The right analog stick is used for evasion techniques, which, while helpful, seem less important than the ability to freely look around while moving.

This makes for a rather cumbersome experience, as you will often have to come to a complete stop to look around, which isn't terribly helpful when you are surrounded by enemies. God Hand uses a scheme resembling that of the early Resident Evil titles, in which the left analog stick controls both movement and the camera. We have seen a heap of PlayStation 2 games suffer on the PSP, but this is the rare occasion in which a PS2 game feels like it was designed for an inferior system. Is it that the genre just doesn't translate well to a 3D control scheme, or do we just expect more from our games in 2006? In this case, it's both God Hand plays like a game designed for a controller with a single analog stick (i.e., the PlayStation Portable).

The Bouncer and Urban Reign both made this attempt in recent years with middling results, and God Hand is no different. God Hand paints itself as a revival of the beat-'em-up genre best represented by Final Fight and Streets of Rage 15 years ago. Though it succeeds as a humorous diversion, the messy presentation and poor game design create an experience you will remember for some time – but for all the wrong reasons.

God Hand is the complete antithesis of Okami while Okami was modern, well-crafted, and visually stunning, God Hand feels stuck in the past and is sloppily executed in almost every way. Just two days before the announcement of dissolution, God Hand was released in America, marking what will likely be the last release from the studio. See, Okami was not Clover Studio's final game.

Though I regret the passing of the studio that crafted such a fantastic epic, at least I can take solace in the fact that its final game will be revered for ages, remembered as one of the best titles of the generation. Despite the half-dozen Viewtiful Joe titles it cranked out over the last couple of years, Clover Studio was best known for a single title: Okami, which hit stores just six weeks ago in the States. When it was recently announced that Clover Studio would be shut down next March, the internet gaming community lamented the loss of one of its favorite independent developers.

God hand gameplay