly hard, but fair." That perfectly describes this game. Make no mistake, you WILL need to continue multiple times before you beat the final boss. The amount of damage enemies cause to you sometimes borders on ridiculous. This is, however, balanced out by the fact that Gene has an incredible moveset at his disposal. Over 100 moves can be earned or purchased, and they can be customized however you wish. You also have very powerful God-Reel attacks (like a super-move), as well as the ability to double your speed and damage for a limited time by unleashing the power of your God Hand. Needless to say, there are literally dozens of different ways to pummel your opponents. In addition, while you can't block, you have many dodge moves at your disposal, as well as a dash and 180-degree turn. This greatly reduces the pain of the tank-like controls (a-la Resident Evil 4) which can still sometimes makes fighting multiple enemies difficult. Unfortunately, the camera can be problematic at times as well. Since it's zoomed in so close to Gene, you'll have a hard time seeing anything that's going on behind you or to your sides. Luckily, there's a radar that shows enemy position, so it reduces the frustration of that problem somewhat. Overall, though, the combat is just fantastic, and it's what will keep you coming back.

Replay Value: 9/10

There's no shortage of things to do in this game, for sure. There's a casino mode where you can play blackjack, video poker, and slot machines. There's also a shop where you can buy power-ups, moves, and bet on chihuahua races. Finally, there's an arena mode where you can test your fighting skill in 40 different challenges of varying difficulty. Once you beat the game, there are also various unlockables and a harder difficulty (like the game isn't hard ENOUGH), too. For a fighting game, it definitely has some meat to it. You could easily spend upwards of 20 hours if you get hooked on some of the side-games. Just playing through the main game, though, will still take at least 10-15 hours, and if you're like me, you'll want to keep coming back to it to perfect you skills and try different techniques, and simply since the fighting is so fun.

Overall: 9/10

This game has given CPR to a dying genre. Simply put, if you're a fan of beat-'em-ups (or action games in general), you owe it to yourself to at least try this game. This baby is definitely a buy in my book. It's only $30, and with everything I mentioned that's included in the game, you'll definitely get your money's worth. Get out there and buy this to support our beat-'em-ups!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/06