I used to dream about doing the wood plank swing animation on my boss at my retail job
Before there was Oblivion with guns, there was Resident Evil 4 without guns. More so than with respect to even its emphasis on crowd control, dynamic difficulty scaling or abundance of contextual carpal tunnel generators, God Hand’s arguably most reminiscent of its spiritual cousin in terms of how forward-thinking it is.
An action game likes convenience. To be able to jump in and fight what you want, when you want with as little fluff as possible’s part of why DMC’s Bloody Palace (or equivalents) became a genre mainstay, why Bayonetta 3’s revamped chapter select system is probably the single most underappreciated feature of 2022 and why the not-infrequent complaint about Nioh having a level select menu is so mystifying. Play enough games from when this family tree was still in its relative infancy and you’ll likely realise how easy it is to take such features for granted, which is why it's so cool that God Hand had something like the Fighting Ring so early on in the genre’s history.
A practice area coupled with all sorts of bespoke combat encounters you can tackle and/or fail any number of times, totally free of consequence, would be a natural fit for any action game, but it’s especially great for God Hand because of how its equipment system works. There’s not just a litany of attacks at your disposal, each with their own distinct properties and niches, but you can also equip any of them in any order and assign them to any button. It’s an unprecedented degree of customisation that might’ve otherwise been overwhelming without an area like this, and which I’m not sure’s been matched before or since. The likes of The Wonderful 101, God of War 3 and DMC5 might let me switch from one weapon to any other in any order, but not even they let me build a moveset out of pimp slaps if I feel like it, purely because I can.
The draw of experimentation that comes with this is hampered a bit by certain rough patches – for example, multi-hit attacks occasionally feel disincentivised in a way that doesn’t seem intentional because of how frequently enemies block and counterattack as the difficulty level increases (especially on Hard where you’re permanently at the highest), while low profile moves which dodge enemies’ high attacks for some reason don’t avoid jumping grabs – but what helps keep the combat malleable despite these is the counterhit system. Interrupt an enemy or boss’ attack with one of your own and they’ll varyingly flinch, be stunned, get juggled or launched, even if none of those properties work on them normally. It creates an engaging sense of back-and-forth and ensures you’re never completely strapped for options no matter how suffocating the situation you find yourself in or which moves you've equipped, especially when taken in tandem with being able to cancel any of Gene’s attacks at any point with one of three different dodges (which, provided your thumbs can remain intact, is also particularly helpful for circumventing the aforementioned issues with multihit attacks).
On that point, God Hand’s handling of defence is something more games could probably stand to learn from. The Great Sensei is a sink or swim moment in this respect and, in my view, the embodiment of what makes it shine, stringing together high attacks, vertical attacks and crowd control in blistering succession that demands you have an iron grip on each of Gene’s dodges and what they’re for like no boss before or after him. He would still be infamously difficult because of all this in a vacuum, but I think part of why he’s such a challenge also stems from how many other games with real-time combat systems treat their (often singular) dodge as a one-size-fits-all invincibility bubble and how tough it can be to break the conditioning that that sort of standardisation instils. Lost Judgment is another 3D beat-‘em-up which plays excellently, but despite being 15 years God Hand’s junior on platforms multitudes more powerful, it can’t help but feel comparatively primitive whenever Yagami “evades” a sweep kick by ducking his head. In contrast, God Hand’s more nuanced combination of side/backward dodges and bobbing & weaving reminded me loosely of Soulcalibur, which on top of its counterhit system makes one wonder how much other action games might benefit from leaning into their common ground with fighting games.
Not all of God Hand’s boss fights or enemies utilise its mechanics equally well, the final boss in particular running the risk of jettisoning the player’s goodwill into the bin, but some scattershot ups and downs are to be expected when your game is so bonkers at every turn. It speaks to how entertaining its stages manage to be, both conceptually and in design, that you end the game with no further mechanics than what you start with and it never once feels stale. There’s an inherent excitement that comes with cramming so many clowns, demons, cowboys, Venetian canals, floating pyramids and other seemingly disparate ideas that you don’t know what to expect next; while some might be surprised at the fact that he considers Resident Evil 4 to be the opposite, it’ll likely shock nobody that Shinji Mikami feels that God Hand is the game with the most amount of himself in it. What results is no doubt chaotic, but more than worth looking past the imperfections of for experiencing what’s essentially his and a bunch of other loveable goofballs’ collective personality transcribed onto a disc, which also happens to be perhaps the only game that feels like an interactive version of an action film’s fight choreography.
If you happen to still have a PS2 lying around, I can attest that the ~80 gamerbux that used copies of this bad boy go for are worth it. You may not be you know who, but you’ll feel like it by the end.
An action game likes convenience. To be able to jump in and fight what you want, when you want with as little fluff as possible’s part of why DMC’s Bloody Palace (or equivalents) became a genre mainstay, why Bayonetta 3’s revamped chapter select system is probably the single most underappreciated feature of 2022 and why the not-infrequent complaint about Nioh having a level select menu is so mystifying. Play enough games from when this family tree was still in its relative infancy and you’ll likely realise how easy it is to take such features for granted, which is why it's so cool that God Hand had something like the Fighting Ring so early on in the genre’s history.
A practice area coupled with all sorts of bespoke combat encounters you can tackle and/or fail any number of times, totally free of consequence, would be a natural fit for any action game, but it’s especially great for God Hand because of how its equipment system works. There’s not just a litany of attacks at your disposal, each with their own distinct properties and niches, but you can also equip any of them in any order and assign them to any button. It’s an unprecedented degree of customisation that might’ve otherwise been overwhelming without an area like this, and which I’m not sure’s been matched before or since. The likes of The Wonderful 101, God of War 3 and DMC5 might let me switch from one weapon to any other in any order, but not even they let me build a moveset out of pimp slaps if I feel like it, purely because I can.
The draw of experimentation that comes with this is hampered a bit by certain rough patches – for example, multi-hit attacks occasionally feel disincentivised in a way that doesn’t seem intentional because of how frequently enemies block and counterattack as the difficulty level increases (especially on Hard where you’re permanently at the highest), while low profile moves which dodge enemies’ high attacks for some reason don’t avoid jumping grabs – but what helps keep the combat malleable despite these is the counterhit system. Interrupt an enemy or boss’ attack with one of your own and they’ll varyingly flinch, be stunned, get juggled or launched, even if none of those properties work on them normally. It creates an engaging sense of back-and-forth and ensures you’re never completely strapped for options no matter how suffocating the situation you find yourself in or which moves you've equipped, especially when taken in tandem with being able to cancel any of Gene’s attacks at any point with one of three different dodges (which, provided your thumbs can remain intact, is also particularly helpful for circumventing the aforementioned issues with multihit attacks).
On that point, God Hand’s handling of defence is something more games could probably stand to learn from. The Great Sensei is a sink or swim moment in this respect and, in my view, the embodiment of what makes it shine, stringing together high attacks, vertical attacks and crowd control in blistering succession that demands you have an iron grip on each of Gene’s dodges and what they’re for like no boss before or after him. He would still be infamously difficult because of all this in a vacuum, but I think part of why he’s such a challenge also stems from how many other games with real-time combat systems treat their (often singular) dodge as a one-size-fits-all invincibility bubble and how tough it can be to break the conditioning that that sort of standardisation instils. Lost Judgment is another 3D beat-‘em-up which plays excellently, but despite being 15 years God Hand’s junior on platforms multitudes more powerful, it can’t help but feel comparatively primitive whenever Yagami “evades” a sweep kick by ducking his head. In contrast, God Hand’s more nuanced combination of side/backward dodges and bobbing & weaving reminded me loosely of Soulcalibur, which on top of its counterhit system makes one wonder how much other action games might benefit from leaning into their common ground with fighting games.
Not all of God Hand’s boss fights or enemies utilise its mechanics equally well, the final boss in particular running the risk of jettisoning the player’s goodwill into the bin, but some scattershot ups and downs are to be expected when your game is so bonkers at every turn. It speaks to how entertaining its stages manage to be, both conceptually and in design, that you end the game with no further mechanics than what you start with and it never once feels stale. There’s an inherent excitement that comes with cramming so many clowns, demons, cowboys, Venetian canals, floating pyramids and other seemingly disparate ideas that you don’t know what to expect next; while some might be surprised at the fact that he considers Resident Evil 4 to be the opposite, it’ll likely shock nobody that Shinji Mikami feels that God Hand is the game with the most amount of himself in it. What results is no doubt chaotic, but more than worth looking past the imperfections of for experiencing what’s essentially his and a bunch of other loveable goofballs’ collective personality transcribed onto a disc, which also happens to be perhaps the only game that feels like an interactive version of an action film’s fight choreography.
If you happen to still have a PS2 lying around, I can attest that the ~80 gamerbux that used copies of this bad boy go for are worth it. You may not be you know who, but you’ll feel like it by the end.
Wife caught me doing the spanking QTE
ok so imagine capcom as a mother & all the franchises/IP's they own as her offspring's
they're all at a nice family reunion
resident evil is there
devil may cry is there
street fighter is there
and so on...games that made momma capcom proud just sitting at the dinner table
...and then there's god hand who instead of being at the table is simultaneously smoking crack & having a loud ass threesome with trigun & fist of the north star in the capcom home bathroom for the rest of the family to hear while they try to eat dinner & the threesome is so rough that one of them just fucking dies
thats god hand, im not elaborating any further
they're all at a nice family reunion
resident evil is there
devil may cry is there
street fighter is there
and so on...games that made momma capcom proud just sitting at the dinner table
...and then there's god hand who instead of being at the table is simultaneously smoking crack & having a loud ass threesome with trigun & fist of the north star in the capcom home bathroom for the rest of the family to hear while they try to eat dinner & the threesome is so rough that one of them just fucking dies
thats god hand, im not elaborating any further
Well, we are at the end of my little Character Action Game marathon. At the same time this is also my 350th review on the site, so what better game to cap both of these off with than the underappreciated Capcom cult classic, God Hand.
I have known about this game for, I wanna say the past 2 to 3 years thanks to my buddy Simon who showed me of course, the SsethTzeentach Review of the game. What I saw looked like some of the most comical shit ever made in a video game, and made it all the more surprising to me that this was the last game created by its developer, Clover Studios.
My friends have all gassed this game up to me for years now, and so I finally decided that 2022 would be the year I would play God Hand.
So now allow me to make a huge disclaimer: I fucking suck at this game. I doubt that's a huge surprise, God Hand is known to be a very challenging game and it will kick your ass, as it brutally did mine.
So do not take my opinions here as fact, but just as my personal views for my first playthrough, as God Hand is meant to be played many many times.
Right from the offset, God Hand comes at you in full force with its vibes, showing the "Graphic Violence, Discretion is Advised" statement that had been put in both Devil May Cry and Resident Evil games at the time. The image of course showing a screen of our protagonist Gene kicking an enemy in the testicles until his face turns blue.
Then there's the menu theme.
I sat there for a solid 2 and a half minutes just, absorbing the absolute bop that is the menu theme. All of the music in this game is fucking excellent, from the theme of Fat Elvis, this absolute bop filled with Elvis Presley sounding noises and a sensual backing track, to the intense rocking theme of your rival Azel, quaintly named Devil May Sly. It's all fucking phenomenal and gets you in the mood.
Of course, what follows after the music is also one of the funniest games ever made. Usually I find weird voice acting to be laughable for the wrong reasons but here I'd honestly argue that the weirdness is 100% both intentional and what makes the game work. Elvis being the most stereotypical version of a Hispanic male, which I also am (Hispanic, not stereotypical lol), gave me a good amount of laughs as he cracks Spanish curse words calling Gene all sorts of things from "pendejo" to "puta" and all that in between.
There's just so many funny moments, like when you encounter these Super Sentai looking mofos and they have these weird Stich like voices, doing weird poses and then you kick them into the ground like a nail and proceed to stomp their heads into the dirt. Or the scene with Gene kicking the thugs out of the window, and the last thug agreeing to get kicked out midscene with a tiny head nod.
And that humor stays in the gameplay as well. You have various ridiculous moves that you can and will use on your opponents, like your Roulette Moves. These can vary from beam like attacks, a flurry of punches, getting a Home Run with a Baseball Bat you summon, or my personal favorite: Kicking people in the balls.
The attention to detail is great too, because that kicking in the balls move only applies to male characters, and will not effect female or robotic enemies, and a specific boss who lost their testicles in the war.
Going more into the combat, my friend referred to it as a "spiritual sequel to Resident Evil 4", which makes sense given that both are Shinji Mikami titles. Both games work with an adaptive difficulty that changes depending on the skill of the player. It's a lot more subtle in RE4, but in God Hand it is the game.
The better you perform at the game, the higher the Tension Gauge goes up. It grows from Level 1, to Level 2, Level 3 and finally Level Die. Full transparency, the highest I ever got was to Level 2 because even on the lowest levels this game absolutely dominated me with its Alexander the Great obsessed cast of characters.
Combat works as follows: You use the Square Button to use the combo chain, which you can customize, the Triangle Button is your combo cancel move, and the X button is your spacer move, with Circle being your Reaction Command button.
All of the moves, for all buttons except Circle can be customized to whatever you wish. You want your Square Combo Chain to be an assortment of kicks, or a near infinite juggle combo, you can do that. You want your combo cancel to be a Pimp Smack, you can do that. The level of customization is endless, and even outside of that you have direction based moves that can also help you.
Let's say you do a spot dodge, you can press Triangle during it to do a slide kick which can easily knock down crowds of opponents and works great as crowd control option. If you're particularly skilled, you can knock an enemy high up in the air and press Back and Triangle to do a Shoryuken, and chain it multiple times until you do a forward triangle to kick the enemy in front of you, using them as a projectile to knock down other opponents.
All of these can help to take down the hordes of enemies you face, alongside the power of the God Hand. When you raise your God Hand Meter high enough, you can press R2 to activate the awesome powers of a God, and absolutely decimate your foes. They cannot block the attacks, and you are invulnerable while using it. Truly, an awesome ability.
This does bring up though certain other aspects of your playthrough, resource management. In your first playthrough of God Hand, unless you are some supernaturally gifted God of Video Games, you are going to suck ass. You will often find yourself breaking open various containers be it boxes or jars to get health, Roulette Wheel meter, God Hand meter, and cash. These drops are entirely random, as the game doesn't want you to rely too much on them.
This creates a system I call the "Gamble". Where you have to base your current battle situation around the resources available to you. Do you get a fresh fruit that restores your health while you're topped off and let it sit for later on in the fight, or do you get a Roulette Wheel card. You gotta take the risks and see if you'll survive.
Gambling honestly is a central mechanic to this game even outside combat, your hub for God Hand's sake is a fucking Casino on a remote island. You can play Slots, Blackjack, Poker, or even bet on racing these Poisonous Chihuahuas. (Always bet on Lucky Clover, should be obvious enough). Gambling is a major way of winning money both in combat and out of it, so to say that this game is very much about gambling is correct.
Of course a skilled enough player can work well without luck, but that was not me and it will not be you either on your first go.
In another refreshing sense, God Hand also lets you avoid entire encounters if you have what you need. If you just feel like you want to proceed through a level and aren't locked behind keys or the like, you can easily avoid combat in general. I wouldn't recommend avoiding all combat obviously, but if you're in a risky situation it is a completely valid option for progression. You aren't given a grade at the end of the level, the only thing decided is the bonus money you receive, and when you die you keep any money you gained from before hand. It results in the game not actively demoralizing new players unlike in other CAGs, which I find gives it more of an appeal than most. It also helps that the individual levels are themselves, very short. With there being 9 stages, with various small levels within each. It makes you feel like you aren't losing much progress when you die.
It's shit like this that makes me question how this game flopped. Everything here is incredibly appealing to a casual player, and there's all sorts of tech that more advanced players can learn and master. So why is it that this game got a 3 out of 10 on fucking IGN. You want my guess? The reviewer got to the first boss, thought it was unfair, and dropped the fucking game.
God Hand is a game that instantly brought a smile to my face, and even when I would get frustrated due to the many challenges, there was always a funny moment or a goofy encounter that would soon follow.
You can kick men in the balls, suplex a man in a Gorilla suit, fight Elvis, spank dominatrix women, get your ass beat by actual clowns, and save the world. What here is not at least somewhat entertaining?
Also this game had a ending dance sequence before Bayonetta did, so Bayonetta is easily the inferior copy of God Hand.
I implore you to play God Hand, or else I'll dragon kick your ass into the milky way. I'm Alexander the Great, and this has been God Hand.
P.S.
COME ON, HOW WAS THIS CLOVER'S LAST GAME?!?!?!? YOU KICK MEN IN THE BALLS! YOU KICK MEN IN THE BALLS!!!!!!!!!!
I have known about this game for, I wanna say the past 2 to 3 years thanks to my buddy Simon who showed me of course, the SsethTzeentach Review of the game. What I saw looked like some of the most comical shit ever made in a video game, and made it all the more surprising to me that this was the last game created by its developer, Clover Studios.
My friends have all gassed this game up to me for years now, and so I finally decided that 2022 would be the year I would play God Hand.
So now allow me to make a huge disclaimer: I fucking suck at this game. I doubt that's a huge surprise, God Hand is known to be a very challenging game and it will kick your ass, as it brutally did mine.
So do not take my opinions here as fact, but just as my personal views for my first playthrough, as God Hand is meant to be played many many times.
Right from the offset, God Hand comes at you in full force with its vibes, showing the "Graphic Violence, Discretion is Advised" statement that had been put in both Devil May Cry and Resident Evil games at the time. The image of course showing a screen of our protagonist Gene kicking an enemy in the testicles until his face turns blue.
Then there's the menu theme.
I sat there for a solid 2 and a half minutes just, absorbing the absolute bop that is the menu theme. All of the music in this game is fucking excellent, from the theme of Fat Elvis, this absolute bop filled with Elvis Presley sounding noises and a sensual backing track, to the intense rocking theme of your rival Azel, quaintly named Devil May Sly. It's all fucking phenomenal and gets you in the mood.
Of course, what follows after the music is also one of the funniest games ever made. Usually I find weird voice acting to be laughable for the wrong reasons but here I'd honestly argue that the weirdness is 100% both intentional and what makes the game work. Elvis being the most stereotypical version of a Hispanic male, which I also am (Hispanic, not stereotypical lol), gave me a good amount of laughs as he cracks Spanish curse words calling Gene all sorts of things from "pendejo" to "puta" and all that in between.
There's just so many funny moments, like when you encounter these Super Sentai looking mofos and they have these weird Stich like voices, doing weird poses and then you kick them into the ground like a nail and proceed to stomp their heads into the dirt. Or the scene with Gene kicking the thugs out of the window, and the last thug agreeing to get kicked out midscene with a tiny head nod.
And that humor stays in the gameplay as well. You have various ridiculous moves that you can and will use on your opponents, like your Roulette Moves. These can vary from beam like attacks, a flurry of punches, getting a Home Run with a Baseball Bat you summon, or my personal favorite: Kicking people in the balls.
The attention to detail is great too, because that kicking in the balls move only applies to male characters, and will not effect female or robotic enemies, and a specific boss who lost their testicles in the war.
Going more into the combat, my friend referred to it as a "spiritual sequel to Resident Evil 4", which makes sense given that both are Shinji Mikami titles. Both games work with an adaptive difficulty that changes depending on the skill of the player. It's a lot more subtle in RE4, but in God Hand it is the game.
The better you perform at the game, the higher the Tension Gauge goes up. It grows from Level 1, to Level 2, Level 3 and finally Level Die. Full transparency, the highest I ever got was to Level 2 because even on the lowest levels this game absolutely dominated me with its Alexander the Great obsessed cast of characters.
Combat works as follows: You use the Square Button to use the combo chain, which you can customize, the Triangle Button is your combo cancel move, and the X button is your spacer move, with Circle being your Reaction Command button.
All of the moves, for all buttons except Circle can be customized to whatever you wish. You want your Square Combo Chain to be an assortment of kicks, or a near infinite juggle combo, you can do that. You want your combo cancel to be a Pimp Smack, you can do that. The level of customization is endless, and even outside of that you have direction based moves that can also help you.
Let's say you do a spot dodge, you can press Triangle during it to do a slide kick which can easily knock down crowds of opponents and works great as crowd control option. If you're particularly skilled, you can knock an enemy high up in the air and press Back and Triangle to do a Shoryuken, and chain it multiple times until you do a forward triangle to kick the enemy in front of you, using them as a projectile to knock down other opponents.
All of these can help to take down the hordes of enemies you face, alongside the power of the God Hand. When you raise your God Hand Meter high enough, you can press R2 to activate the awesome powers of a God, and absolutely decimate your foes. They cannot block the attacks, and you are invulnerable while using it. Truly, an awesome ability.
This does bring up though certain other aspects of your playthrough, resource management. In your first playthrough of God Hand, unless you are some supernaturally gifted God of Video Games, you are going to suck ass. You will often find yourself breaking open various containers be it boxes or jars to get health, Roulette Wheel meter, God Hand meter, and cash. These drops are entirely random, as the game doesn't want you to rely too much on them.
This creates a system I call the "Gamble". Where you have to base your current battle situation around the resources available to you. Do you get a fresh fruit that restores your health while you're topped off and let it sit for later on in the fight, or do you get a Roulette Wheel card. You gotta take the risks and see if you'll survive.
Gambling honestly is a central mechanic to this game even outside combat, your hub for God Hand's sake is a fucking Casino on a remote island. You can play Slots, Blackjack, Poker, or even bet on racing these Poisonous Chihuahuas. (Always bet on Lucky Clover, should be obvious enough). Gambling is a major way of winning money both in combat and out of it, so to say that this game is very much about gambling is correct.
Of course a skilled enough player can work well without luck, but that was not me and it will not be you either on your first go.
In another refreshing sense, God Hand also lets you avoid entire encounters if you have what you need. If you just feel like you want to proceed through a level and aren't locked behind keys or the like, you can easily avoid combat in general. I wouldn't recommend avoiding all combat obviously, but if you're in a risky situation it is a completely valid option for progression. You aren't given a grade at the end of the level, the only thing decided is the bonus money you receive, and when you die you keep any money you gained from before hand. It results in the game not actively demoralizing new players unlike in other CAGs, which I find gives it more of an appeal than most. It also helps that the individual levels are themselves, very short. With there being 9 stages, with various small levels within each. It makes you feel like you aren't losing much progress when you die.
It's shit like this that makes me question how this game flopped. Everything here is incredibly appealing to a casual player, and there's all sorts of tech that more advanced players can learn and master. So why is it that this game got a 3 out of 10 on fucking IGN. You want my guess? The reviewer got to the first boss, thought it was unfair, and dropped the fucking game.
God Hand is a game that instantly brought a smile to my face, and even when I would get frustrated due to the many challenges, there was always a funny moment or a goofy encounter that would soon follow.
You can kick men in the balls, suplex a man in a Gorilla suit, fight Elvis, spank dominatrix women, get your ass beat by actual clowns, and save the world. What here is not at least somewhat entertaining?
Also this game had a ending dance sequence before Bayonetta did, so Bayonetta is easily the inferior copy of God Hand.
I implore you to play God Hand, or else I'll dragon kick your ass into the milky way. I'm Alexander the Great, and this has been God Hand.
P.S.
COME ON, HOW WAS THIS CLOVER'S LAST GAME?!?!?!? YOU KICK MEN IN THE BALLS! YOU KICK MEN IN THE BALLS!!!!!!!!!!
This game made me Alexander the great, cus this is like the best action game I've played since dmc3. It has so much depth, the amount of customization you can put into your move set is so impressive and sick. The bosses are well designed and the enemies are all fun to fight. It's always fresh, new shit happening in every level with quaint gimmicks. The difficulty keeps ramping up and u know. Its awesome. It's kind of hard to review games you like. When it's a game i have problems with it's like whackamole, i hit the problem with a classic elkmane joke and make fun of it, and then i finish the review and rake in the backloggd likes. Alright alright ill keep this one short. This is also the funniest game ive played, ever. Cus like you can bet on chihuahua races and fill ur moveset with different pimp slaps, the credits have a poorly translated rock song with lyrics talking about the moves in the game and all the characters doing stock animated dances. It has personality and soul, but more importantly its fun and funny and good and awesome and shannon calls you puppy and like im not into that or anything but like yknow lets just say i save stated and kept losing to her on purpose for a few hours yknow what im sayin haha im just playing lol im just playing lol
Haven't completed it yet. It's pretty fucking good though. I will say though that actually purchasing it on the PS3 store is harder than any boss fight in the game. Their website will reject every form of payment, forcing you to drive to the fucking store to buy a PSN card for $25 for a 10 dollar game. Now what am I gonna buy with the remainder? Red Faction? Fat chance.
Anyway, Godhand? Really good.
Anyway, Godhand? Really good.
God Hand sets out to answer a question that I was perfectly happy not knowing the answer to. "Is the Danganronpa soundtrack good to beat people up to?" And while it answered that, and then some (to sum things up: don't trust chihuahuas, do trust a mysterious girl when she shows up with some dead dude's arm, gambling will solve all of your money problems quickly and efficiently), I was left feeling pretty empty at the end. Where is God Foot? Where is God Head? If this game had sold more and gotten sequels, I would've been able to form Exodia. Fucked up that the powers that be are preventing me from doing that, but I see why they deemed this game too powerful and sought to undermine its influence.
keşke yurt odamda oda arkadaşımla bağırış çağırış kavga eden kantinci uykumdan uyandırdığı için benden özür dilemek yerine bu oyundaki roulette hareketlerinden birini yapıp uykuya tekrar soksaydı
Yes, I lied in my last review. I played God Hand before The Wonderful 101.
Actually, I played halfway through nine months ago and I stopped because reasons. It was one of the top-tier games on my shame list and now it's one of my favorites.
I did a lot of mental notes while I was playing then I came to the obvious conclusion that I don't need to review every game in my backloggd but this one was becoming so special to me that I can't help but comment (a little) about it. Surely one day I'll come back with a RE4R-ass-long review but for now, my two cents:
1. The last fight against Azel is the best in the genre
2. Counter hits fucking rules
That said, the male fantasy surrounding it, the discriminatory jokes, the fucking spanking prompt and overall characterization make me sure that God Hand could be defined with this meme. And I don't know how to feel about it.
(i'm not dissing mikami y'all, the person would be the game itself lmao)
Actually, I played halfway through nine months ago and I stopped because reasons. It was one of the top-tier games on my shame list and now it's one of my favorites.
I did a lot of mental notes while I was playing then I came to the obvious conclusion that I don't need to review every game in my backloggd but this one was becoming so special to me that I can't help but comment (a little) about it. Surely one day I'll come back with a RE4R-ass-long review but for now, my two cents:
1. The last fight against Azel is the best in the genre
2. Counter hits fucking rules
That said, the male fantasy surrounding it, the discriminatory jokes, the fucking spanking prompt and overall characterization make me sure that God Hand could be defined with this meme. And I don't know how to feel about it.
(i'm not dissing mikami y'all, the person would be the game itself lmao)
Hand-to-hand or fist-to-fist
Kicking nuts or twist your wrist.
God power keep my pimp hand strong
So trust me or you won't last very longggggg.
There is not much that's as good as God Hand. It's the quintessential stylish action game, featuring an incredible amount of depth in enemy design and exhaustive movelist. Every single level is an intricate weaving of evading moves and doing counterhits. Every enemy combination is an amazing fight to behold and to work around, the pace going fast and strong as you stand on the precipice of absolute destruction to your enemy or being hit by a string down to the ground. And tying it all together is a nonsense story keeping the comedy strong as you punch Elvis into a tombstone and then dragon fist him up into the air.
To this day, I still haven't found an action game that kicks ass as much as this game does.
It's hard to put into words what has really been said often, I recommend watching this video at least
https://youtu.be/rUAclnNiusw
He puts it in much better words than I will.
Please try God Hand, you won't regret it. (10/10)
Kicking nuts or twist your wrist.
God power keep my pimp hand strong
So trust me or you won't last very longggggg.
There is not much that's as good as God Hand. It's the quintessential stylish action game, featuring an incredible amount of depth in enemy design and exhaustive movelist. Every single level is an intricate weaving of evading moves and doing counterhits. Every enemy combination is an amazing fight to behold and to work around, the pace going fast and strong as you stand on the precipice of absolute destruction to your enemy or being hit by a string down to the ground. And tying it all together is a nonsense story keeping the comedy strong as you punch Elvis into a tombstone and then dragon fist him up into the air.
To this day, I still haven't found an action game that kicks ass as much as this game does.
It's hard to put into words what has really been said often, I recommend watching this video at least
https://youtu.be/rUAclnNiusw
He puts it in much better words than I will.
Please try God Hand, you won't regret it. (10/10)
Resident Evil 4 is one of the most important games of all time, everyone knows this and why that is; it is essentially, the first "modern" game as we think of them. And a brutally difficult question you will inevitably have to ask after experiencing a landmark title like that is of course, well, how do you follow that up? If you want a simple answer, Resident Evil 5 is probably your best bet. If you want the real answer, its God Hand.
If Resident Evil 4 is ushering in the modern age of games, then God Hand feels like a celebratory send off to a now bygone era. I doubt anyone would've known that at the time making it, but considering we're only just now returning to this style of game over fifteen years after the fact it harkens completely true. God Hand was made in a relatively short development period, very obviously using design elements and ideas directly from Mikami's now magnum opus and creating something so completely different out of it. It reminds me a lot of Majora's Mask funnily enough more than anything in that regard; taking one of the most influential games of all time and using that framework to tell something completely new and fresh. All of that is to make God Hand sound very legitimate and classy, and in some regards, yes; it absolutely is. But its also fucking God Hand; maybe one of the most batshit, off the wall experiences that we got of the sixth generation.
This is the kitchen sink of action video games. Absolute ridiculous nonsense, and absolutely revels in it. Capcom during this era were pumping some of the best action games ever made during this time, and God Hand truly does feel like a grand last minute after-party. It controls oddly, but when it clicks (and it takes like five minutes for it to) your life is never the same again. Everything is snappy and responsive, stylish and cool, and so intensely customizable and yet; simple, its stupidly impressive. This game is hardcore as hell, and while "this project couldn't be made today" usually makes my eyes roll, I'll say it for this. Playing this game geniunely makes my hands sore, and I don't care for even a second. It is absurdly addicting, every punch and kick has that over the top weight that makes you feel like a God among men. The game is hard, stupidly so, and why wouldn't it be after Devil May Cry 3 was such a landmark title for Capcom; but when you play well, you feel like you're on top of the world.
The absurdity of this game also seeps well into the games concepts too. What it lacks in environments, it makes up for by doing every gaudy over-the-top decision Capcom made and then some in this game. The first thing that happens in this game is Gene complaining to his partner that a bunch of mooks he is about to beat up are sexier than her; and then youre literally kicking them across the entire map not even a minute later. Trying to explain what happens in this game wouldn't do it justice; it knows what it is and it probably knows you love every second of it, and yeah, I do, and clearly everyone else does too.
This is one of those pieces of art that in the moment, it feels like the greatest thing to ever exist. And obviously, God Hand is not the greatest game of all time; but fuck it, maybe it should be. My hands hurt while writing this after beating the final boss of the game and I couldn't be happier.
If Resident Evil 4 is ushering in the modern age of games, then God Hand feels like a celebratory send off to a now bygone era. I doubt anyone would've known that at the time making it, but considering we're only just now returning to this style of game over fifteen years after the fact it harkens completely true. God Hand was made in a relatively short development period, very obviously using design elements and ideas directly from Mikami's now magnum opus and creating something so completely different out of it. It reminds me a lot of Majora's Mask funnily enough more than anything in that regard; taking one of the most influential games of all time and using that framework to tell something completely new and fresh. All of that is to make God Hand sound very legitimate and classy, and in some regards, yes; it absolutely is. But its also fucking God Hand; maybe one of the most batshit, off the wall experiences that we got of the sixth generation.
This is the kitchen sink of action video games. Absolute ridiculous nonsense, and absolutely revels in it. Capcom during this era were pumping some of the best action games ever made during this time, and God Hand truly does feel like a grand last minute after-party. It controls oddly, but when it clicks (and it takes like five minutes for it to) your life is never the same again. Everything is snappy and responsive, stylish and cool, and so intensely customizable and yet; simple, its stupidly impressive. This game is hardcore as hell, and while "this project couldn't be made today" usually makes my eyes roll, I'll say it for this. Playing this game geniunely makes my hands sore, and I don't care for even a second. It is absurdly addicting, every punch and kick has that over the top weight that makes you feel like a God among men. The game is hard, stupidly so, and why wouldn't it be after Devil May Cry 3 was such a landmark title for Capcom; but when you play well, you feel like you're on top of the world.
The absurdity of this game also seeps well into the games concepts too. What it lacks in environments, it makes up for by doing every gaudy over-the-top decision Capcom made and then some in this game. The first thing that happens in this game is Gene complaining to his partner that a bunch of mooks he is about to beat up are sexier than her; and then youre literally kicking them across the entire map not even a minute later. Trying to explain what happens in this game wouldn't do it justice; it knows what it is and it probably knows you love every second of it, and yeah, I do, and clearly everyone else does too.
This is one of those pieces of art that in the moment, it feels like the greatest thing to ever exist. And obviously, God Hand is not the greatest game of all time; but fuck it, maybe it should be. My hands hurt while writing this after beating the final boss of the game and I couldn't be happier.
Clover Studio be like: yoooo why don't we make one of the best videogames for the PS2 to reveal that IGN only knows how to do shitty reviews?
This is one of those games that feels like it was made specifically for me. Pretty much everything it does is exactly the sort of thing I love in a game. The music is consistently great, from the area themes, boss themes (especially Elvis's theme), and the completely ridiculous credits theme. The visuals are well done too. Environments can be somewhat bland at times, but the absurd character designs and incredibly satisfying animation more than makes up for it. Level design is shockingly varied, with more wide open stages, to linear stages, to mini-boss focused levels or stages with more out-there gimmicks that keep things fresh. The combat is incredibly tight and satisfying. The customizability of it is very rewarding to experiment with, and led to a lot of fun finding ways to maximize my damage output and keep my options open. By the end I could pull of crazy combos while splicing in guard breakers and then end it off with a super long juggle combo. The combat is greatly enhanced by the loud and powerful sound design, which really drives the impact of combat home. The story is fairly enjoyable, especially since it just exists to keep up the dumb tone and make stupid jokes. Some jokes don't work too well, but the tone is always kept intact. The challenge is an interesting thing to note as well. I find that just progressing through the game is usually not THAT hard, excluding some annoying bosses here and there. However, mastering this game is a truly herculean feat I will likely never accomplish. I feel like I could keep getting better and better at this game over time, which makes the prospect of a future replay sound fun. In short, this is everything I want in a game.
Difficult? Check. Simple with hidden depth? Check. Room for Mastery and experimentation? Check. Fast Pace, Stupid Tone, Great music? Check. This game rocks.
Difficult? Check. Simple with hidden depth? Check. Room for Mastery and experimentation? Check. Fast Pace, Stupid Tone, Great music? Check. This game rocks.
people complained about the camera and controls when this game came out but i can only think of one 3D action game that lets you position yourself around an airborne enemy mid-juggle, and launch them into a separate group of enemies like a bowling ball into so many sorry bowling pins. and this level of surgical precision is made possible specifically because of the game's camera and controls.
god hand is one of a kind.
god hand is one of a kind.
"If a stupid pothead with barely enough time spent enjoying this game like me can do it on Level-Die, I have no idea what is wrong with certain people whose job it is to inform the gaming public."
This quote was in the description of a video that was meant as a response to IGN's now infamous review of this game by a user named Saurian, 14 years ago. All there was to the video was a demonstration of the user's skill with the combat system. (You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyfbtSyX3mc)
Everyone knows of IGN's infamous 3/10 review. Before I knew of God Hand, I knew of that image that compared this game's 3.0 score to Imagine Party Babyz 7.5 score, which was meant to show the sheer incompetence of IGN. Now for me, I'm a little more laid back when I see mainstream game reviewers' scores since the majority of them are written by independent writers which may not reflect the whole staff's opinion, yet is put onto review aggregate websites as the companies score, rather than the independent writer. Chris Roper, the man who wrote the God Hand review, didn't even do the review for Imagine Party Babyz, but people look at both reviews as it was written by one entity, which I feel is a major problem with mainstream game reviewing outlets as a whole.
That being said though, Chris Roper's review is still awful, the whole thing is written with a clear level of frustration towards the game, to the point where it becomes condescending, but that doesn't mean there aren't valid points within the review. It's got weird tank controls that feel out of place for a 3rd person action beat 'em up. The level design revolves around basic geometry and shapes and textures look very low-res (The cage that's used for the Chihuahua race isn't even textured), the game uses random elements for spawning items and even spawning demons from dead enemies, and the game doesn't refill health upon entering new sections in a stage.
I think what caused such backlash from game critics for God Hand was its time of release. God Hand was a late 2006 PS2 release, and the PS2 gen saw what was considered the golden age of character action games. We got Devil May Cry 1 & 3, Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Resident Evil 4, God of War, among other games. Comparing to all of those games that released within that time frame, God Hand's tank controls and basic level design looked outdated and primitive. The budget for this game was most likely 5 dollars and was used so Shinji Mikami could get lunch for the single day it was developed.
Here's the thing though: None of that fucking matters.
Never before have I played a game that didn't give a single flying shit about looking pretty or adding in less samey enemy types or making the game easier to give it more appeal. God Hand sacrificed all of those things to make it the game it is: a game about constantly testing the player.
God Hand's most notorious mechanic is the dynamic difficulty system. Similar to Resident Evil 4, the game will make enemy AI more aggressive, do new moves, or even group up in pairs more depending on what level you are at (it goes from Lvl 1, 2, 3, Die) but unlike RE4, God Hand doesn't hide it in the background. It's constantly in your face at the bottom left-hand screen at all times, letting the player know what level they are at and when they'll get to the next one. When playing the game for the first few hours, you'll most likely stay around the level 1-2 area, but later on, when you get more accustomed to the game's mechanics, you might start staying around the level 3 and level Die area, even if the game starts throwing more challenging enemy types at you.
That's when I realized something special about God Hand. It subtlety fixes one of the biggest hurdles in the action game genre: Ranking systems. Most action games have a system where at the end of each level, it tallies how well you did on certain aspect like time, combos, and even collecting currency and gives the player an award adjusted to how well they did (be it a higher letter or a shinier trophy.). While these are meant to encourage repeat playthroughs, they can also be frustrating to newer players, as they are constantly being told they aren't doing good enough, despite action games being about learning mechanics and repeating those levels to get better at them. You aren't encouraged to know what to look out for on each level to even get a good rank for your first time either, which that in itself causes more confusion or frustration to newer players.
God Hand instead takes those ranking systems and discards them, and rather than tally you at the end of a level, you are being shown just exactly how good you are doing, and at the end of each stage you are rewarded with more money based on how many enemies you killed at the rank you were in, rather than giving you a trophy that's only meant for bragging rights. I believe this is what makes God Hand so inherently fun on the face of it. It's not only a great action game with tightly designed combat, enemies, and bosses, but also a game that actively encourages the player to get better at it. I first feared that moment I hit level 3, but as the game went on, I kept wanting to get on level Die. Weaving effortlessly through your enemies punches and counter-attacking crowds of enemies with your sweep kicks, or launching them in the air and hitting them with a Shoryuken to a kick in the face sending them flying. Your adrenaline starts pumping as you see that meter go higher and higher. You think you are getting good at God Hand, and it's starting to take its gloves off for you, the player. But you start to feel like a god yourself. You feel like you can punch a hole through concrete, the game's challenge is just so exciting... and then it kicks your ass! You feel like you've been brutalized. I've had this happen to me with each death, but never once I did I ever get tired of this game. I kept going at it, because every time I hit level Die and survived those encounters, I never felt a more satisfying feeling in a video game.
I think about the quote I introduced in the first paragraph a lot, because despite God Hand being one of the most challenging games I've ever played, it is also a game I think anyone can enjoy, and I'm very glad I got to play it myself. It's compromised in so many areas, but what it does right left me with one of the most satisfying and memorable action games I've ever played. So, from the bottom of my heart: Play God Hand... it's probably better than Imagine Party Babyz.
This quote was in the description of a video that was meant as a response to IGN's now infamous review of this game by a user named Saurian, 14 years ago. All there was to the video was a demonstration of the user's skill with the combat system. (You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyfbtSyX3mc)
Everyone knows of IGN's infamous 3/10 review. Before I knew of God Hand, I knew of that image that compared this game's 3.0 score to Imagine Party Babyz 7.5 score, which was meant to show the sheer incompetence of IGN. Now for me, I'm a little more laid back when I see mainstream game reviewers' scores since the majority of them are written by independent writers which may not reflect the whole staff's opinion, yet is put onto review aggregate websites as the companies score, rather than the independent writer. Chris Roper, the man who wrote the God Hand review, didn't even do the review for Imagine Party Babyz, but people look at both reviews as it was written by one entity, which I feel is a major problem with mainstream game reviewing outlets as a whole.
That being said though, Chris Roper's review is still awful, the whole thing is written with a clear level of frustration towards the game, to the point where it becomes condescending, but that doesn't mean there aren't valid points within the review. It's got weird tank controls that feel out of place for a 3rd person action beat 'em up. The level design revolves around basic geometry and shapes and textures look very low-res (The cage that's used for the Chihuahua race isn't even textured), the game uses random elements for spawning items and even spawning demons from dead enemies, and the game doesn't refill health upon entering new sections in a stage.
I think what caused such backlash from game critics for God Hand was its time of release. God Hand was a late 2006 PS2 release, and the PS2 gen saw what was considered the golden age of character action games. We got Devil May Cry 1 & 3, Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Resident Evil 4, God of War, among other games. Comparing to all of those games that released within that time frame, God Hand's tank controls and basic level design looked outdated and primitive. The budget for this game was most likely 5 dollars and was used so Shinji Mikami could get lunch for the single day it was developed.
Here's the thing though: None of that fucking matters.
Never before have I played a game that didn't give a single flying shit about looking pretty or adding in less samey enemy types or making the game easier to give it more appeal. God Hand sacrificed all of those things to make it the game it is: a game about constantly testing the player.
God Hand's most notorious mechanic is the dynamic difficulty system. Similar to Resident Evil 4, the game will make enemy AI more aggressive, do new moves, or even group up in pairs more depending on what level you are at (it goes from Lvl 1, 2, 3, Die) but unlike RE4, God Hand doesn't hide it in the background. It's constantly in your face at the bottom left-hand screen at all times, letting the player know what level they are at and when they'll get to the next one. When playing the game for the first few hours, you'll most likely stay around the level 1-2 area, but later on, when you get more accustomed to the game's mechanics, you might start staying around the level 3 and level Die area, even if the game starts throwing more challenging enemy types at you.
That's when I realized something special about God Hand. It subtlety fixes one of the biggest hurdles in the action game genre: Ranking systems. Most action games have a system where at the end of each level, it tallies how well you did on certain aspect like time, combos, and even collecting currency and gives the player an award adjusted to how well they did (be it a higher letter or a shinier trophy.). While these are meant to encourage repeat playthroughs, they can also be frustrating to newer players, as they are constantly being told they aren't doing good enough, despite action games being about learning mechanics and repeating those levels to get better at them. You aren't encouraged to know what to look out for on each level to even get a good rank for your first time either, which that in itself causes more confusion or frustration to newer players.
God Hand instead takes those ranking systems and discards them, and rather than tally you at the end of a level, you are being shown just exactly how good you are doing, and at the end of each stage you are rewarded with more money based on how many enemies you killed at the rank you were in, rather than giving you a trophy that's only meant for bragging rights. I believe this is what makes God Hand so inherently fun on the face of it. It's not only a great action game with tightly designed combat, enemies, and bosses, but also a game that actively encourages the player to get better at it. I first feared that moment I hit level 3, but as the game went on, I kept wanting to get on level Die. Weaving effortlessly through your enemies punches and counter-attacking crowds of enemies with your sweep kicks, or launching them in the air and hitting them with a Shoryuken to a kick in the face sending them flying. Your adrenaline starts pumping as you see that meter go higher and higher. You think you are getting good at God Hand, and it's starting to take its gloves off for you, the player. But you start to feel like a god yourself. You feel like you can punch a hole through concrete, the game's challenge is just so exciting... and then it kicks your ass! You feel like you've been brutalized. I've had this happen to me with each death, but never once I did I ever get tired of this game. I kept going at it, because every time I hit level Die and survived those encounters, I never felt a more satisfying feeling in a video game.
I think about the quote I introduced in the first paragraph a lot, because despite God Hand being one of the most challenging games I've ever played, it is also a game I think anyone can enjoy, and I'm very glad I got to play it myself. It's compromised in so many areas, but what it does right left me with one of the most satisfying and memorable action games I've ever played. So, from the bottom of my heart: Play God Hand... it's probably better than Imagine Party Babyz.
dog i hate it here so much. i'm minding my own business, poisoning random passerbys with my Pimpy Son Opp, when this guy with a fuck-off arm walks up and starts doing Rising Tackles on my boys. He kicked one of them in the nuts and a crowd cheered. we're in the middle of the desert. I hit him with a club and then he started crying and we all felt really bad. Where's Jagi man. this shit blows, I want to go home.
On a random day in 2005, after binging a few Quentin Tarantino flicks and a couple of Fist of the North Star chapters, Shinji Mikami looked at his masterpiece that was Resident Evil 4 and said "What if RE4 but Kenshiro and Tarrantino fr" and God Hand was born (This is my headcannon).
God Hand was a game I was ready to drop in the first 2 - 3 hours of playing as I was struggling with some of the earlier bosses and didn't wanna give myself an aneurysm while barely making it out of every fight that I've died to multiple times. But then I looked at the huge following this game had and saw all the singing praises, and I wanted to be a part of that camp too. So I decided I wasn't gonna be a little bitch boy and try to properly figure out how this game works.
When the game clicks, it finally CLICKS and you feel like a boxing god (intentional with the title?), but at the same time no matter how good you get the game will just get harder thanks to it's dyanamic difficulty system, just one of the mechanics borrowed from RE4. Unless you spend a good chunk of your life playing this game, it will remain challening no matter what. This is honestly, quite one of the hardest games I have ever played. Keep in mind though the game is also one of the fairest games I have ever played. I don't think I've ever died once thinking it was the games fault. Everything done by the enemy is clearly telegraphed and you are given a window to deal with it in multiple ways. And when you die, the checkpoints are mostly frequent bar a few exceptions, and it's generous enough to give you all of your health back when you die.
In regards to fairness and difficulty, the way it's hanlded here makes you not wanna put the controller down because as opposed to other what is considered to be "hard" games like Souls games, while challenging, are pretty punishing usually sending you back a bit if you die at a bossfight, and at the risk of losing some of the experience you gained. God Hand is hard hard in the sense where you need good reflexes and awareness for every single fight, but also very fair because of it's generous checkpoints. In a souls game, there are plenty of ways to cheese things if you're at a wall, but here you cannot cheese at all. It's just you and your skill, and you aren't getting past a point until you get better. Best way to put it, this is a discipline simulator.
When this game was initially released, the game was mostly overlooked by critics due to the criticism of the combat not being robust. This is far from the truth about the combat and to put it, God Hand's combat was way ahead of this time. What we have now as modern God Of War over the shoulder combat, which has endless praise from critics, was clearly inspired by God Hand. Similar to Resident Evil 4, God Hand employs the same control scheme where it is an over the shoulder tank controlling game, with not much control over the camera. This was highly ambitious for an action game back in the day, where action games were mostly 3rd camera-pulled-away types of games. It works really well in God Hand as the right stick is now used as it's dodging system, which is implemented insanley well.
God Hand is not an offensive based game where it's about pulling the best combos you can. In fact, there really aren't much button combos here.. 90% of the time you will be just mashing the square button to the tune of your preset combo. God Hand's gameplay is mainly defense and crowd control focused. 1 on 1 fights are pretty straight forward and purley defense focused. In these fights you are dodging attacks and retaliating when there is a window of opportunity, wheras if you put more than one enemy in a fight, the strategy has suddenly changed and it's about positioning yourself in a way where you don't get blindsided or stockpiled. Crowd fights are more about putting yourself in a position where you can get into a 1 on 1 with a enemy for a moment, before going back to controlliing the crowd again. Once the game systems click, you will be dodging and taking out baddies one by one like a champ.
The game isn't perfect, there were moments that kinda sucked for me, like that one section with the big claw machine. Moments like these are few and far between, but when they come it kills the momentum you have.
Apart from the gameplay, the setting and style reminds you of a Quentin Tarantino movie which brings immesne charm to the whole package. There are so many goofy cheeky moments that bring a laugh out of you in between all the chaos, it makes getting through the hard moments so much more worth it just to see these goofy scenes.
By the end of the game I felt like I had just conquered a mountain. Despite at the beggining feeling like this is game I probably couldn't finish, I made it to the end and had so much fun while doing it. I am now apart of the God Hand cult and "I love it".
God Hand was a game I was ready to drop in the first 2 - 3 hours of playing as I was struggling with some of the earlier bosses and didn't wanna give myself an aneurysm while barely making it out of every fight that I've died to multiple times. But then I looked at the huge following this game had and saw all the singing praises, and I wanted to be a part of that camp too. So I decided I wasn't gonna be a little bitch boy and try to properly figure out how this game works.
When the game clicks, it finally CLICKS and you feel like a boxing god (intentional with the title?), but at the same time no matter how good you get the game will just get harder thanks to it's dyanamic difficulty system, just one of the mechanics borrowed from RE4. Unless you spend a good chunk of your life playing this game, it will remain challening no matter what. This is honestly, quite one of the hardest games I have ever played. Keep in mind though the game is also one of the fairest games I have ever played. I don't think I've ever died once thinking it was the games fault. Everything done by the enemy is clearly telegraphed and you are given a window to deal with it in multiple ways. And when you die, the checkpoints are mostly frequent bar a few exceptions, and it's generous enough to give you all of your health back when you die.
In regards to fairness and difficulty, the way it's hanlded here makes you not wanna put the controller down because as opposed to other what is considered to be "hard" games like Souls games, while challenging, are pretty punishing usually sending you back a bit if you die at a bossfight, and at the risk of losing some of the experience you gained. God Hand is hard hard in the sense where you need good reflexes and awareness for every single fight, but also very fair because of it's generous checkpoints. In a souls game, there are plenty of ways to cheese things if you're at a wall, but here you cannot cheese at all. It's just you and your skill, and you aren't getting past a point until you get better. Best way to put it, this is a discipline simulator.
When this game was initially released, the game was mostly overlooked by critics due to the criticism of the combat not being robust. This is far from the truth about the combat and to put it, God Hand's combat was way ahead of this time. What we have now as modern God Of War over the shoulder combat, which has endless praise from critics, was clearly inspired by God Hand. Similar to Resident Evil 4, God Hand employs the same control scheme where it is an over the shoulder tank controlling game, with not much control over the camera. This was highly ambitious for an action game back in the day, where action games were mostly 3rd camera-pulled-away types of games. It works really well in God Hand as the right stick is now used as it's dodging system, which is implemented insanley well.
God Hand is not an offensive based game where it's about pulling the best combos you can. In fact, there really aren't much button combos here.. 90% of the time you will be just mashing the square button to the tune of your preset combo. God Hand's gameplay is mainly defense and crowd control focused. 1 on 1 fights are pretty straight forward and purley defense focused. In these fights you are dodging attacks and retaliating when there is a window of opportunity, wheras if you put more than one enemy in a fight, the strategy has suddenly changed and it's about positioning yourself in a way where you don't get blindsided or stockpiled. Crowd fights are more about putting yourself in a position where you can get into a 1 on 1 with a enemy for a moment, before going back to controlliing the crowd again. Once the game systems click, you will be dodging and taking out baddies one by one like a champ.
The game isn't perfect, there were moments that kinda sucked for me, like that one section with the big claw machine. Moments like these are few and far between, but when they come it kills the momentum you have.
Apart from the gameplay, the setting and style reminds you of a Quentin Tarantino movie which brings immesne charm to the whole package. There are so many goofy cheeky moments that bring a laugh out of you in between all the chaos, it makes getting through the hard moments so much more worth it just to see these goofy scenes.
By the end of the game I felt like I had just conquered a mountain. Despite at the beggining feeling like this is game I probably couldn't finish, I made it to the end and had so much fun while doing it. I am now apart of the God Hand cult and "I love it".
i've been thinking about my relationship with art, and my thoughts at the moment are that what i want in a piece is to feel something. it's not only about being entertaining, it's about catharsis. it's about feeling extremely happy or deeply miserable. it's about having the teeth grinding, the foot tapping, the head scratched. it's about going insane over the details. i want to feel alive. maybe it's a sick thought. maybe i should just live my own life, but i can guarantee, i've been living my own life a lot! much more than i would like to, sometimes.
all the games i've finished this year so far (very few) were a good time, some of them were amazing, really thought-provoking like anodyne 2, but none of them hit me like a truck. until GOD HAND.
GOD HAND makes you feel extremely happy, deeply miserable, with your teeth grinding, your foot tapping, your head scratching... pretty much at the same time! it's commonly known as a very difficult game and it's not an impossible one, but it does require you full commitment. starting with learning the controls: when action games were about swords and guns, with fast-paced movement, GOD HAND was about throwing punches while moving in tank controls. it's all about positioning, a 1v1 it's already a difficult task, but a 2v1? a 4v1? does not help when your crowd control movements are slow as hell! but don't be confused: GOD HAND is not a slow game! actually, if you can't keep up, you will pretty much ended up cooked lol, you have to adapt to the rhythm of the fight. it's all about learning and once you learn, it's about going wild.
and it's not a flashy game. you throw punches. real punches. punches that hit, than you can feel when it hits. GOD HAND it's a dudes rock game but every single dude is rocking on you (in a not-homosexual-way (unfortunately)), and you got rock on them instead. GOD HAND it's a videogame that loves action games. it's a videogame that recognizes the masculine archetypes about the action genre in overall media and at the same time it honors it and it also makes fun of it. GOD HAND is very "manly"! i mean, having blackjack and poker and dogs races as a way to make money makes me think that shinji mikami and the team are either the funniest guys ever or the most heteronormative of all time! and it's very funny either way.
what really matters is that GOD HAND is a videogame that made me feel everything, and in a year that is definitely NOT being my year, with a lot of work and study and personal problems as well, making me sometimes lost my interest in my favorite hobby, it reminds me how great videogames can be and how i can always just punch a son of a bitch when it needs to. you better watch out mf!!!
all the games i've finished this year so far (very few) were a good time, some of them were amazing, really thought-provoking like anodyne 2, but none of them hit me like a truck. until GOD HAND.
GOD HAND makes you feel extremely happy, deeply miserable, with your teeth grinding, your foot tapping, your head scratching... pretty much at the same time! it's commonly known as a very difficult game and it's not an impossible one, but it does require you full commitment. starting with learning the controls: when action games were about swords and guns, with fast-paced movement, GOD HAND was about throwing punches while moving in tank controls. it's all about positioning, a 1v1 it's already a difficult task, but a 2v1? a 4v1? does not help when your crowd control movements are slow as hell! but don't be confused: GOD HAND is not a slow game! actually, if you can't keep up, you will pretty much ended up cooked lol, you have to adapt to the rhythm of the fight. it's all about learning and once you learn, it's about going wild.
and it's not a flashy game. you throw punches. real punches. punches that hit, than you can feel when it hits. GOD HAND it's a dudes rock game but every single dude is rocking on you (in a not-homosexual-way (unfortunately)), and you got rock on them instead. GOD HAND it's a videogame that loves action games. it's a videogame that recognizes the masculine archetypes about the action genre in overall media and at the same time it honors it and it also makes fun of it. GOD HAND is very "manly"! i mean, having blackjack and poker and dogs races as a way to make money makes me think that shinji mikami and the team are either the funniest guys ever or the most heteronormative of all time! and it's very funny either way.
what really matters is that GOD HAND is a videogame that made me feel everything, and in a year that is definitely NOT being my year, with a lot of work and study and personal problems as well, making me sometimes lost my interest in my favorite hobby, it reminds me how great videogames can be and how i can always just punch a son of a bitch when it needs to. you better watch out mf!!!
BREAKING: Guy Does Not Take Into Account Positioning And Visibility In Combat, Blames "Dated Control Scheme," Turned Into Swiss Cheese By Firing Squad
kicked someone in the dick so hard their face turned blue this might be the best game ever made
Aside from seeing its cover pop up in a few of Dunkey's videos, I knew next to nothing about God Hand going into it, but seeing its immensely high average rating on Backloggd and the reviews that were exclusively just quotes from the game kept me curious about what the game was actually like. Although I have played through a few of Shinji Mikami's games in the past (with the original Resident Evil 4 being one of my favorite games), there was so much about God Hand that made his other games feel tame and restrained in comparison, so when I found out that this was essentially his passion project, it totally made sense to me. Although it took me a bit to fully grasp everything about the game and its mechanics, I immediately fell in love with God Hand once everything clicked, and it was one of those games where I spent practically every waking moment thinking about how amazing it was.
God Hand is going to be celebrating its 17th anniversary later this year, and I don't think that a single game has come out in all that time with a combat system that even comes close to the one that is present here. This game's in-depth and hectic combat system is one that blends seamlessly with its high difficulty curve, as customizing your combos with new moves from several different martial arts means that you're constantly trying to find ways to take enemies down effectively while also trying to dodge as many attacks as possible. When you kill an enemy in God Hand, you practically send them into another plane of existence, as all of the moves both look and feel satisfying to execute thanks to their pure, raw aggression, with the pummels, stomps, suplexes, and spankings being especially fun to pull off with their flashy animations and use of button mashing. Despite how tough it can be at times, God Hand never felt outright unfair to me, as the lack of any real secret to being good at the game other than just knowing its ins and outs meant that every victory, no matter how small, felt immensely rewarding. This especially applies to the boss fights in God Hand, as the cranking up of the game's fast pace and focus on reaction time and positioning leads to some of the hardest, most pulse-pounding, and exciting boss fights I've ever seen in a video game.
In my eyes, the gameplay alone was enough to make God Hand an all-timer for me, but it also managed to stick the landing in so many other ways that I ended up loving the game even more than I could've imagined. Even with its challenging combat, God Hand practically never takes itself seriously, as its quirky brand of absurdist comedy made it so that my encounters with poisonous chihuahuas, punk rockers, and boss fights against lucha libre gorillas never felt out of place alongside the slapstick-heavy action, over-the-top storytelling and lovably campy voice acting. The game's stylish art direction made all of the environments and enemy types feel very memorable, with the major boss fights looking especially striking in their scaly, hellish designs. The music for each of the game's stages are all immensely catchy, and they also fit the tone and atmosphere of each stage really well. God Hand also allows you to gamble in between stages in order to potentially get closer to getting that next upgrade, and not only are the more conventional card games like blackjack and video poker already fun and laid-back to play, but you also get the opportunity to bet on chihuahua races, and while I lost money every single time I played that minigame, I still found it quite fun. There's no doubt in my mind that God Hand is one of the very best games I've ever played, and while there are still a ton of character action games that I still want to play, I don't think that any of them will be able to get any better than this.
God Hand is going to be celebrating its 17th anniversary later this year, and I don't think that a single game has come out in all that time with a combat system that even comes close to the one that is present here. This game's in-depth and hectic combat system is one that blends seamlessly with its high difficulty curve, as customizing your combos with new moves from several different martial arts means that you're constantly trying to find ways to take enemies down effectively while also trying to dodge as many attacks as possible. When you kill an enemy in God Hand, you practically send them into another plane of existence, as all of the moves both look and feel satisfying to execute thanks to their pure, raw aggression, with the pummels, stomps, suplexes, and spankings being especially fun to pull off with their flashy animations and use of button mashing. Despite how tough it can be at times, God Hand never felt outright unfair to me, as the lack of any real secret to being good at the game other than just knowing its ins and outs meant that every victory, no matter how small, felt immensely rewarding. This especially applies to the boss fights in God Hand, as the cranking up of the game's fast pace and focus on reaction time and positioning leads to some of the hardest, most pulse-pounding, and exciting boss fights I've ever seen in a video game.
In my eyes, the gameplay alone was enough to make God Hand an all-timer for me, but it also managed to stick the landing in so many other ways that I ended up loving the game even more than I could've imagined. Even with its challenging combat, God Hand practically never takes itself seriously, as its quirky brand of absurdist comedy made it so that my encounters with poisonous chihuahuas, punk rockers, and boss fights against lucha libre gorillas never felt out of place alongside the slapstick-heavy action, over-the-top storytelling and lovably campy voice acting. The game's stylish art direction made all of the environments and enemy types feel very memorable, with the major boss fights looking especially striking in their scaly, hellish designs. The music for each of the game's stages are all immensely catchy, and they also fit the tone and atmosphere of each stage really well. God Hand also allows you to gamble in between stages in order to potentially get closer to getting that next upgrade, and not only are the more conventional card games like blackjack and video poker already fun and laid-back to play, but you also get the opportunity to bet on chihuahua races, and while I lost money every single time I played that minigame, I still found it quite fun. There's no doubt in my mind that God Hand is one of the very best games I've ever played, and while there are still a ton of character action games that I still want to play, I don't think that any of them will be able to get any better than this.
GRANDE DIEGO DESCANSE EN PAZ GRANDE MARADONA LA MANO DE MARADONA LA MANO DE DIOS
No clever humor this time regrettably just saying this is an all timer
Desenfadado, chulesco, burlón. De este glorioso beat 'em up dopado al 3D se sigue hablando y con razón, pero por qué tan poca mención a su sentido del humor yo no sé. Señores, God Hand es lo que es (o sea, uno de los videojuegos más "salaos" que pueda echarse uno a la cara) por su sentido del humor. Son su chispa y su desvergüenza lo que da tanto sabor a la experiencia. No es ya cuestión de diálogos y personajes y demás bromas en cinemáticas, sino del propio diseño. Los ataques especiales, las animaciones de los enemigos, el uso de elementos del escenario, hasta los niveles en sí mismos. ¿Cuántas situaciones y tramos de juego no parecen excusas para contar un chiste? ¿Qué es eso de carreras de chihuahuas? ¿Estoy peleando con un gorila? ¿Estos tipos se supone que son los Power Ranger? A ver, ¿acaso hay algo en el juego que no esté puesto ahí para hacer reír? No sé, decidme en cuántos juegos de acción despachas esbirros a base de patadas en los huevos y tortazos en el culo.
Es tan obvio que el humor forma parte del ADN de God Hand. Que no se trata de un elemento accesorio, sino de un pilar fundamental en su concepción. Es tontorrón con descaro, voluntariamente idiota y a mucha honra. Toda una metralleta de ocurrencias y salidas de tono, ninguna de ellas pensada dos veces. Y gracias a ello se siente tan loco, tan libre, tan fresco. Gracias a ello el título posee tantísimo CARÁCTER.
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Mecánicamente hablando, God Hand es un muy buen beat 'em up, pero no es excelente. Sus batallas contra jefes son constantes y demasiado numerosas, y a medida que avanzamos nos damos cuenta de que, pese a la deliciosa variedad de movimientos y combinaciones, el modus operandi se reduce a tratar de adivinar cuándo va a cubrirse el enemigo para romper su guardia. Eso y soltar todos los ataques especiales + God Hand en cada boss fight para acumular daño gratis. Hacia el final el juego se hace un pelín cuesta arriba. Agota.
Si la base mecánica no estuviese a la altura, ni todo el carácter o la gracia del mundo salvarían a God Hand, pero que God Hand sea más que solo un buen videojuego es gracias a ese desparpajo. Tan solo échese un vistazo al tema principal. Su tono, su letra... he ahí la prueba. Eso es God Hand, un buen dragon kick your ass into the Milky Way (Milky Way!).
Es tan obvio que el humor forma parte del ADN de God Hand. Que no se trata de un elemento accesorio, sino de un pilar fundamental en su concepción. Es tontorrón con descaro, voluntariamente idiota y a mucha honra. Toda una metralleta de ocurrencias y salidas de tono, ninguna de ellas pensada dos veces. Y gracias a ello se siente tan loco, tan libre, tan fresco. Gracias a ello el título posee tantísimo CARÁCTER.
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Mecánicamente hablando, God Hand es un muy buen beat 'em up, pero no es excelente. Sus batallas contra jefes son constantes y demasiado numerosas, y a medida que avanzamos nos damos cuenta de que, pese a la deliciosa variedad de movimientos y combinaciones, el modus operandi se reduce a tratar de adivinar cuándo va a cubrirse el enemigo para romper su guardia. Eso y soltar todos los ataques especiales + God Hand en cada boss fight para acumular daño gratis. Hacia el final el juego se hace un pelín cuesta arriba. Agota.
Si la base mecánica no estuviese a la altura, ni todo el carácter o la gracia del mundo salvarían a God Hand, pero que God Hand sea más que solo un buen videojuego es gracias a ese desparpajo. Tan solo échese un vistazo al tema principal. Su tono, su letra... he ahí la prueba. Eso es God Hand, un buen dragon kick your ass into the Milky Way (Milky Way!).
Nobody plays God Hand randomly in the year 2023. Picking it up in a 5 dollar bin and discovering one of the best action games of the generation was for when we were younger men. So if you're playing it now, it's hard to not squint and look around every corner for the greatness gamer know-it-alls talk about.
I definitely see it. God Hand is snappy, satisfying and responsive. Animation legibility is prioritized above all else, and maybe more than any other brawler or even fighting game I've played God Hand wants to nudge you into Gaming Good with its systems. Mashing buttons might manipulate Lvl 1 goon AI but after a while, you'll find yourself at Lvl 2 or high and getting blocked, countered and embarrassed.
This game is a marathon though. Health pick ups are random as are the spawning of demons from defeated enemies. These HP jacuzzies will waste your special moves and meter unless you're completely on the ball with your combos. It's a little annoying to have a run of a mission or even a boss ruined by this random element, but also silly that restarting is probably a viable strategy.
I'm gonna go back to it though. God Hand rules where it matters most, making me sweat through my cheap ass Target t-shirts at 11 pm.
I definitely see it. God Hand is snappy, satisfying and responsive. Animation legibility is prioritized above all else, and maybe more than any other brawler or even fighting game I've played God Hand wants to nudge you into Gaming Good with its systems. Mashing buttons might manipulate Lvl 1 goon AI but after a while, you'll find yourself at Lvl 2 or high and getting blocked, countered and embarrassed.
This game is a marathon though. Health pick ups are random as are the spawning of demons from defeated enemies. These HP jacuzzies will waste your special moves and meter unless you're completely on the ball with your combos. It's a little annoying to have a run of a mission or even a boss ruined by this random element, but also silly that restarting is probably a viable strategy.
I'm gonna go back to it though. God Hand rules where it matters most, making me sweat through my cheap ass Target t-shirts at 11 pm.
The biggest stain on the integrity of videogame journalism and the the most beloved unplayed gem in every single gamer's backlog. Being what's probably the only direct translation of the beat 'em up genre into the 3D realm worth playing and talking about, God Hand is one of the most uncompromised and unique entries in the combo oriented pantheon of action games. Incredible that I'm saying this about the game that shutdown any chances of Mikami ever being able to fully go off ever again.
The stiff and constricted movement controls in God Hand force the player to be aware of every surrounding enemy and pick each fight wisely, while still allowing direct confrontation and proximity through a dynamic and anime as fuck dodge system that has you bobbing and weaving between flurry of punches before delivering an uppercut. Expanding on Resident Evil 4's dynamic difficulty, God Hand increases it's challenge the better you get at it, which while being a make or break for some folks out there, makes it stand out from the standard difficulty options from other games and provides immediate feedback to the player on how better he is getting at the game.
God Hand ditches out combo memorization in favor of an easy to understand set of options that reveal their complexity through their success on parrying, guard breaking, stunning or tripping the enemy, which varies depending on who you dealing with it at that moment, and instead let's players express themselves by allowing them to choose their own sequence of combos to perform from a vast list of Bruce Lee like moves that, if set up properly, will have your enemies all flying into a concrete wall at mach speed from one single twirling kick.
Framing all of this insane action is one of the most out there and bizarre universes ever seen. God Hand wears it's 80s/90s action anime influences on it's sleeve, but even if you have gotten familiar with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure these past years, you will still have a hard time making sense of the design and personalities of some of the enemies and bosses in here. God Hand takes the aesthetic of 2D beat 'em ups and just amps it up to 11, clearly having no interest or care for consistent and well thought out world building and presentation, and going for a humorous and visionless dumb as fuck story.
Which is awesome, because what other game has you fighting a wrestling Gorilla that chases bananas mid combat, sparring against a fat Elvis mexican impersonator, or spanking a succubus that turns you into a dog, all in the span of a few hours?
The stiff and constricted movement controls in God Hand force the player to be aware of every surrounding enemy and pick each fight wisely, while still allowing direct confrontation and proximity through a dynamic and anime as fuck dodge system that has you bobbing and weaving between flurry of punches before delivering an uppercut. Expanding on Resident Evil 4's dynamic difficulty, God Hand increases it's challenge the better you get at it, which while being a make or break for some folks out there, makes it stand out from the standard difficulty options from other games and provides immediate feedback to the player on how better he is getting at the game.
God Hand ditches out combo memorization in favor of an easy to understand set of options that reveal their complexity through their success on parrying, guard breaking, stunning or tripping the enemy, which varies depending on who you dealing with it at that moment, and instead let's players express themselves by allowing them to choose their own sequence of combos to perform from a vast list of Bruce Lee like moves that, if set up properly, will have your enemies all flying into a concrete wall at mach speed from one single twirling kick.
Framing all of this insane action is one of the most out there and bizarre universes ever seen. God Hand wears it's 80s/90s action anime influences on it's sleeve, but even if you have gotten familiar with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure these past years, you will still have a hard time making sense of the design and personalities of some of the enemies and bosses in here. God Hand takes the aesthetic of 2D beat 'em ups and just amps it up to 11, clearly having no interest or care for consistent and well thought out world building and presentation, and going for a humorous and visionless dumb as fuck story.
Which is awesome, because what other game has you fighting a wrestling Gorilla that chases bananas mid combat, sparring against a fat Elvis mexican impersonator, or spanking a succubus that turns you into a dog, all in the span of a few hours?
Pretty much every other action video game ever made wants their characters to be as cool as possible and to fight as effortlessly as possible. The first thing God Hand does is make Gene grovel on the floor, and then drops you in the middle of it with a really average skillset. I think where a lot of people go wrong (or went wrong, I guess, it's so much less common now) is they try to play the game as if Gene is Dante from the get-go. The God Hand and Roulette moves give him a lil bit of Dante Juice but they're also limited enough that you have to put at least some thought into when you want to spend them, and they're dialed in enough that they usually won't save you from your bigger mistakes.
The really big fork in people's experiences, I think, is if they figure out Gene's latent specials. He has multiple launchers just naturally in his skillset (in a real old-school fashion, they're given a plain descriptive section in the manual but are mentioned nowhere else), which take a bit of getting used to but once utilised break the game wide open. When I watched Giant Bomb play this game there were moments when they'd accidentally do the axe kick or shoryuken and be all "how the hell did you do that?!" but never investigate it, and they beat the game mostly relying on poorly optimised Square combos and careful play. Nothing wrong with that of course, but there's so much more to God Hand once you start using them. Suddenly you go from these careful fights trying to split people up or focus on one guy to being an absolute launch goblin running around trying to pick fights with 4 people at once because you know you can use at least one of them as a living projectile. You can start digging real deep and looking at stuff like dodge-cancelling (which is essential on Hard mode) or same-hand attacks comboing into each other faster but it's the launchers that really set the stage for some ridiculous nonsense.
Also holy shit the right stick dodge mechanic's so good? Why have other games not copied this? Who cares about controlling the camera action games have never had good ones anyway just give me that sweet, sweet multidirectional dodge again
The really big fork in people's experiences, I think, is if they figure out Gene's latent specials. He has multiple launchers just naturally in his skillset (in a real old-school fashion, they're given a plain descriptive section in the manual but are mentioned nowhere else), which take a bit of getting used to but once utilised break the game wide open. When I watched Giant Bomb play this game there were moments when they'd accidentally do the axe kick or shoryuken and be all "how the hell did you do that?!" but never investigate it, and they beat the game mostly relying on poorly optimised Square combos and careful play. Nothing wrong with that of course, but there's so much more to God Hand once you start using them. Suddenly you go from these careful fights trying to split people up or focus on one guy to being an absolute launch goblin running around trying to pick fights with 4 people at once because you know you can use at least one of them as a living projectile. You can start digging real deep and looking at stuff like dodge-cancelling (which is essential on Hard mode) or same-hand attacks comboing into each other faster but it's the launchers that really set the stage for some ridiculous nonsense.
Also holy shit the right stick dodge mechanic's so good? Why have other games not copied this? Who cares about controlling the camera action games have never had good ones anyway just give me that sweet, sweet multidirectional dodge again
Fuck dmc fuck bayonetta fuck ninja Gaiden fuck all the rest of da bullshit this GOD HAND HERE!
You can
Kick/punch people out of the solar system
Kick people in the balls if they are male fighters
Chihuahua race
Suplex a gorilla
Fight two VERY gay men on the first level
Beat up the power rangers
And Fist Fight hordes of dominatrixes
Need I say more?
10/10
You can
Kick/punch people out of the solar system
Kick people in the balls if they are male fighters
Chihuahua race
Suplex a gorilla
Fight two VERY gay men on the first level
Beat up the power rangers
And Fist Fight hordes of dominatrixes
Need I say more?
10/10
Godhand's halfbaked ironic tone was
a necessary safety measure to prevent the medium of videogames from totally peaking so early in it's lifespan
a necessary safety measure to prevent the medium of videogames from totally peaking so early in it's lifespan