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God Hand Review - PS2

Introduction

Clover Studios had an excellent reputation for producing amazing games ever since 2003 when they produced the hugely popular Viewtiful Joe, with its interesting blend of cell shading and 3D elements mixed together in a side scrolling adventure. Viewtiful Joe (the main character) had many powers such as slowing down and speeding up time. A sequel was produced in 2004, and also received high marks from the gaming community. Okami was later released, and was also a fan favorite with its creative gameplay, and unique ideas and imagination. Sadly, they broke up shortly after this, with God Hand being the last game to be developed by them.

The premise of God Hand is that of a straight out fighter, mixed with a fair bit of humor, to combine and form a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet offers players challenge for their money. It’s something of a light-hearted romp through a series of episodes, gaining new fighting moves, as well as God Hand moves, along the way. The fighting system is partly based around the use of the God Hand (a powerful arm which contains the power of a God), which holds supreme power and deals a huge amount of damage to any enemy. Unlimited use of such a power would be unfair of course, so a limit has been implemented, there is gauge of orbs which are used up one, two or three at a time (depending on the cost of the move you are using). More powerful moves use more orbs, and once all the orbs have been used, you can no longer use God Hand moves (such as 100 Fists, which hits your opponent 100 times and then sends them into orbit for an instant K.O.), until you replenish the gauge by picking up items. The God Hand moves also reflect some of the humor; take the Ball Buster for example (need I say more). There’s a laugh track to go with that one!

Gameplay

The story is rather loose, no explanation is given at the start of the game for your possession of the God Hand, but as the game goes on, all becomes clear. The main character, whom you control for the entire game, is called Gene. He travels with his tomboy ‘assistant’ Olivia, and together they fight for peace (well mostly Gene). Olivia’s tough, somewhat exaggerated nature leads to some funny cut scenes, and you get to see a new interaction between the two every time you complete an episode. I really can’t say much more than this without spoiling things for you, so I’ll let you find out the rest for yourself.

As far as layout goes, everything is clear and simple, the health bar is the top bar, and the tension bar is below it. To the left of these is your “experience” gauge, however it is only temporary experience. You get experience from attacking and defeating enemies (your gauge increases) and you can grow a level when (continued next page)