God of Rock is an interesting concept blending rhythm and fighting game elements, with some elements being executed better than others. On the rhythm side, the large soundtrack, complex note patterns, and vibrant visuals offer a good experience for those who excel at multitasking. On the fighting side, the combo system may feel familiar but less satisfying because of so much attention needing to be had on the note chart rather than the visually striking character dishing out damage. I am excited for the future of God of Rock, because once this ends up in the hands of creative community members, I'm sure that the competitive experience will be wild.
Experimental titles deserve the attention of players because of how they push boundaries and expectations involving how gameplay should be experienced versus how gameplay _can_ be experienced. In the rhythm game space, this can mean integrating gameplay mechanics, like combination inputs, from other genres into the traditional gameplay loop. God of Rock is one such experimental title being as it mashes up two gameplay genres into a unique package.
I would consider God of Rock to be a blend of 70% rhythm game and 30% fighting game. This means that my assessment of this title involves how well it aligns with and executes what would be a fun fighting game as well as a fun rhythm title. Fighting titles are often known for their tight timing, variety of combos, satisfying execution, and variety of playstyles. Rhythm titles are often known for their soundtracks, variety of inputs, and complexity of inputs. God of Rock attempts to do all of the above by walking down the middle road. On paper, it is an interesting idea, but its execution may leave some players overwhelmed at first.
God of Rock‘s gameplay loop involves hitting notes that correspond with the PS5 Dualsense in time with a song’s beat/melody. For those familiar with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, or even Rhythm Sprout, this should be easy to pick up at first glance. There’s long presses, single-input presses, and multi-input presses. Your character punches and kicks to the beat, too. Once you’ve input enough notes correctly, you can execute special combos/abilities that let your character dish out damage to your opponent, whittling down their health bar. This rinses and repeats until one player is defeated. What sets God of Rock apart from other rhythm titles is that songs play endlessly until the battle ends. The longer songs go, the more difficult key notes fly down your note chart, meaning both you and your opponent are more likely to make mistakes and subject to additional damage.
In its current state, I can easily imagine several kinds of players finding the controls and gameplay loop of God of Rock to be jarring. Rhythm players, on one hand, could find the combo system to be counterintuitive and an interruption to what would usually be seeking a high score and near-perfect input chain set to the rhythm of a song. Rhythm titles require precision, mindfulness, and creativity within bounds, so finding space to attempt to slam a combo while keynote inputs are flying down the chart becomes information overload. Fighting players, on another hand, could find the act of juggling timed inputs while keeping an eye on several different combo meters to be overwhelming. If you find yourself in one of those camps, my only recommendation would be to stick with it. Yes, the learning curve is steep. Once you figure out the whens and hows to time the combo inputs alongside the song inputs, God of Rock inches closer to an addicting gameplay loop.
Once I got the hang of God of Rock‘s combo system, I felt like I was playing a Guitar Hero meets Street Fighter mashup, and I liked it. The nuances of God of Rock exist in the player finding the best moment to use a combo/ultimate to ensure that successfully hitting next chain of notes will whittle away at the enemy’s health bar. As the never-ending song goes on during a battle, the note patterns become increasingly complex, so every match turns into tests of dexterity, timing, and patience. My only real complaint about the combo system is that it lacks the satisfaction and “oomph” often found in fighting game chartacters’ ultimate abilities. Think of Mortal Kombat‘s Fatal Blows/X-Ray moves and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom‘s Hyper Combos for a moment. If you successfully pull off one of these abilities during the match, you’re gifted reprieve in the form of a small cinematic sequence where your character demonstrates a moment of massive power. In God of Rock, these ultimate abilities exist, but they’re overshadowed by the player’s attention needing to be laser-focused on hitting the upcoming notes flying down the chart. Having a small moment where the notes disappeared from your side of the screen would be more rewarding.
Each of God of Rock‘s characters are zany and feel unique, leaning heavily into musical and artsy archetypes. I loved their designs, especially Edith’s similarities with Betty Boop. In Arcade mode, I found that the characters’ backstories were brief, told through comic portraits and brief banter at the start of a battle. Their stories all align with the narrative arcs Twisted Metal fans migth be familiar with: By joining a rock competition, their wildest dreams come true and their troubles melt away (or so it seems). I appreciate the amount of character building that exists already, but I wish there was something just a bit more, be it a longer ending cutscene or a way of modifying the characters’ costumes/powers. They work well in the thematic sense, and I would love to see this wacky universe expanded.
Outside of Arcade mode, God of Rock features a track editor, letting players create their own note charts. Again, this sounds good on paper, but I wish there was a way for me to access other players’ note charts on the PS5. Part of building a community of user-generated content involves letting new members find and access that content. I hope that a future update gives PS5 players the ability to see what PC players have come up with, and vice versa.
God of Rock also features a multiplayer mode. During my review period, I tried to search for other players to play against, but I was unsuccessful in finding an opponent and playing online. I am aware that there is a free content update in the works for God of Rock, and I sincerely hope that when that update is released, this title catches on among other PS5 owners so that a community can be formed and multiplayer battles can take place in a larger scale.
To Modus’ credit, God of Rock comes with a wide variety of original tracks — 48 in total. I don’t consider many of these songs to be particularly catchy, but they’re creative and span multiple genres. During my playthrough of the Arcade mode, I found that songs would occasionally repeat between battles. This is unfortunate, given that there’s such an expansive soundtrack. I would have hoped that a song would only show up once per Arcade run just so I could experience the variety that God of Rock has to offer. As a result, I initially thought that the soundtrack sounded too similar in nature, but it was just because the same song played in two different battles.
I struggle to recommend God of Rock to hardcore fighting game fans given that it lacks the satisfaction coming from exacting difficult combos and forces players’ attention toward the notes over all else. Being that it’s quite the experimental rhythm title, I find it worthy of your attention if you happen to be hanking for a rhythm game for the PS5 that integrates variable inputs and emphasizes a unique gameplay loop that ends up feeling satisfying once you get past the initially steep learning curve.
God of Rock is an interesting concept blending rhythm and fighting game elements, with some elements being executed better than others. On the rhythm side, the large soundtrack, complex note patterns, and vibrant visuals offer a good experience for those who excel at multitasking. On the fighting side, the combo system may feel familiar but less satisfying because of so much attention needing to be had on the note chart rather than the visually striking character dishing out damage. I am excited for the future of God of Rock, because once this ends up in the hands of creative community members, I’m sure that the competitive experience will be wild.
