God Hand

God Hand
Developer(s)	Clover Studio
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Shinji Mikami (director) Atsushi Inaba (producer)
Composer(s)	Masafumi Takada
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	JP September 14, 2006[1] NA October 10, 2006[2] EU February 16, 2007[3] AUS February 27, 2007[3]
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	CERO: B ESRB: M (Mature 17+) OFLC: M PEGI: 16+
Media	1 DVD

God Hand (ゴッドハンド, Goddohando^?) is a video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was released in 2006 in Japan and North America and in 2007 in PAL territories. Capcom announced just days after the game's North American ship date that it would dissolve Clover Studio, making God Hand the developer's final game released.^[4]

God Hand puts players in the role of Gene, a martial artist who is bestowed with one the legendary "God Hands", a pair of divine arms that were once used to save the world from a demon called Angra. Gene and his companion Olivia are eventually caught up in an attempt by a group of demons known as the Four Devas to resurrect Angra for purposes of world domination. The game mixes western and Japanese-themed comedy, containing over-the-top characters and storyline events. The gameplay combines traditional elements of the beat 'em up genre with new features. These include being able to map and string together a large repertoire of fighting techniques to the gamepad's face buttons in order to create unique combo attacks.

God Hand was directed by celebrated Resident Evil designer Shinji Mikami, whose desire was to create an action game aimed at "hardcore gamers" intermixed with a large amount of comic relief. The game received an overall lightly positive response from critics. God Hand sold only modestly upon its release in Japan.

Gameplay

God Hand is a 3D action game in which the player moves in all directions, attacking with the face buttons and using special moves. The player must manually turn around using a button, and all actions outside of basic attacks are performed via a context sensitive button.^[5] Using this button allows the player, as Gene, 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. Four dodge moves are mapped to the directions on the right analog stick. The player can manually assign any attack (punch, kick, etc.) they wish to Triangle, Square, and X buttons. Square allows the player to chain multiple attacks at once.^[5] There are over one hundred moves in the game for the player to choose from including basic jabs and punches to drunken-style and capoeira martial arts.

God Hand features over one hundred attacks with which the player can fight and dispatch enemies

More powerful abilities in God Hand can be utilized in the player's "God Reel" (or "God Roulette"), a roulette wheel that contains moves that the player chooses.^[6] These moves are limited to a number of "Roulette Orbs" that the player can increase by collecting "Skull Cards" found throughout each stage.^[7][8] God Reel techniques require between one and three Roulette Orbs to execute. Some moves send the opponents flying into the stratosphere while others are simple punches or kicks to specific bodyparts. Another gameplay mechanic in the player's arsenal is the God Hand itself. As the player strikes and defeats enemies, his "Tension Gauge" goes up. The player can also evade attacks, taunt, use tension boosting attacks, or find cards within a stage to increase this bar.^[7][9] When it reaches a set amount, the player can remove the bracelet from Gene's arm to temporarily unleash the God Hand. In this state he is completely invincible and all of his attacks increase in both power and speed.^[6] By using various stat boosting items, the player can increase the size of his Tension Gauge to hold more power.

While in combat, the player can monitor a "Difficulty Level" bar that goes up and down depending on how much damage the player is dealing or receiving.^[6] If the player gets caught up in a flurry of punches and combos, the level will drop. If the player deals a large number of unanswered attacks to their enemies, then the level will increase. The bar consists of numerical levels one through three with a fourth level designated "Die" being the highest overall.^[8] During levels one and two, the enemies will not attack the the player unless they are in his line of sight or he is attacking them. On levels three and Die, the enemies will attack regardless of the camera position. Also, enemy attack strength increases as the levels increase; at level Die a fully maxed out player character can be killed in a few hits. Defeating enemies at higher Difficulty Levels earns the player more bonus points at the end of a stage.^[6]

Additional techniques can be found in stages in the form of technique scrolls. Techniques and roulette moves also can be purchased or sold at the game's shop, Barely Regal, which is found on the map screen.^[5][10] Also accessible from the map is a casino, which contains a number of minigames including slots, blackjack, poker, chihuahua racing, and a fighting arena.^[10]

Plot

Setting

The backstory of God Hand reveals that long ago, a fallen angel became the Demon King Angra and attempted to destroy the world of humans using an army of demons and spectres. A man holding the power of God within his arms defeated Angra, sending him into exile once again.^[11] The man was then given the title of "God Hand" by the people he saved. A clan of humans was established to protect the God Hands. It is said that anyone who possesses them will be "capable of becoming either god or demon."^[11]

Characters

Within the game, the player takes on the role of Gene (ジーン^?), a 23-year old fighter who has one of the God Hands, which is sought after by a group of demons. Although he often appears outspoken and macho, he has a keen sense of justice.^[12] Gene is accompanied by nineteen-year old Olivia (オリヴィア^?), a descendant of a clan that once protected the God Hands. With most of her family killed by the demons, she fled with one of the God Hands, entrusting it to Gene upon meeting him.^[12]

The game's primary antagonists are the Four Devas, a society attempting to resurrect the demon Angra (魔王サタン^?) and take over the world. The group consists of Belze (ベルーゼ^?), the leader, who is very loyal to both Angra and his own demon heritage^[12]; Elvis (エルヴィス^?), a very large demon that has adopted many "nasty human habits" and appears as an overweight yet heavily muscled Mexican man in a poor fitting white vest and pants, with a giant set of purple Buddhist prayer beads around his neck; Shannon (シャノン^?), an extroverted and hedonistic demon who seeks human pleasures, and appears as a coquettish, lithe female in a maroon and yellow outfit, with candystriped horns and green tattoos; and Azel (アゼル^?), also called the "Devil Hand", a human that also possesses one of the God Hands and earlier joined the Devas to achieve his own goals.^[12]

God Hand also features a number of recurring minor enemies that Gene encounters on his journey. Mr. Gold and Mr. Silver (最凶の双子 金さん＆銀さん^?) are a pair of twin, extremely flamboyant homosexuals that work for Elvis. The Three Evil Stooges Bruce, Conchita and Felix (コンチータ、メラン、テッキュウ^?), is the group responsible for cutting off Gene's original arm, and hound Gene throughout the course of the story seeking to retake the God Hand. Gorilla Mask (謎の覆面男 ゴリラーマスク^?) appears as gorilla wearing a lucha libre wrestling mask and outfit, who is actually just a man in a gorilla suit. Dr. Ion (Dr.イオン^?) is an android warrior sent by Belze twice to stop Gene. Ravel (ラヴェル^?) and Debussy (ドビュッシー^?) are a rock duo who were originally aspiring musicians that sold their souls to the demons in exchange for power. The Mad Midget Five (ミニミニファイブ^?) are a group of five midgets dressed in Super Sentai style clothing with playing card emblems on their costumes.

Development

God Hand was first announced in April of 2006 along with the use of a small teaser page on the Clover Studio website.^[13] The game was developed by the team responsible for Resident Evil 4.^[14] Development was supervised by Shinji Mikami, best known for the Resident Evil series of games, and was produced by Atsushi Inaba. The original idea for God Hand came about during a conversation between the two about the current state of action games; they found that many games in the genre at the time focused on the use of weapons and had gotten away from hand to hand combat.^[14][15] Originally, the game was to focus solely on "hardcore action" without much humor. However, after showing a trailer for the game at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which contained some comic relief, the team decided to integrate a large amount of comedy into the game based on the viewers' reactions.^[15] Inaba stated that God Hand is "aimed at hardcore gamers," which is shown in its hard difficulty.^[8] Unlike with their previous games Viewtiful Joe and Ōkami, the design team had no particular goal when designing the graphical style of God Hand other than that they wanted it to look more realistic.^[16] Although God Hand appears to share many elements with manga and anime such as Fist of the North Star and MD Geist, none were actually used as inspiration for the game.^[14]

There are a few differences between the North American and Japanese versions of the game. Among minor alterations, such a few signs being changed, the "Chihuahua Curry" power-up was renamed to "Puppy Pizza" in the English localization. A free Roulette called "Pan Drop", which gives the user short-lived invincibility in return for taking some damage, was removed from the American version.^[5] However, another technique called "Head Slicer," which allows the player to bloodlessly decapitate an enemy, was featured in the North American localization but not the Japanese version, most likely due to CERO censorship policies in Japan.^[5]

A 128-page player's guide titled God Hand Official Guide Book was published by Capcom in Japan on October 7, 2006.^[17]

Music

Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda from Grasshopper Manufacture composed the game's soundtrack. The score contains many throwbacks to older video game music, and is heavily influenced by 1960's and 1970's theme songs and other genres, including techno, rave, rock and funk. Takada was told by Mikami that due to the game's hardcore nature, the soundtrack should be composed to "relax things a little bit."^[18] Takada's score utilizes motifs in the game's boss battle songs because many of the them are fought more than once; Takada hoped that using different arrangements and orchestrations would remind players of older encounters with each boss.^[18] The soundtrack itself, God Tracks, is composed of 23 tracks and was packaged with the Japanese version of the game.^[19]

Reception

Critical reception for God Hand was somewhat mixed, but generally positive from many magazines and websites. It currently has a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic and a 75% on Game Rankings.^[20][21]

Scottish television series VideoGaiden claimed the game to be one of the "best ever made". Independent PlayStation Magazine listed God Hand among the "11 PS2 Games You Need to Play (But Haven't)."^[31]

In Japan, God Hand was listed as on Famitsu's Top 10 Reader's Most Wanted for a few weeks, although ultimately the magazine scored the game 26 out of 40.^[5][25] The game was the fifth best-selling game during the week of its release in Japan, selling 48,280 units.^[32] Capcom managed to both ship and sell nearly 60,000 copies of the game in the country by the end of 2006.^[8][33] God Hand was later re-released under the CapKore line of budget titles and the PlayStation the Best range.^[5][34]

God Hand is a cult classic in the eyes of many hardcore gamers and it widely known as one of the best PS2 games of all time.

References

External links

• God Hand at Capcom.com (English)
• Official website (Japanese)