Punching is cool, but what if punching was caused by musical notes instead? Developer Modus Studios liked the idea, resulting in God of Rock, a fighting game in which rival musicians pit themselves against each other. .
Mechanically, God of Rock is solid. Although a fighting game, the core of the experience relies on the rock band’s note charts, or in its most obvious persona his rhythm game. Instead of traditional punches and kicks, you have to hit chart notes to the beat of the song. The longer the song lasts, the more complex the note chart. If you’re not quick, the charts can be completely psychic. Impossible.
Curiously, traditional special moves and breakers make an appearance in the game. Your moveset will be very different depending on which of the vibrant and unique characters you choose. Sadly, given how much attention has to be paid to note charts, it’s hard to really understand each of his 12 character designs inspired by famous musicians like Bowie and Elvis. .
This is also thanks to the special moves mentioned earlier. It’s hard to track at first, but once you’re able to multitask, you’ll notice that many movements have a lot of mechanical variation. Some special moves heal, some require a charge-up, and some drop an extra note that can’t be deleted onto your opponent’s chart. They add a very interesting element of strategy to the experience that invokes what you’d expect from top-level play like Street Fighter or Mortal His Kombat.
Even with the higher difficulty, the AI quickly discovers it can’t handle it, but the online component is where the specials really shine. The strategy of choosing when to launch an attack is of paramount importance. If you get too cocky, you tend to lose the rhythm of the song. As long as the game can cultivate and maintain a player base, there should be good reasons to come back to God of Rock again and again.