Gods

The Good
There are passwords for every stage, unique to each copy sold, so you'll have to play the game through for yourself. It loads quickly from floppies, and seems stable. Sound effects and title music are up to the high Bitmap Brothers standards.

The Artificial Intelligence features a number of famed innovations, including a very advanced ability to track your moves and work out the best strategy, and 'thief' characters who can collect unobtainable objects and then be killed by you (thus releasing the object) when they re-emerge.

The Bad
The pace is quite sluggish (no wonder it was nicknamed 'Plods' in some quarters), and very rarely does anything happen which is actually exciting as such. Enemies all look the same and act the same. The much-hyped graphics are detailed but colourless and repetitive, and the scrolling fails to keep up with the action quite frequently (apparently the Genesis version is faster). That bright green bar at the bottom which flashes up information is quite intrusive, especially as green isn't used in the game colours (for the sake of atmosphere)

The puzzles are largely solved by trial-and-error experimentation with switches - and because a switch at one end of a level can open a door at the other end, it means a lot of trudging around. Considering that getting onto ladders seems hit-and-miss, falls injure him, and there are sections where spikes are unavoidable, a lot of lives can be lost this way. In a game like Exile or First Samurai there's much more logic and brainpower involved. Similarly, there are lots of sections where the weapon you've just bought is virtually useless, because it doesn't attack high enough for example.

The fact that the game gives you extra bonuses if you're struggling seems conceptually flawed to me - a game should challenge you to get the hang of it and master its subtleties, and only offering higher scores for finding hidden sections.

Your main character has a helmet on, so you can't see his face, which stops him having any character. Blond hair doesn't suit for a Greek character either - he ends up looking like David Beckham. He isn't very dynamic, and can't do fairly simple moves like ducking under something half his height. Picking up bonus objects and keys is needlessly complicated, and also makes it impossible to attack while crouched. These problems smack of lousy design.

The Bottom Line
Gods is something of an enigma really. There are a lot of nice touches, and some impressive AI routines, but the experience simply strikes me as soul-less and uninteresting. I've read the many positive reviews (including those on here) in the hope of finding something special, but it still seems bland, as if it has brains and (some) brawn, but no heart.

Call it a 'Thinking Man's Action Game' if you like (many do) but it doesn't have as much thinking or action as tonnes of superior titles. Curiously, it seems like the more someone likes Rainbow Islands, the less they enjoy this. They are two very different types of game, for sure, but this can learn a lot in terms of character and pace (contrary to popular belief, fast-paced games needn't lose a strategic element).

The Good
This is a nice looking game and has the typical Bitmap Brothers style which is 80s sci-fi meets medieval; think Robocop meets Conan The Barbarian. The Genesis version is also better looking than the SNES version, which has a zoomed in perspective and seems to run less smooth. The game is a puzzle platformer which was a rare thing then and it's still rare now. The puzzles are well implemented usually flick a switch and see what happens, or collecting artefacts to open a locked door.

The Bad
The in-game music while well composed sounds a bit tinny and grated on me after a while. I played it with the sounds off. This music does have it fans so I am putting it down to personal preference, you may like it you may not. However, the sound effects are almost iconic. The main character feels underpowered even with the best weapons and items in the game, the game will often spawn three enemies at you at once even on the early levels. This is a tough game I doubt anybody could complete it with out losing a life, that said power-ups are plentiful and the enemies spawn in the same place every time making it a memory test and a bit easier than random enemy placement. The level design while OK for the time can be a bit confusing. For example I spent 30 minutes trying to find a door which was on a top level.

The Bottom Line
Although an Amiga port, it translates really well to Genesis. The graphics are smart. The game will probably take a first time player four hours or more. The difficulty will put off some gamers, but I think this is a rewarding game, worth persevering with and it has the Bitmap Brothers magic. Playing as a muscular God character in a Roman Gladiator helmet is also pretty cool.

The Good
This game stands out from the Bitmap camp as probably their best feat to date. The atmosphere in this game is 100% and gives you the feel of an ancient Greek warrior. The sound effects especially when the game is 'quiet' are brilliant. The loading track is also a brilliant addition, as professional as the Xenon 2 one. The graphics are the most striking, the best I have seen in Bitmap Brothers land, nothing compares, even today when the 16 colour palette would be thought of as laughable is amazingly professional.

The Bad
To be honest, I liked everything in this game. There is nothing I hated apart form the fact that there is no sequel :-)

The Bottom Line
Not a mindless violence game, this one combines excellent puzzles with raw power. The characteristic hidden treasure rooms show this as a Bitmap game. Get it, without fail.

The Good
Gods is a great game to play, you play the role of a Greek guy who is on a mission from the gods to destroy all the nasty things in 4 different worlds and your reward is immortality, which I thought was original (for a game anyway). The intro explains the story about you and the gods and what you have to do, but it has some cool light beat music to go with it.

The graphics for the game are very well done and look very polished; also do the enemies look superbly animated and have great A.I.

The fun thing about it is that you can upgrade your weapons (which I have always found good in games), you start off with a crummy knife but as you progress through the levels you become aware of more advance artillery >:) to kick those monsters butt!

Some of the puzzles are very challenging and take some thought and common sense but are satisfying once completed, and the levels are also very well planed like in most Bitmap Brothers games.

At the end of each world you will come across some huge bosses which can be difficult at first but once you've learned there moves it's actually quite easy.

The Bad
Like in most Bitmap Brothers games there is hardly any sound FX or Music but this didn't let it down much it's still a brill game and there aren’t if any others quite like it.

The Bottom Line
This game set the standard for all other platforms to come!

The Good
I love the graphics! They did an amazing job with the colors, considering they only used a sixteen colors. Beautiful. I really enjoyed the puzzles that were incorporated into the game.
The levels were well thought out and intricately made. I enjoyed the Bosses at the end of each level. The sound effects where great too. It's just a fascinating game. A must have. Period.

The Bad
The controls weren't perfect but still fun to play and there was really no music. But enough sound effects to compensate for lack of music. :)

The Bottom Line
If you haven't got it get it and play it. You'll love it. You are on a mission for eternal life and everything and everybody wants you dead. Killer graphics, loads of fun, Lots of bonus points, puzzles, and bad guys to kill. Great Platform game, A must have!!!

The Good
If you never played Gods then you missed a cornerstone game in PC history. The most hooking game of its kind, with revolutionary monsters AI. You will explore 4 large worlds filled with exiting puzzles to solve and each world with its specific intelligent monsters. The graphics are wonderful, the level design mighty, the AI exceptional for that time, add to it a great solid and slow pace playability. The best Bitmap Bros game ever, and the still best game of its kind.

The Bad
It is sad Gods does not have in game music.

The Bottom Line
Play the Amiga version, it is the best one, the PC version is also excellent. Run from the SNES/GENESIS versions, they are too fast, badly scaled (the SNES version have a reduced screen area, as if it was zoomed in).

The Good
The graphics are excellent and it's from the Amiga. The music is also OK.

The Bad
But it's a really bad game at that. While the graphics compensate for some of the lossy gameplay, the game is simply not fun. The sound effects are horrible and the gameplay is completely mismatched. The controls aren't very good either.

The Bottom Line
Stay away from it! This is one of very few Bitmap Brothers games I actually dislike.