God Hand (on PCSX2 emulator):
What a game. A very
special and
unique game in so many ways.
Like:
There is
no jump button.
Dynamic difficulty. The better you do, the harder game becomes. Get hit few times and game drops AI level to make it easier. And it's not hidden from you, each time AI level changes there is a big screen prompt and behind the screen audience sighs or applauds depending if you go up or down.
Customizable controls with a pool of 100+ of moves and you can set them to face buttons and put them in attack string in any order depending on what you need and who you face.
And probably the most unique feature --
tanks controls and camera that is fixed behind and just above Gene's head. This even gave me motion sickness at first.
That camera is indefensible. The way how i can't push stick in any direction and JUST GO in that direction is maddening because it works that way in literally all other game. If you want to run away it means you will be turning your back to enemy and won't see what they are doing. There is a radar but it doesn't REALLY fix visibility problems at all -- it simply existing confirms that camera is such a problem they had to address it
somehow.
Camera goes from bothersome to outright terrible when you face more than one enemy because they can and will encircle you and could even launch projectiles from behind your back. It might not have been that terrible if game had more distinct sound cues like Bayonetta that inform what enemies are doing even when you can't see them, but God Hand also has a bug which drops sound effects if there are too many, which leads to some attacks being silent.
Tank controls stunt not only camera and visibility but also
movement. You can only move forward/back, to go left/right to you have to rotate and THEN go in that direction. There is a side dodge but: 1) side-dodge is NOT strafe because it's works with lock-on and you are basically circling around the closest enemy instead of just going sideways in a line 2) it's on a right stick, which means you have to move your thumb away from face button and then back.
This is a problem with dealing with attacks that are so wide there is no time to side dodge them until you get hit let alone taking your time to rotate yourself 90° and start moving left. There is a trick that allows you to side-dodge super fast but you have to press face button and push right stick in a very quick succession repeatedly which is impossible unless you're using "claw" fingers setup or move second thumb over to right side.
Because camera refuses to work with multiple enemies active, highlight of the game is bosses that you fight 1 on 1. The game kinda sorta turns into 2d fight with weird perspective, like "dynamic", over the shoulder perspective on 3DS version of Super Street Fighter IV:
You kinda can overcome too many enemies problem by luring them to you one by one by taunting or throwing boxes at them. But later parts of the game feature areas with up to 8 enemies ALL activated instantly the moment you enter the area and it's a complete cluster.
And many bosses come in varieties of three, or even five! All of them attacking you and with the way camera works half of them will be behind you often readying to fire their projectile attacks while you can't see them.
Aside from clunky movement, the combat is fantastic. It's very different from other action games, mainly because enemies are more "solid" than in other games and various states of enemies and your own are extremely important here (staggering, stun, dizzying, guarding, guard blocking, anger and so on). In Bayonetta, you stagger everyone, mash attacks and when they connect -- enemy can't do anything because they're stunned from now as long you keep pressing buttons. In God Hand it's not a given your attack even flinches an enemy if it connects and most likely it is you who will get hit instead.
The key is to do so called counter-hits -- time your attack so that they connect in enemy's certain frames of attack animations. I am not good to at it, so i can't
juggle crowds of fools and kick them all into each other, so my personal dumb strategy is to manage my bars to maximize God Hand usage.
I used moves like Yes Man Kablaam, Granny Smacker and/or Chain Yanker.
Granny Smacker is a move that can put enemies in dizzy state very fast (otherwise takes a LOT of hits OR guard breaking and my reflexes are not fast enough to do it) by bonking him/her on a head in extremely exaggerated fashion.
Once they're dizzied they can't retaliate and pummel QTE will activate near them. You can now safely execute Yes Man Kablaam move which raises your God Hand meter. If you're fast enough (pummel QTE lasts only 4 seconds) you can hit enemy with YMK twice. And just as you're finishing second hit you instantly activate QTE to start wailing on an enemy and get even more God Hand meter.
Chain Yanker move enters this system because it can pull any enemy from any distance and puts them in dizzied mode instantly. Then again, do Yes Man Kablaams and pummel for more meter.
I absolutely can't fathom people getting so good at this game that they can beat it without activating God Hand or roulette move even once (so called
"Kick Me" sign challenge).
My puny game clear result above looks pitiful compares to these guys. I tried to to make it no death playthrough, but gave up on the last boss. Just couldn't muster enough motivation because it was exactly that -- the last boss -- what's the point? I know i can beat him -- because i did, it just took me several continues, so after several days i just ate 1 death and left it at that.
At least credits sequence was well worth it. The game in general is absurd and hilarious:
You will be facing gorilla wrestlers, mongolian wrestlers, punks, mohawk punks, robot mohawk punks, dominatrices, zebra dominatrices, spiked traffic cone dominatrices, fat clowns, midgets, power ranger midgets, wizard midgets. It is an insane and unapologetic circus of mooks and villains all lining up to savour the taste of your fist.
Out of all bosses Great Sensei was probably the hardest of them all. He has a sword that is like 5 meters long so he can easily reach me from way afar AND his attack come extremely fast AND he can clone himself into 5 clones with the most obnoxious attacks where you are basically stunlocked to death if any of them as much as touch you with the tip.
Azel and Elvis bosses were also very good. Gorilla was just funny.
Some later levels were even harder than bosses. With huge crowds of enemies that you had somehow to deal with despite inadequate camera. The way how later enemies become very stun happy makes it even harder.
Case in point -- midgets! Midgets Five boss fights is probably the most annoying boss fight in history of videogames because of those little midgets screaming in their voices, thrashing about stunning you constantly and shooting lasers from all over the place.
As game progresses you unlock more and more versatile and powerful moves, it's almost like RPG. This was the main reason why insisted on completing the game without dying -- you get a hefty bonus for beat each level without dying -- to buy new moves and several power-ups. There is in-game gambling (casino and chihuahua races) to earn money. You can also do extra challenges for money and i did that because i am still fighting and it's not as boring as gambling.
God Hand also has amazing music:
Overall:
Classic of the genre. Deep combat unlike anything that came before or other. Tank controls are super clunky to deal with. Super funny tho.
Topic: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions? (Read 571459 times)
