God of Rock
Release Date: April 18, 2023
Fighting, 2D, rhythm, music, for 2 players, splitscreen, multiplayer, singleplayer, internet
OpenCritic
A combination of a fighting game and a rhythm game. God of Rock features a roster of resurrected musicians battling for global stardom. The player's actions must stick to rhythm of the game's diverse soundtrack.
God of Rock is an unusual fighting game with rhythm game elements. It was developed by Modus Studios and published by Modus Games.
Plot
The playable characters of God of Rock are music stars resurrected by the titular mysterious God of Rock. Raised from the dead, they must battle in an arena to entertain their "savior" until only one is left.
Mechanics
God of Rock features a roster of unique fighters, each with unique combat styles and movesets.
Just like in old-school fighting games, battles take place on various small arenas. This game, however, requires the player to attack to the rhythm of the music. At the bottom of the screen there's a timeline with passing notes. The player must press the buttons assigned to the notes at the right time. This is how we attack, the damage depending on our timing and positioning (the closer to the center of the arena we are, the stronger the move will be).
Throughout each fight we earn points, which fill up the special move and EX move meter. The former are more powerful than usual attacks, while the latter make the enemy's music track more difficult to follow and inflict other debuffs. Once we've fully charged the meter, we can execute a devastating Super attack.
Game modes
God of Rock features a story mode, in which we let the chosen musician reach stardom, as well as local and online multiplayer. The game also lets us practice in training mode or modify specific tracks in the track editor, adding and removing notes.
Technical aspects
The colorful, cartoonish visuals of God of Rock are not only very appealing, but also clearly and easily understandable, without unnecessary clutter. The soundtrack is made up of 40 diverse music tracks.
Videos and Screens
[2:08] God of Rock launch trailer
[3:20] God of Rock trailer #2
Saving Content: 2 / 5 by Ed Acosta
Despite its struggles, I did love God of Rock’s charm. Its roster is a colorful mix of characters like the comic artist Edith or the carefree spirit Lyn, both of which were the two I completed the game with. I enjoyed some of the unique interactions during the arcade intros and the banter between characters before the matches began. The game’s stage designs were pretty to look at, too, at least during the start and end of rounds. I don’t think God of Rock will hold anyone’s attention, which is sad because I feel like something is here. It’s just that the implementation was not executed well. I struggled to want to play when I’m normally itching to repeat songs in a standard rhythm game. It’s clear Modus Games put a lot of love into God of Rock, so it hurts me that I did not enjoy my time with this game. I hope some changes can come down the pipeline to fix some of these issues, specifically the UI button icons.
Niche Gamer: 5 / 10 by Fingal Belmont
In short single sessions, God of Rock can be enjoyable. The problem is that it expects players to devout a lot of time to complete 10 rounds in the arcade mode. Even when hopped up on a ton of nose candy, that is a tall order for any rock star.
Shacknews: 6 / 10 by Morgan Shaver
With a little more polish, God of Rock may prove itself to be a worthwhile rhythm game title yet. Unfortunately, in its current state, it feels like more of a swing and a miss than a headbanging hit.
God of Rock Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows
PlayStation 5
Xbox Series X/S
Switch
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Developer: Modus Games
Publisher: Modus Games
Age restrictions: 16+
God of Rock System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 4 GB GeForce GTX 970 / 4 GB Radeon RX 570 or better, Windows 7/8/10/11 64-bit