#15 : War Gods
A very long time ago, there was a spaceship passing close to Earth, carrying ore that had the ability to give life, when the ship crashed on the planet, scattering all of it’s cargo across the planet. Over time, ten humans discover rock pieces of the ore, which then grants them the powerful abilities of god-like creatures. Now, these chosen ten, seek the ultimate power : kill the other nine, take each of their stones, and become the most powerful creature possible. 
Once again we get a fighting game to play in this library, and once again it’s brought to us by Midway. Think about that, this is now there seventh game on the console with their name plastered on it. However, pushing that aside, once you fire up War Gods it’s easy to see that this title pulls it’s inspiration heavily from another Midway fighting game, and I’m pretty sure we all know the one I mean. Everything from the style of fighting, the presence of fatalities,
Not much stands out on it’s own about War Gods, other than the fact that it’s just not all that good. Especially not two decades later. The animations are clunky, the character designs are cool at first but become quite stale. In all essence, this game is just a mod for Mortal Kombat 4 because that’s exactly what it plays like. Aesthetically, this game looks really cool but sadly that’s where the admiration stops. Because once you look under the hood of this hot rod, you’ll soon realize it’s just a clunker. But…I guess if you want to play a MK game without actually playing one, War Gods has your back.
Grade : C-
Price : Loose ($6) CIB ($15) New ($40)
#16 : Hexen
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Doom were set in a medieval-type setting? No? Well…me neither. But that’s pretty much what you get when you start playing Hexen. Taking place after the initial game in the series, this version of Hexen tells the story of three heroes who set out in a new realm called Cronos, in search of a Serpent Rider by the name of Korax. The Serpent Riders are a trio of baddies that were introduced in the first game. Korax’s power comes from his special bond with a Chaos Sphere, which gets used to warp everywhere and corrupt everyone to his side, amassing an army only nightmares could imagine.
While the game features three heroes technically, in reality only one will set out to track down and destroy Korax. You will choose which of the heroes you’d like to be, opting between a Fighter, Cleric, and Mage. The fighter is built for getting in close, toting massive melee weapons and moving the fastest of the three, while the Mage sacrifices speed for the ability to attack from a distance with spells. Lastly, the Cleric serves as a middle ground between the two classes, and is typically the best choice for when you’re initially stepping into and learning the game.
Surprisingly, despite not really enjoying Doom 64, I had a great time with this one. The vastly different characters not only offer something for any style player, but it also ramps up the replayability of the game. Much like Doom you’ll be going through levels looking for portals, eventually finding your way to a hub world. It’s these hub worlds that become key, as travelling between them is when you’ll fight your bosses, but it’s also how you progress to find and eventually (hopefully) eliminate Korax. The hubs will play a key role later in the game as well since there’s an over-arcing puzzle that will eventually need to be solved by connecting everything.
While the gameplay immediately feels very familiar, it just as soon sets itself apart. It plays like Doom but it doesn’t, and that’s a statement that’ll be really hard to fully describe unless you play the game for yourself. Which is something you absolutely should do because it is a ton of fun and well worth the challenge.
Grade : A-
Price : Loose ($10) CIB ($30) New ($40)
Upcoming
In regards to the stream, what’s coming up next is the most expensive game in the N64 library, Clayfighter’s Sculptor’s Cut which I’m excited for since I’d like to see if this thing is really worth all the hype it gets on the market. Our next article, however, we’ll be looking at another side-screen fighting game Dark Rift and an all time classic, Starfox 64. See ya next time when we’ll be doing some barrel rolls!
