Genre-blending in gaming can either massively pay off or turn out to be a heavy-handed experience favoring one genre over the other and leaving out the fun. You’ll see many FPS games add RTS gameplay like Sanctum. However, other ideas, like the shoehorned RTS in Brutal Legend end up diluting the enjoyment. In God of Rock, rhythm charts meet fighting combos and health bars akin to Guitar Hero‘s Battle Mode. Can these two genres coexist and be synergistic?

God of Rock‘s main focus is hitting buttons to the beat of the song as closely as possible. Ratings range from “Flawless” to straight-up misses, with the player who hit it more accurately getting the edge. Seasoned rhythm gamers will all do the same thing when first booting up a game in this genre: calibrate the screen to avoid delays. God of Rock does have calibration but does not include separate audio/video sync tests to ensure perfect timing in both facets. This would be a cardinal sin if I didn’t get lucky and have a 0ms delay with my TV screen.

The fighting game mechanics within God of Rock come about in executing combos when you have enough of your special bar saved up. These require button inputs separate from the rhythm inputs on-screen. As such, you have to multitask if you want to pull off a move and make the game harder for your opponent at times when a bunch of notes are coming up.

In addition, you’ll have to research, practice, and memorize your fighter’s unique moves to get by on harder difficulties. I like that the game shows you your inputs when you press them to ensure you’re hitting them correctly. However, a move list in the pause screen would make this part of the game much more convenient.

As a solo gamer, I spent time with God of Rock in its Arcade Mode. The comic-book intro was neat and well-presented, and the voice acting is superb from a lot of names I’ve never seen before. In addition, the stages are captivating and a treat to the eyes for anyone that isn’t focused on the notes the whole time. The fighting on-screen is also going to go by the wayside as you’ll be laser-focused on your note-hitting, but that’s fine as the fights play out depending on who has better timing, and the animations are delayed to compensate for the outcome.

God of Rock isn’t going to take the rhythm/fighting game scenes by storm, but it is a competent meshing of the genres that can serve some hours of fun for those keen. It’s got a learning curve for those that want to master it, but the point of entry is a breeze for weathered rhythm gamers and its fighting mechanics aren’t too prevalent to become overbearing until the Hard/Very Hard songs throw you for a loop. At $29.99 and offering about 8-9 hours of Arcade Mode, this would be best purchased on sale when it inevitably gets there.

A PlayStation 4 review copy of God of Rock was provided by Modus Games for this review.

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God of Rock

29.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Fantastic Character Models
• Gorgeous Stages
• Mesmerizing Song Variety

Cons

• Very Hard to Multitask
• Janky Animations
• Low Replayability