Gods [SNES]

"Gods is a classic side-on 2D platformer with lots of shooting, puzzle solving and exploration for 1 player. Take the part of the hero, Hercules, in his quest to become an immortal over 4 multi-part levels. There are lots of different weapons and power-ups to obtain on the way and you can also tailor the way in which your weapons fire. This was an Amiga release and was ported to, among others, the SNES and Megadrive/Genesis.

Graphics This game has a similar feel to another Bitmap Bros. classic - Chaos Engine. This is a bit different though as there is not a Victorian theme to the levels as that title does - indeed it's hard to hook a particular style to the levels. They are all structured around the interior of buildings for the most part with the occasional sojourn on the rooftops.

Each main level (there are four) has its own look and theme (temple etc.) and some enemies are unique to each level too. The enemies are plentiful, varied and have a great look. They are all well animated and some have a "flaming soul" death animation when shot. The character you control is well animated and moves quickly around the levels - the "look" of your shots reflects the current weapon you have (spinning daggers, shurikens, fireballs etc.) The bosses are big and quite detailed, if a little lacking in animation sometimes - still they are very effective.

Overall, the graphics are quite detailed - there are lots of nice little touches such as treasure chests which hold all sorts of interesting looking valuables. Despite this detail, everything is very clear - no mean feat against the sometimes quite fussy tiled backgrounds.

There is a neat status bar at the bottom of the screen, showing your health (represented by a glass of sparkling fluid of some description - when the glass empties - you lose a life), the items you are carrying, score, and total value of gems collected. The SNES version is very fast - a bit faster than the Megadrive version I feel (at least in PAL land) - there is very occasional slowdown - but it only happens for a fraction of a second and isn't a issue as its rare and doesn't effect gameplay.

Gameplay
As mentioned earlier your enemies are plentiful and varied - some fly, but most walk and jump quite intelligently around the platforms and fire quite accurately at you too. Some are thieves and will make off with a valuable powerup token if you aren't quick enough. The attack patterns can be quite cheap sometimes and they need to be memorised which can be quite frustrating - even when being cautious there are times when you are faced suddenly with enemies warping in from both sides and its hard not to take damage.

The levels feature lots of levers , doors requiring keys and trap doors. You can carry up to 3 objects at the same time (mostly keys) but some levels have mini-missions. For example in one level you are required to carry a pot to the Store, in another , you collect pieces of a mosiac. The puzzles are in the main quite simple, but there are vast numbers of secret areas that are not necessary to find to finish the game but offer many valuables, and in some cases, super-weapons which will help despatch bosses more quickly.

There are loads of hidden features such as time bonuses for example - get to a certain point of a level quickly enough and you receive bonus points - these bonuses are explained in a message area at the bottom of the screen when rewarded - this, along with the secret areas, gives the game some replay value.

In Gods, the difficulty seems to track your power-up level. So as you get better at the game, the difficulty will crank up to meet your challenge - this at times is hard to believe as the game starts of tough enough from the off! Every so often you have the opportunity to visit a shop to spend your collected gems. Here you may buy new weapons (hint: level up ASAP!!), health, lives and even tokens that effect the arc your shots take - you can choose narrow powerful firing or wider, weaker firing - quite interesting. There are some great weapons - my favourite is the bouncing axe. You can have up to 3 different weapons at once, each with up to 3 levels. A fully powered-up Hercules is quite formidable looking but the enemies are well up to this level of fire-power.

Gods is a password-based game - you get one at the end of each main level. The password doesn't store your status - but you start with lots of cash to power up with in the shop before playing.

Sound
Spot effects are excellent. The sounds of doors and treasure chests opening, trap doors squeaking and the howls of dying flying enemies add great atmosphere - and its all accompanied by an enjoyable soundtrack. The sound on the SNES seems louder and crisper than the that on the Megadrive.

Overall
In my opinion, this is a criminally overlooked game - it has bags of character, gameplay and challenge. I found this one of the most satisfying games to complete. It has plenty of replay value - although you won't revisit for a while after initally finishing it which is good - because there is so much to remember that you will return to it and be shocked at how hard it is all over again! Levels can be completed in different ways, with lots of secret rooms to find and neat short-cuts - its one of those games that throws up genuine surprises at you no matter how many times you've played it. Its only fault is the memory-challenge nature of some sections - especially with enemy attack formations. Despite that, this game comes highly recommended - a real old-fashioned challenge which gets the adrenelin pumping.

"Gods is without a doubt The Bitmap Brothers finest hour" - www.bitmap-bros.co.uk"