God Hand

is an action beat 'em up video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. God Hand was directed by Resident Evil designer Shinji Mikami. It was released in 2006 in Japan and North America and in 2007 in PAL territories. On October 4, 2011 the game was rereleased for the PlayStation 3 as a downloadable title on the PlayStation Network.

Plot
Long ago, a fallen angel became the Demon King Angra and tried to destroy the world of humans using an army of demons and spectres. A man holding the power of God within his arms defeated Angra, sending him into exile once again. The man was then given the title of "God Hand" by the people he saved. A clan of humans was established to protect the God Hands that said that anyone who possesses them will be "capable of becoming either god or demon."

The game's protagonist is Gene, a 23-year old fighter who has one of the God Hands, that sought after by a group of demons. Although he often appears outspoken and macho, he has a keen sense of justice and is accompanied by 19-year old Olivia, a descendant of a clan who protects one of the God Hand and fled. With most of her family killed by the demons, Olivia meets and joins Gene on his journey.

Gameplay
God Hand is a 3D action game in which the player moves in all directions, attacking with the face buttons and using special moves. The player must manually turn around using a button, and all actions outside of basic attacks are performed via a context sensitive button. Using this button allows the player, as Gene, to jump up ladders, pick up items, and use special attacks that can only be used when the enemy is in a dazed or in a tired state. Four dodge moves are mapped to the directions on the right analog stick.

The player can manually assign any attack (punch, kick, etc.) they wish to Triangle, Square, and X buttons. Square allows the player to chain multiple attacks at once. There are over one hundred moves in the game for the player to choose from basic jabs and punches to drunken-style and capoeira martial arts.

More powerful abilities in God Hand can be utilized in the player's "God Reel" (or "Roulette"), a roulette wheel that contains moves that the player chooses. These moves are limited to a number of "Roulette Orbs" that the player can increase by collecting "Skull Cards" found throughout each stage.

Another gameplay mechanic in the player's arsenal is the God Hand itself. As the player strikes and defeats enemies, his "Tension Gauge" goes up. The player can also evade attacks, taunt, use tension boosting attacks, or find cards within a stage to increase this bar. When it reaches a set amount, the player can remove the bracelet from Gene's arm to temporarily unleash the God Hand. In this state he is completely invincible and all of his attacks increase in both power and speed. By using various stat boosting items, the player can increase the size of his Tension Gauge to hold more power.

While in combat, the player can monitor a "Difficulty Level" bar that dynamically adjusts to how much damage the player is dealing or receiving. If the player gets caught up in a flurry of punches and combos, the level will drop. If the player deals a large number of unanswered attacks to their enemies, then the level will increase.

The bar consists of numerical levels one through three with a fourth level designated "Die" being the highest overall. During levels one and two, the enemies will not attack the player unless they are in his line of sight or he is attacking them. On levels three and Die, the enemies will attack regardless of the camera position. Also, enemy attack strength increases as the levels increase; at level Die a fully maxed out player character can be killed in a few hits. Defeating enemies at higher Difficulty Levels earns the player more bonus points at the end of a stage.

Development
God Hand was first announced in April 2006 along with the use of a small teaser page on the Clover Studio website. The game was developed by the team responsible for Resident Evil 4. Development was supervised by Shinji Mikami, best known for the Resident Evil series of games, and was produced by Atsushi Inaba. The original idea for God Hand came about during a conversation between the two about the current state of action games; they found that many games in the genre at the time focused on the use of weapons and had gotten away from hand to hand combat.

Unlike with their previous games Viewtiful Joe and Ōkami, the design team had no particular goal when designing the graphical style of God Hand other than that they wanted it to look more realistic.

There are a few differences between the North American and Japanese versions of the game. Among minor alterations, such a few signs being changed, the "Chihuahua Curry" power-up was renamed to "Puppy Pizza" in the English localization. A free Roulette called "Pan Drop", which gives the user short-lived invincibility in return for taking some damage, was removed from the American version. However, another technique called "Head Slicer," which allows the player to bloodlessly decapitate an enemy, was featured in the North American localization but not the Japanese version, most likely due to CERO censorship policies in Japan.

Trivia

 * The developers of God Hand, Clover Studios, had a few well known members eventually create SEEDS, Inc. (which later became Platinum Games) after it was shut down.
 * This was the final game Clover Studios ever made.
 * As the name states the game is a biblical reference. The Right Hand of God is Good while the Left Hand is portrayed as the Devil's Hand. In the game the good character posses the Right Hand while the evil one possesses the Left.

Main Article
For more information please see the God Hand Wiki for this page: God Hand