God Mode XBLA Review

TreeMunky Fri May 03, 2013 1:31 pm

Developer ~ Saber Interactive

Publisher ~ Atlus

Price ~ 800MSP

God Mode is a third person horde shooter that can be played alone for the socially impaired or together as a monster slaying team of four cadavers. Set across a choice of five Milton inspired levels; each of these is made up of multiple battlefields linked together by portals. The premise of the game is to kill everything you see move into the next arena and then rinse and repeat, culminating in a boss fight. You and your fellow monster slayers then get to spend a couple of minutes running around a treasure room collecting gold that spawns. With friendly fire on you get to waste your former comrades for the chance of a little more shiny gold. Playing God Mode in single player is not the way to go. The game is poorly balanced for single play that it makes for a frustrating time and a far better time is to be had by roping in some comrades in arms.

If you're looking for a game with an immersive story, you will need to load up something else. The most you can glean from God Mode comes from a combination of the game’s narrator who mocks you everytime you die from a pummelling by a monster or two or three to the snippets on the loading screens. Almost as epic as The Iliad the story has you cast from Mount Olympus by Hades where you must redeem yourself and escape the Underworld. But have no fear this is not a fifth year History lesson in the Classics, this is God Mode where story has been put to death by the bullet.

Say hello to my little friend

What do bullets mean? Guns. Whilst starting out with a rather lacklustre selection of monster despatchers an smg and shotgun, levelling up and using some of that hard earned gold will see you right with the opportunity to unlock some simply awesome weaponry. Think rail gun and a Fallout 3 inspired Auto Axe. Unfortunately these better weapons are not available until the higher levels however as the game play is cooperative the feeling of imbalance is not there because you are playing as a team and not against each other.

The enemies you’ll be putting to the death are surprisingly varied with Jason and the Argonauts style skeletons and harpies that Ray Harryhausen would be proud of to raging Minotaurs that explode into Minitaurs (see what I did there). In the style of Serious Sam the denizens of the Underworld come thick and fast at you and your team which makes for a frenetic run and gun gameplay. I found myself standing my ground to take out as many enemies as possible then making a tactical retreat (running away) to get some more distance and then turning and gunning again. The movement of your avatar is a little ropey and makes it feel a little to ‘casual walk in the park’ rather than ‘screw his I’m being chased by the sputum of hell’. This is not a game breaker and you have the option to sprint which deals with the issue for the most part.

Belly going to get you

For me the real appeal of God Mode is the environments which are truly awe inspiring. From crumbling temples to fiery pits of hell the backgrounds are more often than not dominated by some behemoth of Hell. My favourite being the giant Minotaur working a machine that adds an environmental fire hazard to the arena. Whilst only have five ‘levels’ the gameplay should really get repetitive with a full run through not taking more than fifteen minutes. However, the game has extra legs in the forms of ‘Tests of Fate and Oaths’. Tests of Faith are randomly generated mutators that can be a simple as messing with gameplay speed or audio to real gameplay changers like friendly-fire or raining fire bombs from the sky. Oaths are mutators chosen by the player before the match starts and range from taking more damage to doing less damage and are offset with multipliers to xp. With the easy pick up and play feel the game has, these mutators more than make up for the basic gameplay and add a reason to come back for more.

You ugly

Achievements in the game are varied with your standard ‘kill x creatures’ , ‘complete all maps on hard’ to the grindy ‘purchase all upgrades’ and the controller smashing ‘Sweetest Curse’ which has you trying multiple times to finish any map with all six oaths active on the hardest difficulty. With a little time and effort the completion will be yours.

Overall God Mode is a fun co-op shooter for an agreeable budget price. With friends it only gets better without friends you’ve still got randoms to play with. However here is the problem with the game. Without some kind of continuing support from the developer when gamers, as with most if not all online xbla shooters, inevitably stop playing the game will be left with solo play and that simply stinks. Is it worth 800M$P? Absolutely. You'll get as much enjoyment out of this game as you put into it. If you like this kind of game you probably already own it, if you are on the fence I would not wait for DOTW as XBLA on-line shooters do not tend to have long shelf lives and you don't want to be left with the single player, otherwise I would just move along there is nothing here for you.

**KENT HAMMER** Fri May 03, 2013 3:46 pm

Well done Trunky, good work.

I agree that this game is good fun.

I even managed to enjoy an evening chatty away to the most offensive man in the black country markav, tells you all you need to know.

Guest Fri May 03, 2013 3:48 pm

Nice review mate. Funny how I only mentioned this in a post earlier today lol. I think for 800 points its a great little game although a little buggy at times. As for sweetest curse cheev its a piece of piss. Me and Kent bagged it on Monday night because of our l33t skills

Colne Crusader Fri May 03, 2013 5:44 pm

Good effort Tree! I was thinking about getting this, but everyone's probably moved on now!

Guest Fri May 03, 2013 7:52 pm

Colne Crusader wrote:Good effort Tree! I was thinking about getting this, but everyone's probably moved on now!

Looks like a few of us are playing it Sunday night. If you want in?

Colne Crusader Fri May 03, 2013 7:54 pm

Markav wrote:
Colne Crusader wrote:Good effort Tree! I was thinking about getting this, but everyone's probably moved on now!

Looks like a few of us are playing it Sunday night. If you want in?

I think i'm out on the lash. I'm hoping to play something Sunday afternoon if anyone's about then!

Waggly Bean Fri May 03, 2013 8:38 pm

Nice review.

This does look good, always good to see something a bit different!

GrahamOfTheDead Fri May 03, 2013 8:41 pm

Nice review mate. However, I'm going against your advice and I'm waiting till it's cheap!

Guest Sun May 05, 2013 11:10 pm

Colne Crusader wrote:
Markav wrote:
Colne Crusader wrote:Good effort Tree! I was thinking about getting this, but everyone's probably moved on now!

Looks like a few of us are playing it Sunday night. If you want in?

I think i'm out on the lash. I'm hoping to play something Sunday afternoon if anyone's about then!

ended up playing on my own. Managed to beat the last map I needed to beat on hard though. Smile

Colne Crusader Sun May 05, 2013 11:18 pm

Markav wrote:
Colne Crusader wrote:
Markav wrote:
Colne Crusader wrote:Good effort Tree! I was thinking about getting this, but everyone's probably moved on now!

Looks like a few of us are playing it Sunday night. If you want in?

I think i'm out on the lash. I'm hoping to play something Sunday afternoon if anyone's about then!
ended up playing on my own. Managed to beat the last map I needed to beat on hard though.

Good man!

I have been busy doing the bidding of others all day as usual so I only had a quick do on Bodycount as opposed to the multiplayer sesh that I envisaged!! Bloody mothers can be so demanding!! Very Happy

Guest Mon May 06, 2013 10:13 am

I should know by now when Trunky says he will join me to not get my hopes up! Some other night eh?

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