What Does It Take to Get to Mt. Olympus? God Mode Review
Reviewed on Xbox 360
Can you go against the Gods and prevail? You’ll never know for sure, but with God Mode you can at least give it a shot!
God Mode is an online multiplayer-only game that features run-and-gun type gameplay. In the game, your character is the descendent of an ancient race of Gods that were banished to earth… and you’ve unfortunately met an untimely demise. However, in order to avoid eternal damnation, you must fight your way through Hades’ maze while battling mythological creatures. If you can survive and make it to the end, you’ll have the opportunity to rejoin the other Gods on Mt. Olympus.
Although the game is relatively fun, you’ll find that since it is an online-only game, you are at the whims of the other players in your group of up to four players. If no one is online at the time, you may have yourself a bit of a wait, as there is no single player option. As a matter of fact, I found myself booted out of a game on several occasions when the other players on my team dropped out.
At the start menu you’ll be able to choose whether you want a quick match or create a match. In Create Match, you can vote for one of five different maps that you want to play on, but the final decision is based on your team’s majority vote. In the next screen you’ll be choosing your difficulty level and which, if any, Oaths you want to add to your character. There are seven Oaths to choose from that will give you a boon while also hampering your character on the maps. For example, Serpent Oath will offer a 10% increase in XP and 15% extra gold, but you’ll get less effective health pickups as a handicap. All of the Oaths have a drawback, ranging from hits one of against you doing more damage or getting poisoned by just one hit. All Oaths will increase your XP and gold earnings by between 5 – 20% depending on which Oath you activate, but at the end of a match I didn’t notice anything that showed whether the amounts were added to my XP or not. If you get booted from a game—which happens if other players leave—it shows XP, but again doesn’t list if you get the bonuses even if you didn’t or weren’t able to finish the match. But don’t let these small things deter you—keep on playing because things really start to get better from here on in!
Once you’re in the game, it’s time to get to it and kick some undead butt! You’ll find yourself facing off against a bevy of mythological creatures including Minotaurs, cupids, Cyclops and many others. It’s pretty straightforward from here: shoot everything that moves. One of the most difficult parts of the game you will find here is that the aiming reticule doesn’t really seem to function very well; the aim is a little off when you use it. On several occasions, I found myself missing the mark even if the cross-hairs were firmly planted on the enemy. What I started having to do in order to compensate for this problem was to pull the left trigger to zoom in so the monsters would come closer and be a little easier to hit. But even then you will probably find yourself missing – the aiming reticule is integral to the game’s success, and it seems to have fallen short. However, if you run out of ammo or are running low on health or armor, you don’t need to worry, as there’s plenty laying around.
The controller layout works fine as there are four different options to choose from according to your preferences—there’s even a layout for lefties out there! However, there doesn’t seem to be an option to map the controller to your own preferences; I would have preferred to have my weapons shortcut mapped to the direction pad rather than the Y button, but you can’t always get what you want.
The graphics are beautiful in this game. The backgrounds in the mazes catch your eye if you have a chance to look around while fighting tons of monsters. Ranging from large open areas to small platforms, you’ll find yourself immersed in what really feels like the underworld. This does both add to the game and detract from it as well. Although you won’t have to worry about accidentally walking off an edge somewhere, you’ll find that some monsters hide off-screen just below the edge of a cliff so you can’t see them. This could pose a problem if you’re wondering why you haven’t finished the level yet and there are no monsters around.
Each of the creatures is nice to look at… from a distance. It’s when they get up close that it gets scary as there are so many of them coming at you at once. From skeletons to Minotaurs to zombies, you’re looking at some beautifully rendered yet ferocious monsters that enjoy attacking in packs. And yes, this does include the giants too.
With all the striking visuals in God Mode, it is truly unfortunate that you don’t really have time to stop and take a look around to see just exactly how much work went into the backdrops. Even after you’ve beaten the level, if one of your fellow players is eager to go into the portal to the next level, you only have a few seconds until your entire team is transported away.
The voice acting is what really makes this game worth playing. There’s not really all that much to the voiceover but what is there is well done. From the description explaining what you’re doing at the beginning title screen to the little quips during the game especially when you die, the voice acting has been executed with perfection in mind. With a drawling, sarcastic voice, the narrator seems to have the ability to make you smile when you’ve just been pummeled by the creatures.
God Mode does have the potential to be a lot of fun so long as there are always people around to play it. At a cost of only 800 MS Points for Xbox or $9.99 on PS3 and Steam, this game does offer gamers a good time doing what they like best… shooting monsters! If you’re looking for a game that has lots of monsters to kill, then this is the one for you.
God Mode gets a 4.0/5.0
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