For literal ages, religious types have been arguing over who has the better god. Is Zeus almightier than Odin? Who’s better out of Buddha and Amaterasu? Thankfully, Digital Crafts have found a way to settle it once and for all by letting them scrap it out in video game form. Now on Switch, You get the pick your favourite deity and go toe-to-toe with the likes of Jesus, Moses, Zeus, Odin and… Santa. Yep, Santa…
It’s a fun concept that stands apart from your regular fighting games. Only Injustice 2 come close to letting you fight with near godlike creatures, so this seems like a no brainer. Sadly, it’s executed poorly and looks and feels like it’s been ported from mobile, to PC, then to Switch!
Characters sound like they’ve been recorded through a loo roll tube in an empty room and they look like the first rough mock ups made in five minutes flat. Jesus rips himself off the cross, keeping the nailed pieces of wood attached so he can use them as weapons, Moses crushes people with the 10 commandments and Santa rides his sleigh into his enemies. And for what reason?
Well that’s where the story comes into play. “Gods, holy spirits and mythological characters from around the world are summoned to a parallel universe, to take part in an unprecedented fighting contest!” is what’s quoted upon starting up the arcade mode and that’s pretty much all you get. Well, aside from the Harry Hill style follow up “Who will win? Well there’s only one way to find out: FIGHT!” It’s pretty bad.
The main focus is, of course, on the fighting. Hardcore fans of the genre care little for story modes as long as the gameplay is solid. This isn’t. Fight of Gods generally feels like you’re playing a fighter from the early 90s. It’s a bit like playing Clay Fighters back in the day, but somehow worse. The characters feel stiff to play, moves don’t come out properly and you are left guessing when it comes to combos. I dread to think what the frame data is like, but does it even matter? With controls this bad, I don’t think you’ll have time to see if one frame links exist in this game.
Each character has exactly the same move set, just with different visuals. You have two resource bars: one for your ‘super’ and another to activate a buff when things get a little hairy. Jesus, for example, has the aptly named ‘Resurrection’ buff which gives him some health back. Aside from these small mechanics, it doesn’t stop the characters from feeling very cookie-cutter. After you find the right combo, you can pretty much cheese your way to victory by trapping your opponent in the corner and repeating the same move over again. It’s just boring.
After battling through the arcade mode, you get a chance to see who’s behind all these shenanigans. You are presented with a purple opaque being know as ‘Boss’. Yep, Boss. What’s even funnier, is that each character has the same ending, so there’s no real incentive to try different characters, unless you fancy unlocking colours.
