God Hand

God Hand is a video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom in 2006 for the Sony PlayStation 2. The game is conceptually modeled after classic beat 'em ups like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, and Capcom's own Final Fight: the protagonist, a carefree drifter named Gene, faces wave after wave of generic thugs in hand-to-hand combat. Unlike its side-scrolling predecessors, however, God Hand features fully three dimensional movement and environments.

Game design

God Hand was conceived when Clover Studio's head, Atsushi Inaba, and game designer Shinji Mikami were brainstorming ideas for their next title. They discussed how contemporary action games tended to be weapon-based (typically around swords and knives) rather than hand-to-hand combat, so Mikami worked up a concept image of a hand-to-hand combat action game and Inaba thought it would be really fun to do.

True to its retro game design sensibilities, God Hand opens with no exposition or tutorial. A short cutscene sets the irreverent tone of the game and Gene is thrust into a fight with a group of thugs, forcing the player to quickly learn the game's unconventional "tank controls": the camera is locked directly behind Gene; to quickly turn, players must press a button rather than push a joystick. The left joystick is used for moving, the right joystick for dodging attacks, and the four face buttons for all manners of punches and kicks -- 100 to be exact -- all of which are customizable. The steep learning curve, coupled with an unforgiving difficulty level, has earned God Hand its share of criticism; Eurogamer's Quintin Smith remarked that "defeating a foe will randomly turn the sky black, stop the music and spawn a leather-tough demon who will unquestionably wipe the floor with you on your first encounter."

To accommodate beginners and experts alike, God Hand features a dynamic difficulty that fluctuates between levels 1, 2, 3, and DIE: if the player performs well, the difficulty level raises; if the player takes too many hits, it drops. Checkpoints reduce the frustration of too many repeated attempts of the same area, and after each area is completed, the player can save the game file to a memory card. At these junctions, players can buy new fighting techniques, gamble at a casino, put money down on Chihuahua races, and practice in a fighting arena.

External links

Kung Pao Fu is a God Hand fansite that includes multimedia, a full staff and credits listing, the game script, character profiles, strategies, and more.