God Hand
Plenty of stellar games are also funny. They might feature an occasional fourth-wall break, a meme reference, a character moment full of levity, or just some good old clever writing. No two games are the same in their execution, but God Hand stands above them all by being an ode to over-the-top (and sometimes offensive) insanity.
God Hand is Clover Studios’ last great beat ’em up, a genre that used to be everywhere. It has since been mostly replaced by spectacle fighters like Bayonetta, but then again Bayonetta is made by PlatinumGames, which came from the remnants of Clover Studios, so it’s no wonder God Hand is as fantastic as it is crazy. God Hand is at times a punishing game, but it does not have Devil May Cry 3 levels of difficulty where the so-called normal mode is equivalent to a hard mode in other games. In this game, the difficulty mode is controlled by a dynamic system and increases/decreases with player skill, which makes it tough yet fair. When players can string together epic beat downs without taking a hit, the difficulty increases —as do the rewards— making enemies hit harder and faster. But, if players find themselves on the receiving end of an ass whuppin’, the difficulty decreases until adversaries are little more than semi-sentient practice dummies.
God Hand’s difficulty system is nothing if not unique and would help the game stand out in a modern market, especially since beat ’em ups are making a comeback (if the Internet’s reaction to Streets of Rage 4 is any indication).
