Review: Oh My Godheads

Title: Oh My Godheads
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4 (reviewed)
Developer: Titutitech
Publisher: Square Enix Collective
Release date: December 5, 2017
Price: PC: Â£11/$15 | XB1/PS4: Â£12/$15Â
TL;DR: A silly, fun, hectic local co-op multiplayer.
Family Friendly?: Click here for more information.

Oh My Godheads is like all the good multiplayer games, minus the verbal abuse, the pre-made opposing teams, and loot crates. It’s aÂ hectic multiplayer that pretty much anyone can pick up, whether you decide to play the objectives or just ignore them and do your best to whack the crap out of your opponents. Also, there are exploding pies (!) which can also be used to your advantage.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that there is a whole bunch of stuff to choose from before you even start. You can choose the game mode, which character to play as, the map you want to play on, and which “Godhead,” you want to use.

The character you choose has no bearing on the gameplay, so you’re free to pick whichever one you like the look of, and play on your own or locally, with up to four others. If there are empty slots remaining, you have the option fill these up with A.I. units – and they are surprisingly fun toÂ use, whether they are going for objectives or just doing their best to bump you off.

Each of the ten Godheads has a unique trait which can give the exact same game mode a whole new feel. Bastet will disorient you while carrying her, while Kali, the Goddess of Time and Creation (my personal favourite) will speed up and slow down time randomly, making you run so fast that you scoot straight off the edge or go soooo slowly, it’s painful.

The map choices will also have a bearing on the gameplay, as a lot of them have platforms with gaps that you can fall off if you’re not careful. While this may not seem like a big deal, the choice of Godhead in combination with certain maps can be lethal; using Kali (the head that shifts the speed of time) on the Greece map is sure to cause a lot of inglorious deaths.

The game modes are self-explanatory and you’ll notice share some similarities with popular modes from other multiplayer games. They are as follows:

Capture the Head

Capture the Head is like Capture the Flag, but the flag is the head of an ancient god that’s alive, angry, and out to get you! Capture these living heads and bring them back to your team’s plinth without summoning their wrath.

King of the Head

Keep hold of the head for as long as you can. Hold it long enough and you’ll earn a point! Drop it and the time gauge will sadly decrease.

Head Hunters

The heads take a little vacation, so it’s just you against your enemies. Kill or be killed! Get the specified number of kills to win.

Last Man Standing

The heads take a little vacation, so it’s just you against your enemies. Kill or be killed! Be the last survivor to win a round.

Trials

Polish your skills through an assortment of challenges designed to help you become king of the couch!

The controls are fairly straightforward, although I did look at the configuration in the options to figure out how to dash or use items. They don’t feel amazingly precise but they don’t really need to be. Half the fun is running in circles around other players whilst trying to hit them or running off the edge of the platform because you were looking at another player, thinking it was you.

If you do happen to die – which you will, frequently – whether it’s to your opponent’s sword, an exploding pie or just running off the edge (not that I did that *ahem*) you will respawn almost instantly on your starting point, where you can run straight back into the mayhem. Don’t worry though, it won’t go unnoticed; you get a report at the end of a game, assigning a “star player,” and giving you a rundown of different stats, such as accuracy, kills and falling off edges.

There are lots of little things that add to the overall fun of the game. The music sounds like something out of your favourite adventure movie, while the seconds of “Kill Time,” a free-for-all chaos after a team has fulfilled an objective and you’re waiting for the Head to reset is hilarious – I was caught unawares a few times with this; when basking in the glory of getting the objective done for my team, I was brutally slaughtered by the A.I..

Bizarrely, for what is otherwise a very family friendly game, blood effects are enabled by default, though there are easy enough to turn off in the options.

Overall, I found Oh My Godheads to be surprisingly fun. It’s definitely aimed at families with older kids/pre-teens, though I think parents will find there’s quite a bit of fun to be had from this game.