God Mode is not what I expected. Informed by an overzealous narrator, players have been banished from Mount Olympus by Hades and have to blast through one of five mazes to claim their place amongst the gods. Now that your Classics lesson is over, you can forget all of that because developer Old School Games does away with story in favor of bullets. You are going to be shooting all of the things, all the time. The nice thing is that there are three other people who will be joining you on your undead plight
God Mode is essentially a horde mode for 1-4 players. If you try and play solo, you’re going to have a bad time. It is highly suggested that you wrangle a couple friends for co-op play or use the quick match option to make some quick random allies. This third person shooter is a budget title that is quite simple. You select one of the five mazes, which act as arenas for enemies to pour into. It is up to your team to make them regret their decision of stepping into the ring. Each level is beautiful, but basic, and you will spend most of your time backing up and running while you shoot. It kind of makes me think that all the monsters from Serious Sam have made their way into hades after being killed once. Enemies range from zombies and skeletons to larger, more fierce Greek types like Minotaurs and Cyclopes. Even though most of the variety comes from palette swaps, you won’t be able to tell the difference when you are pouring ammo into an endless crowd of monsters.
Sometimes the only answer is to slam that gut
God Mode does some smart things to stretch out the content. Random mutators are activated at the start of each area. These ‘Tests of Faith’ range from beneficial, like invulnerability or infinite ammo, to detrimental, switching on friendly fire to downright weird, like giving the enemies party hats. While not all Tests of Faith affect gameplay, the best ones will force your co-op team to change playstyles. “Bombs” will have exploding barrels rain from the sky, while “Dice” will randomly switch everyone’s weapons. These slight changes help in the replayability of God Mode, and combat the small amount of available levels.
If your team is finding things a bit too easy down in the underworld, you can choose to activate Oaths for a challenge. Oaths are additional modifiers that have adverse effects on the whole team, in exchange for more gold and experience throughout the match. You can do less damage, play without shields, or turn on all eight if you want your team to stop being friends. It is definitely a risk/reward system in play that will require communication and team play in order to succeed with the ludicrous combinations of Oaths and random Tests of Faith. God Mode isn’t all that difficult with a team, at least on the default (Bronze) setting, but you can also crank it up to Silver or Gold to increase the challenge.
The five arenas are small, but beautifully designed
Once your team finishes an area, you are teleported to a new part of the maze which finally wraps up with a rudimentary boss fight. The true finale of the round is in the bonus room where your team gets to run around and collect random gold spawns as your reward. Keep in mind that for this final stage, friendly fire is turned on (if you want to be that guy), however it should be noted there is a common courtesy your team isn’t going to kill each other after 15 minutes of standing back to back, blowing away the hordes of Hades. Maybe this is the final test to find the one true champion?
To give you a reason to keep playing, God Mode has a levelling system and upgradeable equipment. You will level up as you take down baddies, and the gold you earn can be spent on weapons, cosmetic items, and special abilities. I failed to mention the Rage Meter, which fills as you kill and once full, you can pop it to give you a buff for a limited amount of time. The starting buff is a shield that prevents damage, but if you upgrade it in the store it will also give you a bonus to weapon damage when activated. Other abilities can be purchased and upgraded in the same way. You start the game with a simple SMG and shotgun, so I highly suggest investing in some better weapons as soon as possible because they do feel a bit weak to begin with. The character items are purely cosmetic, and although hilarious, the good stuff doesn’t unlock until you attain a higher level. Who doesn’t want to be a demonic clown with thick rimmed glasses sporting a chaingun?
The upgrade system is a long road, and not rewarding enough to keep you interested.
There isn’t much to aspire to in God Mode, and that is the biggest limitation. Once you unlock a weapon, costume, and ability you like - you’re pretty much set. Even the weapons are a little boring. It would have been nice to reach back to the mythology theme of of the game and pull out some interesting weapons of the past or even spells that resemble something out of God of War. Even some female characters would have been nice...Once you have run the gambit of the five arenas, the combat isn’t really enough to keep you coming back for more. However, like any good co-op game, friends make it worth your while.
What God Mode comes down to is that it is a fun weekend co-op romp. The $9.99 price tag is right and if you and a few buddies are feeling the need to ascend through the underworld, pick up a four pack. You’re not going to be playing it for a long time, but that doesn’t matter because the time you do spend with it will be enjoyable. There is plenty of room in hell for fast-paced action shooters, so if you are looking for some mindless entertainment God Mode is an easy recommendation.
This review was based on the PC version of the game that was provided by the publisher.