God Hand

"God Hand Reviewed"

I was very interested in this game since it came from Capcom's Clover studios (so sad to see them go, thankfully they formed Seed Studios). I loved Okami and enjoyed Viewtiful Joe. What made God's Hand even more interesting was the disparity between the ratings for this game. I figured I should give this game a shot.

Graphics: 7
The graphics in God Hand are decent. There are some issues with the camera but you can get used to it relatively quick. One very quirky thing is when the sides of buildings dissapear once in a while when you are dodging but that does not happen too often. The characters and animations look cool but the landscape is rather bland.

Sound: 8
I personally like the western twang of the music and it goes well with the overall theme of the game. Now to the voice acting...I think it is funny and I think it is trying to have that lame, corny feel to it. I got a kick out of some of the stuff the characters said.

Gameplay: 8
This one was tough at first because the game controls are so basic. Look at games like Devil May Cry 3 and God of War. There is so much you can do. The controls here do not live up to today's standards but it doesn't matter. The controls for this game, while basic, fit it perfectly My biggest issue is the fact that YOU CANNOT JUMP! On a positive note, the interaction with enemies, throwing barrels, etc are on point. It is very fun to beat the crap out of your enemies with combos, juggles, button mashing and the God Hand.

Story/Presentation: 6
Once again, another difficult thing to review since there are ups and downs. The story itself is kinda cool. The presentation is very basic. You are basically thrust into this game without any intro or anything like that. Also, there is no tutorial. There are random (and believe me when I say random) spots on the ground that you can walk over and see what button does what. I think they could have improved presentation a lot.

Replay Value: 5
There truly is not too much replay value to this game. There should be a two player or versus mode. You can do a New Game+ once you beat the game, where you can use all your techniques gained throughout the game. There are some mini games, etc, pretty standard stuff. I really had no desire to play this game once I finished it.

There are many good aspects to this game such as gameplay, difficulty, sound and graphics. On the other hand I can see why people would not like it for the difficulty, control scheme and lack of replay value. This is an action game with a sub genre of "beat-em up." You have to compare a game like this to it's peers such as God of War, Devil May Cry, etc. While this game does NOT deserve a 10, it is VERY far from a 3 rating. Overall I would rate this game a 6.5 Give it a shot, definitely a good rental and a chance of pace from most games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/07