Gods

Gods is a 1992 platformer by The Bitmap Brothers originally released on the Atari ST and Amiga in 1991.

Story
Hercules the Unconquered challenges the City of the Gods, battling beasts, guardians, and avoiding traps in order to try to claim the highest offered prize possible: immortality.

Gameplay
The player moves Hercules throughout several levels while destroying or avoiding various creatures, avoiding traps, picking up treasures and solving puzzles in order to progress through the game in this puzzle/platformer/shoot 'em up combination.

An onscreen icon (at bottom left of screen) shows how much energy Hercules has, which gets knocked down if he falls a large distance (or if the fall is large enough, it could even kill him), with every creature he touches or whenever he gets hit by one of their shots, or whenever he collides with a trap. Once the icon is totally depleted, the player loses a life, and the game ends when there are no more lives remaining. Occasionally a piece of food or an item may be found throughout worlds (or that can be bought at a store) that will increase the player's health though.

Several areas of the game are not passable unless certain actions are taken, so it is best for the player to experiment with various techniques, which switches to flip and in what order to do so for these areas. There are also several secret areas and bonuses that can be accessed throughout the game as well if the player can figure them out.

Several times during a level, the player will enter a store in order to purchase various power-ups, extra lives, potions, weapons and the like, although many of them can be picked up during certain level areas as well.

With each world and level completed (each level is made up of three “worlds”), the player earns a bonus by health units, lives remaining and the amount of treasures collected.

In-game

 * Move Hercules--D-pad or joystick
 * Crouch--down on D-pad or joystick
 * Throw weapons--button A
 * Jump--button B
 * Enter door--up on D-pad or joystick
 * Cycle through inventory--down on D-pad or joystick + buttons A or C
 * Drop item--position cursor on item inventory + buttons A or C
 * Activate switch--up on D-pad or joystick + button A
 * Start game/pause--Start button
 * End game: all buttons + Start

Stores

 * Cycle through items--D-pad or joystick
 * Choose item--any button (A, B or C)
 * Purchase item or exit--any button (once cursor is positioned on item or exit, although to purchase an item a button on the controller has to be pressed twice, once to choose an item and a second time to buy it)

Level 1
This is pretty much an introduction as to what the player has to expect with making jumps, shooting creatures, avoiding traps and picking up various items. The player starts off unarmed, although their first weapon is close, which also marks the beginning of hint messages that appear, which also instruct the player to experiment with levers, when they earn secret bonuses and unlock secret areas (such as a warp to the end of the first world).

The second world has a pot that is required to bring to a store (along with a secret bonus if the player can figure out which ones to take with them when they leave), and the last world of this level takes place mainly on the rooftops in a series of buildings. The end level guardian is a giant in medieval armor carrying a sword.

Level 2
This level takes place in what appears to be several temples.

In the first world, if a couple of thieves are not shot near the beginning in a certain area, they will grab two items that the player needs. This world has some devious puzzles in order to obtain several keys, although it has a bonus treasure room (if the player can figure out how to trigger it).

The second world has three goblets that the player must figure out what to do with them in order to obtain the treasure key, and in the third world, the player must obtain pieces of a mosaic to put a painting back together to complete it. Also, later in the second part of that world, there are various objects that must be left in certain rooms in order to open up a treasure room and earn other bonuses.

The guardian at the end of this level is a dragon.

Level 3
This is the most "open" out of all levels, although it lives up to its name of the Labyrinth, since, until the player gets used to their surroundings, a lot of it looks the same.

At one point during the first world, the player becomes armed with bombs that must be used to take out an enemy hive, and in another section the player is teleported to three rooms that are small, and two of those rooms are filled with dangerous enemies, not giving the player much time to react to them without taking damage.

In the second world, the player must obtain three gems and put them in their proper place to advance, and the last world has a variety of small tasks and puzzles to figure out.

The guardian at the end of this level seems to be a giant minotaur in armor that jumps around.

Level 4
Unlike with the Labyrinth being an open level, this one is the most claustrophobic, with worlds that have an "enclosed" feeling, without a lot of space to move around in general.

The worlds require certain objects to be taken to certain places in order to advance. The bombs from the first Labyrinth world return in one area, along with there being several areas where certain platforms have to be shot out correctly so the player can achieve certain goals. There is also a bird in one world that can be released to help the player out, moving and shooting as the player does, along with a bonus room with a lot of treasures.

The final guardian of the game is the top of a giant skeleton (just its head and part of its neck can be viewed), which fast, snake-like creatures shoot out of it towards Hercules.

If the player is able to defeat this final guardian, a brief slideshow is shown of Hercules entering the gates of Mount Olympus as it says on the screen to enjoy your life, it will last forever.

Passwords

 * level 2: Nashwan
 * level 3: Coyote
 * level 4: Foxx

Options
In this menu, the player can listen to the game's soundtrack and choose between turning the onscreen hints on or off. The game also has a high score save.

Differences between versions
This version runs faster than the PC version. Even though known for it's techno soundtrack, one musical piece is missing.

Links

 * The Bitmap Brothers Gods page
 * Gods fan site