Fight of Gods

While I wouldn't call Eternal Champions an important fighting game for the ages, part of me has always loved that you could choose a snake or chicken to fight a vampire, caveman, pirate and even a money-grubbing politician. I'm a big fan of weird and comically over-the-top matchups in my fighting games, which is one of the reasons why the new Switch game Fight of Gods caught my attention. It's a one-on-one brawler where you pit some of religion's most revered deities against each other in a no holds barred battle royale, and it's every bit as goofy as you would imagine.

Look, I'm going to level with you, Fight of Gods probably won't be for everybody. If you're deeply religious and find the idea of Jesus punching Buddha to be wildly offensive, then I can appreciate where you're coming from and won't blame you for tapping out. Personally, I'm not religious, so I take all of this in good fun. As far as I'm concerned, this is a silly novelty fighter starring a bunch of larger than life figures, all of which have the kinds of superpowers that would make this kind of game exciting.

It's not just Jesus punching Buddha, but also Zeus throwing thunder bolts, Anubis clawing his way to the top, Odin and his giant sword, Moses laying down some commandments, Freyja coming from the Norse and Athena, who looks like she just stepped out of the last SoulCalibur game. And if you're still confused about the tone of the game, the one and only Santa Claus shows up to deliver toys and take selfies with Sif, Mazu and the rest of the star-studded cast.

As a fighting game, Fight of Gods is pretty standard stuff. We get light, medium and hard attacks, along with a throw button and the usual assortment of fireballs, uppercuts and spinning attacks. This is a 2D fighting game that doesn't stray too far from the formula laid down in Street Fighter II and other games of that era, complete with the typical quarter circle moves and the usual combos. And I don't say that as a negative, because I liked that I could jump in without needing to relearn a bunch of mechanics. This is a silly novelty fighting game where religious figures duke it out, there's no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be.

To the game's credit, the developers have done a good job of making each fighter feel unique and powerful in a different way. There's a nice variety here, including fighters that use weapons, some that use their fists and a bunch that use magic to win the match. I also like that each character has a powerful special move they can charge up, as well as a D.P.S. gauge that will enhance your fighter for a brief time. And I had no problem finding a few characters I genuinely enjoyed playing with. The curse of the novelty fighting game is that once the novelty wears off, it still needs to be a fun fighting game. I think Fight of Gods fairs better than most in that department.

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Unfortunately, there is quite a bit to criticize. While I loved tearing it up with Anubis and Moses, I found a lot of the characters to feel a bit stiff. I hate to say it, but there were times when it reminded me a lot of the second- and third-tier fighters that came out of the mid-1990s. There isn't a lot of fluidity to the battles, often resulting in fights that come across as a bit wooden. Part of the problem is that there aren't enough moves to fill up the down times, and the ones that there aren't nearly as spectacular as you would hope for. There were a lot of times when I hoped this game would go bigger and more over-the-top, but it often felt like the developers were constrained by money.

Sadly, that low-budget feel permeates through the entire game. There's almost no single-player content to be found here, unless you count the barebones arcade mode. You also won't find a story, so don't expect to discover why Santa is suddenly pummeling Zeus. I mean, there is a story, in the loosest sense of the word. We get a single screen description of the flimsy setup and then an ending that lasts no more than 20 seconds. And it's the same ending no matter who you beat the game with. There are also misspellings.

Of course, there were signs that maybe the ending would be terrible long before the credits rolled. After fighting through the entire roster of characters, you go up against a final boss that is simply known as "Boss." That's it, just Boss. He's not given a name, a character or a personality, almost as if he's just a stand-in until the real boss shows up. This is a game starring most of the biggest names in religions that date back thousands of years, so it's more than a little disappointing to see that there isn't a story and cool boss that brings this all together. It feels like they came up with a cool idea first, but ended up running out of money before fully capitalizing on the killer premise.

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On a more positive note, I like a lot of the character designs here and some of the backgrounds. Like the rest of the game, the locations are a little hit or miss, but there are a few that I always look forward to fighting in. I especially liked the Garden of Eden, the Mysterious North and the Red Sea, which has been conveniently parted for this occasion. There's so much about the characters, design and locations that I like, that it's disappointing that it often feels a bit cheap.

When the game is about Jesus fighting Santa Claus, I think it's safe to say that you know what you're getting. Fight of Gods is appropriately goofy, all while being a surprisingly solid fighting game with a cool cast of characters. Unfortunately, the fighters don't have nearly enough moves, the presentation sometimes feels cheap, the gameplay is stiff, there's no online play and the ending is laughably bad. On the other hand, the cheap asking price helps mitigate some of those problems. If you like fighting games and think the concept is funny, then I doubt you'll be disappointed with Fight of Gods.