"You can wax on wax off all you want, but I'm still kicking your ass!"

What can I say, there's a lot to love about this game. It is abrasive and completely by itself, from mechanics to aesthetics. Many will look at God Hand and then try comparing it to the likes of Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising etc. But while a lot of action games that are brought up share similar DNA with each other, in one way or another, God Hand is alone- it makes no attempt at appealing to these expectations. God Hand isn't merely asking you to play it, it asks you "Are you cool enough to see some of the sickest shit you've seen in your life?"

God Hand asks you this with the confidence to make just about anyone blush, because, in premature brilliance, knows it really isn't for everyone. Famously, God Hand had a pretty poor reception when it was released in 2006. A dismissive 3 out 10 review from IGN is frequently referenced in conversations surrounding it. God Hand had a weird and kind of not great reputation, which I think in effect, drew more people in. The nature of God Hand isn’t that it’s cool, it’s just itself; it doesn't have a too cool for school attitude, it has a boneheaded and genuinely dangerous one. God Hand has high self-esteem, and in some ways, maybe it’s misplaced. Does this stop God Hand? Well, seeing the reputation it has now, I’d say it just encourages the growing cult following it has more.

God Hand is the wildest party you’ve ever been to; people in bondage gear run amok, poisonous chihuahuas abound, arms are cut off, demons lurk behind every corner, oh and a large, hairy, cigar-smoking, balding, prayer bead wearing dude named Elvis is there.

Gene, our protagonist, sucks. For as much as Dante of Devil May Cry fame promotes himself as a disinterested and flippant devil hunter, he’s generally speaking a moral person, the only selfish motivator he possesses is money. On the other, we have Gene; he’s foul, mean spirited, usually going beyond mouthing off at his enemies to outright embarrass them. The only reason he’s the main character is because, after attempting to take down a duo of relatively weak demons, had an all-powerful arm, the God Hand, fused to his body. Since this incident, the girl who gave him the arm, Olivia, basically forces him to go and hunt demons, which makes you wonder if Gene would ever have utilized this power for real change if it wasn’t for her- not that he has much choice considering demons hunt him for the arm.

From there, God Hand has a very comedic approach, avoiding having much, if any story. Obviously, you can extrapolate the Fist of The North Star inspiration, a rugged fighter wandering the wastelands of a weird and wild west, delivering his enemies justice via his fists. Bringing this justice about is as traditional as everything else in God Hand that I’ve mentioned- so it isn’t in the slightest. Instead of giving the player a wide scope of the battlefield to know where every enemy is situated, at all times, the middle of the screen is selfishly hogged by Gene’s back- it’s like he’s telling you to go fuck yourself and it’s amazing. The only times in which you have a better view is when Gene uses his stylish Roulette attacks, a, as you can surmise, roulette wheel of the most powerful moves you acquire as the game progresses. Though, they’re limited as each move has a different set amount of orbs to use, luckily you can increase your orb count but just barely as to always encourage playing to in a preserved manner. This extends to utilizing Gene’s God Hand, a meter that when unleashed, makes you invincible and increases the speed of combos. Each level contains a random enemy, a demon stronger than the rest, hidden among standard enemies. As annoying as a mechanic like that may sound, it keeps the player always on their toes, fearing and preserving as to not get sent back to the start of a level. If you’re lucky, you encounter the demon early on when stamina is high to get it over with, alleviating dread.

In essence, God Hand is telling you, “You gotta know when to hold ‘em. Know when to fold ‘em.” However, like a long game of poker, God Hand seems to get tired with itself by the final chunk.

The levels prior weren’t necessarily oozing with creativity, but they had a clear sense of direction. Puzzles, challenges to save innocent civilians, the right amount of enemies and where to place them. Later on, as a way to artificially increase the difficulty, it begins to throw waves and waves of enemies at you. In any other game, it’d be annoying but not enough to detract from your enjoyment too much, but in God Hand, with a camera as obscured as it is, it gets increasingly difficult to visually understand what is happening and forced my hand to cheese a lot of fights- the opposite of stringing together the beautiful and plentiful combos I have delicately customized. Pair this with the levels eventually becoming straight shots to the exit, it really comes across as though they lost steam. Bits and pieces of the final stages could be cut and nothing of value would be lost. Boss fights, maybe as their way of telling you that you’re nearing the end, just become big dumb monsters that aren’t fun to style on- just sponges to receive punches and read attacks, a far cry from beating up a man in a gorilla costume or a group of shitty Power Rangers.

God Hand isn’t the masterpiece people told me it is, nor is it a relic better forgotten by time, it is much more than that and I find it reductive to frame it so black and white; God Hand is God Hand.