Lately I've found myself becoming bored with video games. Where once I was able to sit on the couch and kill an evening working through the latest title, I'm now hard-pressed to make it past the first loading screen. Desperate, I started digging through my collection in hopes of finding something to restore my lost faith, and lo, I found God Hand. Though I've had the game for some time, for one reason or another I'd never actually sat down and played it. Only now do I realize the folly of my ways because this is easily one of the best 3D beat 'em ups ever made.
Perhaps the main reason I had never given God Hand a chance was because of the generally negative reviews it had upon release. Bad camera, too much repetition, bland design... the complaints seemed endless. It's only after I got talking to a good friend of mine that I realized the reason there are so many complaints was because the reviewers appeared to never make it past the first stage. And who can blame them? This game is not easy and getting through any stage is no small feat. Even if you manage to get the hang of the fight system and start bashing heads your victory will be short-lived thanks to the variable difficulty system. Beat a few guys without taking a hit and the enemies level up, becoming faster, more aggressive and requiring far more skill to defeat. Keep kicking ass and the difficulty goes up again and again until you reach the completely insane Level Die, where only two hits can drain a maxed out life bar. Of course if things get too intense and you take a few hits the difficulty will drop back a level, guaranteeing the game is always on the threshold of what you can handle without being too cruel or too easy.
Combat is rich and varied with more than 100 different moves you can assign how you please. Whether you play fast and light, or slow and heavy is entirely up to you. It's a system that guarantees you play the game on your own terms and offers a level of depth not often found in the genre. Do well enough in combat and you'll power up your God Hand, making you faster, stronger, and temporarily invincible. Mastering the power of the God Hand and timing its use appropriately are critical if you hope to survive. Special “God Roulette” moves round out your arsenal dealing massive damage, but requiring power orbs to use. Again, like your basic attack, they're fully customizable, though your options are more limited. Missing from the combat system is any form of a block, instead requiring players dodge incoming attacks using the right analog stick. It takes a bit of practice, but it keeps combat moving smoothly instead of degenerating it to a glorified game of Whack-a-Mole.
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