God Hand

"The "New School" beat-em-up is dead."

There are few companies in this industry that I, personally, stop and take notice of. It used to be Square, that was replaced by Capcom, then Konami, but Konami is a title a year company. So, in the interim, I have been paying close attention to Clover Studio. Although in the few short years Viewtiful Joe has been out, they milked all they could out of it, with sequels and Smash Bros style games on multiple consoles, the original was great. And, two months ago, with the release of Okami, I thought this company could do no wrong. I was wrong.

Last month saw the release of God Hand, Clover Studio's last game, and their last game. The studio was dissolved shortly before the release of this game. Although I am sad to see them go as, even though it was a short run, they had some amazing games. So when I heard about God Hand a while ago, I had nothing but the highest of hopes for Clover Studio's take on the beat-em-up genre. This game was a huge let down for me.

We'll get the least important part of this review out of the way first, the graphics. With this genre, you don't expect the graphics to carry the game, so that is why it is less than important for this game. With that said, however, I am still very disappointed in just how bland this game looks. Western themed towns in the desert don't usually get high attention to detail, but this game looks like a first generation Playstation 2 game, not a game that came out near the end of the PS2's life. The character models are also generic, and the bosses are less than creative. If the visual presentation wasn't already bad enough, there is also the clipping and vanishing walls. If you are fighting too close to a wall, the wall will often disappear. Now, while this is common if you are fighting on the inside of a building, it's a tactic that helps you see what's going on, this happens on the outside. The side of a building will just vanish, and you'll be able to see the bland, generic desert past it.

The sound also plays an important part in the beat-em-up genre. Let's face it, no matter how good the game is, this style of gameplay can get very repetitive, so you will need something to keep the player coming back for more. Whether it's pretty graphics, amazingly fun gameplay, or kickin' tunes. This game falls on that note too. When the music is playing, it's so drowned out you can barely hear it, otherwise, there just is no music. The rest of the soundtrack, what little there is, is very generic and boring. Seems to be the theme of this review.

The story is told through flashbacks during the main game. Hell, there isn't even an opening movie to tell you what's going on. You and your female friend just show up in town and start fighting. The main character is pretty funny, and there are some funny parts to the story, but, overall it's not worth the game purchase to experience it.

Now, onto the saving grace of any beat-em-up, the gameplay. Unfortunately, it's really lacking here too. The biggest problem that I have with this game is the complete lack of a tutorial! None, only little markers on the map that tell you simple things, like how to walk... I'm not kidding, the game will tell you how to walk, but not how to fight. Your character's combos are slow too, it's painfully annoying how difficult it is to fight three enemies at once. You can unlock new moves throughout the game, but nothing really spectacular. There are also two other facets of fighting, but neither of these bring too much to the table. First, you have the ability to flip out and go into Devil Trigger.... Uh, I mean, some kind of mode where you are quicker and can punch and kick faster. The other is the title move, the God Hand. Apparently the main character pissed off the wrong guy and got his arm removed. To replace it, he gets an arm that can unleash devastating attacks on his enemies. The last little bit of the combo system is that sometimes when you are beating someone, and they get dazed, you can push the on-screen buttons quicker and quicker to totally decimate your enemy, often resulting in a finishing blow that was worth a few chuckles. The annoying part to this is that, you only get these super combos when your enemy is near death anyway, so nearly all of the hits that connect to the enemy are felt after the enemy has no HP left. Classic, huh?

Overall, I'm glad that I had gamefly, so that I could rent this game. It's definitely not worth the obscene $40 price tag. No story, nothing to look at, barely any sound and no gameplay. A deadly cocktail of annoyance. Avoid at all costs.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/06