God Hand (video game)
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| Developer(s) | Clover Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Designer(s) | Shinji Mikami (director) Atsushi Inaba (producer) |
| Release date(s) |  September 14, 2006 October 10, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature 17+ CERO: B PEGI: 16+ |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Media | 1 DVD |
God Hand is a video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console.
The game is a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic-themed beat 'em up that combines traditional gameplay elements of the genre with new features such as knocking enemies into the sky and a new counter system.
Development was supervised by Shinji Mikami, best known for the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry series of games. It was released in Japan on September 14th 2006, and on October 10th 2006 in North America. It was released on 17th February 2007 in Europe. God Hand was the last Clover Studio game.
There are a few minor differences in the American version of the game. The Chihuahua Curry power-up was changed to Chihuahua Pizza. Also, a new roulette move called "Head Slicer", which lets Gene send a wave attack that can knock enemies into a distance, was added at the expense of the roulette move "Pan", which gives the user short lived invicibility. The European version features these changes.
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[edit] Story
In the days before time, an angel filled with pride fell from the heavens to a life in exile as the Demon King Angra. Filled with spite and hatred, Angra spearheaded an army of demons and specters to overthrow the world of mortal men. His plan was foiled, a man appeared with the power of God sealed in his arms, and used this power to once again send Angra into exile.
The people, grateful that the Angra's threat had subsided, bestowed upon the man the title of Godhand. Legend states: "Although the man is long since gone, a single clan continues to this day to defend the Godhands, and the power held within". "Those who possess this power are capable of becoming either god or demon."
[edit] Characters
Main Characters
- Gene
A 23-year old, dusty rambler that ends up stuck with one of famed Godhands -- with a bunch of nasty demons on his tail. Though outspoken and a constant complainer, he has a keen sense of justice. He likes to imagine he has a gentle, kinder side despite his rough, macho exterior. Voiced by Beng Spies.
- Olivia
Nineteen years old, this beauty is a descendant of a family that protected the Godhands for centuries, until demons hunting for the arms wiped out most of the family. As the sole survivor, she fled with one of the Godhands, allowing fate to carry her to a small town where she crosses paths with Gene and entrusts the Godhand to him. Voiced by Bettina Bush.
The Four Devas
- Elvis
Possessing amazing strength and a huge appetite, Elvis likes to chase the ladies when he's not kicking butt. Despite being a demon, he has acquired some nasty human habits. He's brutally honest and something of a potty mouth. Voiced by Jamieson Price.
- Shannon
The life of the party, this ravishing hedonist hides cold, cruel instincts. In the pursuit of satisfying her own hunger for pleasure, no sacrifice is too much. Voiced by Susan Chesler.
- Azel (Devilhand)
Azel is mysterious and supremely confident, and his left arm is one of the fabled Godhands. Though human, he joins the demons in order to further his own ambitions. Voiced by Sam Riegel.
- Belze
Cold as ice, the leader of the Four Devas is deeply loyal to Angra and very proud of his demon heritage. Voiced by Daran Norris.
Minor Characters
- Mr. Gold & Mr. Silver
Two campy men who work for Elvis. Voiced by Wally Wingert.
- The Evil Trio (Bruce, Conchita, and Felix)
The group responsible for cutting off Gene's original arm. Voiced by Sam Riegel, Melissa Charles, and Fred Tatasciore.
- Gorilla Mask
What seems to be a man in a gorilla suit. Is featured as a mini boss.
- Dr. Ion
A robotic creation who has been sent to destroy Gene.
- Ravel & Debussy
A rock duo who seem to have a problem with Gene. Originally aspiring (and awful) musicians, they sold their souls to the demons in exchange for musical prowess. Using his guitar, Ravel will shoot at you with purple shockwaves and laserbeams, with Debussy smacking against his drum to send out a yellow musical beam that distorts time and space. There also exists an unnamed third to their group, but he is really just a color swap of Ravel.. Voiced by Sam Riegel and Fred Tatasciore.
- Psychic Midget
A paranoid old hermit who thinks somebody is always out to kill him. Voiced by S. Scott Bullock.
- Midget 5
A group of five midget dressed in Power Ranger style clothing.
- Sensei
An old samurai that fight with a katana without guard, he can also make copies of himself.
[edit] Gameplay
God Hand is a 3-D action game in the same spirit of Devil May Cry. The player moves in all directions, attacking with the face buttons and using special moves (unlocked or powered up as the game progresses through an in-game shop). God Hand's control scheme is borrowed directly from Resident Evil 4 with some major changes. The player must manually turn around using a button, and all actions (outside of basic attacks) are performed via a context sensitive button. Using this button allows the player to jump up ladders, pick up items, and use special attacks that can only be used when the enemy is in a dazed or tired state. The Right Analog stick no longer controls the camera, but maps four dodge moves to the directions on the stick; a duck move, a backflip, and a left and right dash.
God Hand borrows a lot from Devil May Cry 3 in the sense that the player is given a character to build and mold. No one player will have a similar gameplay experince, or go into battle the same way. The player maps any attack they wish to Triangle, Square, and X. Square is the only button that allows the player to chain multiple attacks at once. All buttons allow the player to map an alternative move to a combination of back (on the analog stick) and a button press (Back and square, back and triangle, back and x). There are over 100 moves in the game for the player to choose from including drunken-style martial arts to basic jabs and punches.
The player can map a limited amount of moves to their God Reel (aka God Roulette). This moves are limited to a number of orbs that Gene has collected throughout the level (in the form of cards in three levels). Some moves require Gene to have two or three orbs, while a good deal of them only require one. These attacks are notably more powerful then Gene's basic punches and kicks. Some moves send Gene's opponents flying into the stratosphere while others are simple punches or kicks to specific places (a groin kick, for example).
Another move in Gene's arsenal is the God Hand itself. As Gene strikes and defeats enemies, his TP bar goes up. Gene can also taunt and use TP boosting attacks to increase his TP bar. When it reaches a set amount, Gene can remove the bracelet from his arm (referred to as the "Deistic Brace") to unleash the God Hand. In this state he is almost completely invincible and all of his attacks increase in both power and speed. By using various stat boosting items, Gene can increase the size of his TP bar to hold more power. Gene can also find cards or glamour pictures in the middle of a level to increase his TP.
While in combat, the player must monitor a level bar that goes up and down depending on how much damage the player is dealing or receiving. If the player gets caught up in a flurry of punches and combos, his level will drop. If the player deals a large number of attacks to their enemies, then their level will go up. The lowest level is Level 1 with the highest numerical level being 3, and the highest overall being Level DIE. During Level 2 and below, the enemies will not attack Gene unless they are in his line of sight or he is attacking them. On level 3 and above, the enemies will attack regardless of the camera position (leading to many offscreen blows or hits unless the play monitors the radar in the top screen). Also, enemy attack strength increases as the levels increase; at Level DIE a fully maxed out Gene can be killed in about 6 hits. Gene possesses a move called Grovel, in which he falls to his knees and begs. This has the effect of instantly resetting the level bar to 1, regardless of its previous state.
The in-game level meter ties in with the difficulty options that the player has when they first start the game. EASY mode keeps the level meter capped at Level 2. NORMAL starts the player at Level 1 and lets them go as high as Level DIE. HARD difficulty, unlocked by beating NORMAL, increases enemy health slightly and keeps the level on DIE. While NORMAL keeps the level meter open for all levels of difficulty, most high level players will want to play the game on HARD to avoid maintaining the level meter and keeping it at the highest level possible. Grovel has no effect on Hard Mode.
[edit] Music
Masafumi Takada from Grasshopper Manufacture (of Killer7 fame) composed most of the game's soundtrack. The soundtrack is heavily influenced by 60's and 70's theme songs and other genres, including techno, rave, rock and funk. The song "Gene's Rock-A-Bye" is considered to be a variation of the Hawaii Five-O main theme.
The soundtrack itself, God Tracks, is composed of 23 tracks:
- Gene's Rock-A-Bye 名も無き始まりの町
- Smoking Roll エルヴィスとの対峙
- Nippy Dog
- It's A Smile World 大人の遊園地
- Rainy Rose シャノンの誘惑
- Top Of The Humans 激戦?ゴリラーマスク
- Yet... Oh See Mind 高嶺のゴッドハンド
- Devil May Sly 宿命の対決
- Old Hand
- The Gang Of Venice 水の都 水上貿易都市
- Bald Mountain はげ山の一夜
- Battery :Size AA
- Floating Fort 移動要塞 King Crab
- Unnavigable Sea
- Sunset Heroes 悪魔の味方 ミニミニファイブ
- Battery :Size D 機械仕掛けのブリキ人形
- Please Mr.SENSEI 先生、出番です
- Too Hot!!! 燃え盛る鉱山
- Forgotten Song 砂漠の蜃気楼都市
- Higher Than Heaven 試練・3重の塔
- Anthem Of Satan 史上最高の戦い
- Handsome Dynamite (RX-Ver.S.P.L) パンチ V.S キック
- The Horror
God Tracks does not contain all the songs from God Hand, however. The game includes four unlockable sections of a "Jukebox" (A to D) which contains music that can be played from, appropriately enough, a jukebox machine located to the right outside of the item shop.
The tracks are:
Section A: unlock by completing the game on any difficulty.
- A-1 Gene's Rock-a-bye ジーンのRock-a-bye
- A-2 Too Hot !! マジ熱ィ！！
- A-3 It's a smile World それは笑顔の世界
- A-4 Floating Fort 浮遊要塞
- A-5 The Gang of Venice ベニスのギャング
- A-6 Bald Mountain はげ山
- A-7 Forgotten Song 忘れられた歌
- A-8 Higher than Heaven 天国を超えて
- A-9 Unnavigable Sea 航行不能な海
- A-10 credits 俺の右手はゴッドハンド
- A-11 credits (karaoke) （カラオケVer）
Section B: unlock by winning the slots in the casino (3-in-a-row of the gift box).
- B-1 Be ready for it 準備は出来た
- B-2 Broncobuster ブロンコバスター
- B-3 Fire-Works 花火
- B-4 Water Line 喫水線
- B-5 Sultry Night 情熱的な夜
- B-6 Big Hit 大当たり
- B-7 Chihuahua Soldier チワワの戦士
- B-8 Surrender 降参
- B-9 Colonel Chihuahua 傲慢チワワ
- B-10 Hanging Bridge 吊り橋
- B-11 Which do you prefer? どちらが好み？
- B-12 Fork in the road 道の分岐点
Section C: unlock by completing the Kick Me challenge (complete an entire game without using God Hand power or any God Reel moves).
- C-1 Peek-A-Boo ピーカブー
- C-2 Sweet Nightmare 甘い悪夢
- C-3 Yet... Oh see mind ヤッテ オ シ マイ
- C-4 Top of The Humans 人類の頂点
- C-5 Sunset Heroes 夕焼けのヒーロー達
- C-6 Nippy Dog すばしっこい犬
- C-7 Old Hand ベテラン
- C-8 Please Mr. SENSEI センセイ、オネガイシマス
- C-9 Handsome Dynamite ハンサム・ダイナマイト
- C-10 FUNK MAN 臆病な男
- C-11 Come from Dark 闇からの訪れ
- C-12 Dark Matter 暗黒物質
Section D: unlock by completing the game on Hard difficulty.
- D-1 AA Battery AAバッテリー
- D-2 Size D Battery サイズD バッテリー
- D-3 Smoking A Roll スモーキング ロール
- D-4 Smoke Out 煙を味わう
- D-5 Rainy Rose 雨に濡れたバラ
- D-6 Poison Queen 妖艶毒姫
- D-7 Devil May Sly 悪魔は狡猾になる
- D-8 Duel Storm 決闘の嵐
- D-9 Fly Flap 羽ばたく蠅
- D-10 Anthem Of SATAN 悪魔の賛美歌
- D-11 GOD HAND 俺の右手はゴッドハンド（英語Ver）
- D-12 GOD HAND♪ （英語 カラオケVer）
[edit] Critical Acclaim
- Press Start Online awarded God Hand a score of 9:10 (9 being the score representing overall quality, 10 representing the reviewer's individual opinion.) [1]
- videoGaiden, in the final episode of season 2, claimed the game one of the "best ever made".
Not unlike Ikaruga the game's difficulty often turns away casual gamers, but seems to attract "old school" gamers especially those who enjoy fighting games. God Hand received mixed reviews from many magazines and websites (including a 3.0 out of 10 from IGN - this score was in large part based upon the fact that the reviewer found the game too hard). Many people praise the game for its use of humor and refreshing change of difficulty from what the recent mainstream of gaming has to offer, while others scored it low for its camera system and lack of polished graphics. It garnered an 8.0/10 from Gamespot and a 4/5 from G4's X-Play.
[edit] Influences, tributes, and Easter Eggs
- In the introduction Gene shouts for water. This is similar to the beginning of Fist of the North Star when Kenshiro is dying from dehydration. Some of the fighting styles and techniques used in the game are also similar to Kenshiro's moves.
- Mr Gold and Mr Silver bear a similar resemblance to Adon and Samson from Cho Aniki.
- Several bonus levels have Gene destroying a car similar to the bonus level in Final Fight.
- Gene's default uppercut move is similar to Ryu and Ken's Shoryuken.
- The Great Sensei fight bears a strong resemblance to the second level boss fight in Avengers (an old Capcom beat'em up).
- The concept of picking up fruit, vegetables, and weapons have been around since the beginning of classical beat'em ups.
- The chihuahua race features several dogs with notable names. Mikami's Head is a reference to Shinji Mikami's leaving of Capcom Production Studio 4. Boom Headshot is a reference to the internet meme developed by the Pure Pwnage series, and Massive Damage is a reference to the embarrassing Sony conference held during E3 2006.
- Several chihuahuas are named after Clover Studio characters (Viewtiful and Amaterasu).
- Devil May Sly (song played during the Azel fight) is an obvious reference to the Devil May Cry series (also produced by Shinji Mikami).
- The Midget 5 look similar to Viewtiful Joe or they are a reference to those Japanese Super Sentai (or Power Rangers in the West) TV show that was popular in Japan during the 80's.
- The Shaolin blast attack could be a nod to the movie Kung Fu Hustle's "Buddha God Palm fist" attack.
- The fat enemies use a flying headbutt similar to E.Honda from Street Fighter 2.
- The ending theme song has a Saturday action cartoon feel.
- At one point in the game, Elvis refers to himself as "Viewtiful Elvis", before shouting "Henshin." This is a blatant reference to Clover's flagship series, Viewtiful Joe.
- The first God Hand teaser trailer quotes "Its style is impetuous. Its defense is impregnable." Enemies also say "You're not Alexander!" "I'm brutal and ruthless!" and "I'm Alexander the Great!" These are all references to an infamous press conference quote from Mike Tyson when asked about Lennox Lewis. [2]
[edit] External links
- Official websites
- General resources
