Finally a new idea and that actually caught our attention in the world of music-themed video games and, in this case, also within fighting games. God of Rock is a videogame attempt which, in the concept, seemed very interesting to us right from the start and able to offer a particular “variant” of the classic 1-on-1 fight with punches, kicks and deadly combos. The title created by Modus Studios Brazil, in fact, starts from a very valid idea: the god of rock has assembled the greatest musicians of the universe in a challenge for musical supremacy. Our role will be to impersonate one of these particular and super powerful artists, in the story mode or in single matches to the death. Fighting will consist in playing the notes in time to the music in the best possible way, in order to unleash very powerful attacks against the opponents, take advantage of special moves. and dodge the blows of enemies by taking advantage of the right timing.
So, for all intents and purposes, music meets fighting game in an undoubtedly unexpected mix with high potential. But, in our review of God of Rock, we will explain why it is a half-successful attempt and this potential that has not been best expressed, starting from the gameplay to the design of the characters. So, without further ado, let’s begin our critical observation of God of Rock, which we had the opportunity to experience on PS5.
Battles to the death… slow and boring
As we anticipated above, the core of the gameplay literally consists of challenge each other on the notes of the numerous God of Rock songs playing with the right timing as many notes as possible. Each mistake will lead to a blow from the fierce opponent and, at that point, making mistakes in a row will become even easier than you can imagine! But… is the game really fun? The reality behind this title is that we encountered a not indifferent sense of boredom. All of this of course after extensively testing all the characters, performing the various songs, and also after testing the online mode against other players. “Actual entertainment” is not there, the real thrill of the confrontation is missing.
Although these are visible in the background and are also quite inviting, shift your gaze even a single second from the key bar will be a difficult task, as well as detrimental to the performance. In fact, our aim will be not to miss even a single note, and this will be difficult if you are distracted even for a few moments to watch the fight. Particularly because, we must say, difficulty is a truly predominant element in God of Rock.
It is undoubtedly true that whoever is writing this review does not stand out for reflexes and is not too familiar with rhythm games – an element that could be an advantage if you intend to play God of Rock – but it is also true that normal mode is already pretty challenging. A level of challenge, therefore, that prevents you from distracting yourself and taking your eyes off the actual core of the gameplay, which is located in the lower left and is not even that big on the screen.
Rock Stars
You will have the choice between 12 characters to play with, each characterized by different harmonic attacks. A kind of “Fatality” musical that it will be difficult to exploit before having achieved a minimum of comfort with the matches and the speed of the fights in progress. To add some more spice to the thing, progressing the challenge will entail increasing difficulty of the piece which, little by little, will become more and more complex to perform. Let’s face it, a real torture for those who are taking their first steps, unless you are already good enough with musical titles.
As mentioned, after trying a few matches individually, you can decide between other modes at your disposal. The classic, that is, the story mode, in which you can follow your favorite character facing the other musicians to then get to victory, or the mode training to try to better master God of Rock. In addition, the development team has decided to also propose a particular addition: the function song editor. The latter allows you to give “a personal touch” to the songs you prefer, adding or removing notes, according to your personal taste.
God of Rock had really given us the impression of being able to bring something new and interesting to the gaming world, albeit with the necessary technical limitations. Too bad about the final result. which not only falls into a fairly difficult gameplay, which little meets the less experienced, but which is also unsatisfying and not able to drag the player along for hours, whether they are with or against the CPU. By the end of the experience, we found ourselves looking at classics such as with greater fondness and contentment Tekken or Street Fighter which, although in the last iterations have proved to be a bit repetitive (which seems to change a bit with street fighter 6), have nevertheless maintained a more than valid appeal. Honorable mention, however, must be made at illustrations made and shown throughout God of Rock, in the video presentations of the characters and even at the end of the match. The cartoon style with extremely pop colorstook us back and made us think of a mix between the quirky style of Borderlands and a true musical classic like Guitar Hero!
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