God Mode (XBLA): "Welcome To Hades!"

Atlus is a game developer who is well known for their interesting takes on various video game genres. In the past they have created a popular RPG series called "Persona", and even co-developed a fighting game spin-off based on the same series. The game that stands out most for me though (besides God Mode) is "Rock of Ages". That game was leaps, and bounds "outside of the box". The wacky art direction, and interesting gameplay landed this boulder rolling strategy title in one of my earlier yearly "Top 10" lists. Needless to say I got extremely hyped when I saw Atlus's trailer for "God Mode" earlier this year. In fact I was so hyped about this game that I took it upon myself to spread the word about it through the "Twitterverse". In those early days before the release I was confident that this hellish arcade title would be fitting of my 2013's "Top Ten" list. At this point your likely wondering if it was good, or bad? Unfortunately though I cannot give you my verdict just yet. I have to give you details on the "Meat & Bones" of this afterlife arcade experience before delivering my final critique. So, without further adieu ladies, and gentlemen let us get into this review of "God Mode" ...

God Mode is a game that takes a simple plot, and stretches it way beyond it's means without giving too much of a background story on the game's main protagonist/s. You'll find as a gamer that your role is one of four unfortunate godly descendants who were cast into hell via Hades himself. During your extended stay in this nightmarish afterlife you will be guided by a flamboyant host who often times makes a mockery of your unfortunate situation. Quoting constant off-the-wall nonsense, and ridiculing you for your many failures this tour guide from Hades will have you trying to score enough loot to get yourself the hell out of dodge (so to speak). In essence the troubled situation you currently find yourself in is a lot like a ghoulish game show to the death which is solely meant to entertain Hades himself. Luckily you will have a way to fend of the various demonic denizens that Hades sends your way though. Armed with a couple of weapons, a special perk, and an oath you will have to wage war against the many titans, demons, and undead creatures that are sent your way. Of course all of this must be done through a test of faith, and a few twisted twists along the way.


Atlus, Old School Games, and Saber Interactive took a very different approach in delivering this unique gaming experience. Instead of giving the gamer a solid offline campaign that many of you likely expected, Atlus, and their co-developers chose instead to deliver a multiplayer arcade shooter experience which is somewhat comparable to EPIC's "Gears of War" series. Surely enough "Gears of War" players will find themselves right at home with the control setup, and controller functions that are made available in this game. The same running button is made available as it is in "Gears of War", and even the point of view (Third Person) is oddly reminiscent of the previously mentioned series. Aside from those similarities though you'll find that the core gameplay seems to be a bit more like arcade based shooters such as "Nexuiz", and "Unreal Tournament" in that it has power-up items (health, armor, ammo) to aid you in your quest. When you enter one of Hades' five arenas ( The Fire Pits, Ascension, Hades' Moon ... ) along with three other random players/friends you will be placed onto a playing field similar to those environments that you find in the "God of War" series. The various ruins, and Ancient Greek inspired locales are filled to the brim with both mythological, and hell born fiends/features. With your custom cadaver (your character) equipped with two selected/upgradeable weapons, a perk, and the costume pieces you have chosen beforehand you will have to make your way from area to area slaying enemies as you go. Fulfilling multiple "Tests of Faith" in this fool's errand is your main objective. If you happen (by some miracle) to succeed in making it through the entire playthrough you will be rewarded with a final payout via the "Gold Rush". Keep in mind though that unlike eternity you do have a limited amount of lives with which to complete the tasks at hand.

As a gamer, and newly undead resident you'll find that every menu/feature in "God Mode" is geared towards the online multiplayer experience. The action portion of the game, for example plays out as it would in any online shooter. You'll earn different amounts of XP for killing various types of creatures within the game. The larger foes will reward you with more XP points while the lesser enemies will reward you with only a little XP. Keep in mind that the person to fire the final killing blow is the one who will reap the rewards though. This feature in itself adds a sort of competitive nature to the seemingly co-op experience.Along with the XP ranking also comes unique titles that go along with your gamertag username. As you can imagine these names play on the whole undead theme of the game.

Aside from the XP earning, and acquired titles you will also find that "God Mode" offers a vast array of character, and weapon customization options. Your character, or "Cadaver" has a sectional outfit that can be altered to your liking via an in-game menu. You can choose to change the head (corpse, zombie, gentleman, mutant, clown ...), the torso (pirate, soldier, victorian ...), and even the pants/legs (camo ...) of your cadaver. As far as the guns are concerned you'll find a decent selection of firearms including the common guns (SMG, assault rifle, revolver, shotgun ...), and the not so common weapons (buzz saw, rail gun, plasma pistol ...). These weapons can be assigned to either your first or secondary slots depending on your preference. You should also note that each weapon can be upgraded multiple times to apply such things as faster loading times, and more powerful shots. Magazine capacity, and accuracy can also be upgraded with the gold you collect throughout your playthrough/s. When you reach a certain rank within the game, and have all of the initially unlockable upgrades purchased for a weapon you can then purchase one final upgrade titled, "The Olympus Upgrade". Zeus only knows what this beast of an upgrade will do. My guess is it's something "Godly".

The game's shop menu also offers a couple more features worth noting. The perks (Healing, Armor Refills ...) that I mentioned earlier become available for unlock, and purchase at certain character ranks. During your pre-game setup you'll be able to assign the different "Oaths" which basically act as handicaps. These chosen"Oaths" will reward the player for sacrificing/adding certain features in the online playthrough. For example things like poison can be added to your enemies for an additional gold  boost percentage. There are also other "Oaths" that limit your health recovery, and how affective your weapons are in the game. It is wise to pick, and choose which "Oath" you can fulfill, but going for the best "Oath" fulfillments will definitely reward your efforts with a much more impressive payout at the end.

Once you have your character, weapons, oaths, and perks set as you like you can join in a "Quick Match", or "Create a Match" for friends to join. Selecting either option will bring you to a set of menus where you can choose your arena settings, vote for an arena, tweak your characters, and purchase stuff from Zeus with the gold you have earned. When you are ready to play just oblige the start game option by pressing the appropriate button. From there the game is fairly straightforward. You run from area to area activating a "Test of Faith" by passing near an alter statue. Once activated you will have to survive the "Test of Faith" effects which could be anything from random weapon changes every few seconds to dealing damage to other players by simply being close to them. There are many different wacky variations to the "Test of Faith", but in the end each one can only be completed by killing off all of the enemies in that given area. Afterwards you, and your posse will pass through a newly revealed portal only to take on another "Test of Faith". When you've passed a handful of these tests, and have beat the final boss of the arena you will enter the "Gold Rush" (assuming you & your group have survived this long) where the objective is to collect as many gold icons as possible while avoiding any attacks from your comrades. Keep in mind friendly fire is off in "Gold Rush", and people can turn on one another just to capture their peers loot. You should also note that during a playthrough there are a set amount of lives for the 4 players playing. If all players die off all of their lives your progress will end where you made it, even if you do not make it to the "Gold Rush".

Now for my verdict ...

I think I had higher than high expectations for this game before I ever got my hands on the review copy. I had initially thought that the game would offer some sort of story mode, or campaign, but instead I found that it only offers an online multiplayer. Even with this huge letdown I think that what the game has to offer as a whole is enjoyable enough to warrant some future playthroughs. One thing that concerns me though is that once a player has unlocked everything, and upgraded everything to it's fullest things what will keep them from abandoning the game entirely? Unless Atlus has added some sort of "Prestige" feature, or plans on adding content later on I simply do not see this game remaining popular for the long haul. There's just not enough "extras" available at the current time to warrant too many playthroughs. I also found that the arenas which are available with the game are severely limited, and each playthrough seems like more of the same old thing. The fact that the game's "Bestiary (Creature Bio)" menu, and creature offerings are limited to a simple selection only further limits the game's appeal.

Another thing I definitely need to touch base on is the online. When you play with randoms you'll find that some matches have game breaking lag/freezing while others play out smoothly. I can tell that the netcode in this game was definitely not developed well. Whether, or not Atlus's/Oldschool Game's/Saber Interactive's dcrew will be able to remedy this is yet to be seen. As of now I have not heard of any future patches, or any additional content for this game. If they are able to create more in-game content, and fix the state of the netcode then I could definitely see this game going far. If not I'm afraid this game is doomed to be abandoned sometime in the near future. As far as the price goes, 800 msp/$10 is not a bad deal even with all of my concerns realized.