Gods

Moby ID: 501
DOS Specs
Buy on Genesis
$20.96 used on Amazon
Buy on SNES
$36.94 used on eBay
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Conversion (official) Included in

Description official descriptions

Hercules is aiming to achieve immortality by completing the task the Gods have set him. His task is presented as a platform adventure set in ancient Greece, featuring a variety of enemies as you play it through.

Of more significance, however, is the game's Artificial Intelligence system, in which creatures monitor how you play, and try to find safer positions. Also, the game offers more bonuses and power-ups if you're struggling to progress. Even without those, there are lots of bonus sections to find and unlock.

Spellings

  • ゴッズ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

7 People

Design
Programming
Additional Programming
Music / Sound Programming
Graphics / Artwork
Music
  • Nation 12
Sound
Cover artwork by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 40 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 127 ratings with 7 reviews)

'Impressive' but not very much fun, I've always seen this as over-rated

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).

Amiga · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2004

God Like

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.

Genesis · by Alex L (967) · 2018

Nothing else compares with the supremacy of this well put-together game/

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.

DOS · by Nathan Walker (4) · 2000

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Copy protection

The Amiga version features multi-layered copy protection. The main part was cracked quickly, and produced what appeared to be a playable game. However, a second layer remained, which raised the difficulty level quickly, to the point where the first boss was impossible to beat. Unfortunately for the Bitmap Brothers, this hard work seemed to backfire, as many assumed that the cracked version they played was representative of the game's difficulty, and the game's reputation was hampered as a result.

Cover art

The box cover art for the Amiga, Atari, DOS and Genesis (PAL) release was done by famous comic artist Simon Bisley (Sláine, Lobo, Batman/Judge Dredd, and several other works).

Music

The title song, Into the Wonderful, was written by Nation 12 which was a music project by John Foxx (of Ultravox fame). The Amiga music was converted by Richard Joseph for Bitmap Brothers. The original song was released on the album Electrofear by Nation 12 in 2005.

Awards

  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1993– #2 Best Arcade Action Game in 1992
  • ST Format
    • August 1991 (Issue #8) – #18 Top Atari ST Classic Games (Editorial staff vote)
    • January 1993 (Issue #42) – #48 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

Genesis, SNES added by PCGamer77. Antstream added by firefang9212. Amiga added by Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker. Atari ST added by Martin Smith. PC-98, Acorn 32-bit added by Terok Nor. BlackBerry added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, kametyken, Martin Smith, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST.

Game added November 30, 1999. Last modified March 15, 2024.