OH MY GODHEADS Review

Where do you start with a game like OH MY GODHEADS? A party game, designed for 4 players to either team up in twos or work solo, to achieve victory in 5 different gametypes.  Ranging from a “capture the flag” type game, where you’re capturing a Godhead and trying to place it at the point behind the opposing team, to a free-for-all battle royale.

It’s interesting at the very least.  With no story to speak of, you’re presented with the choice of game, then your choice of character, and sometimes your team colour. After that, you’re in.  It’s a little unfair to reduce it so much, but if you remove the “party” element of the game, and try to play solo, it’s really not fun at all. Where it fails as a single-player effort, it more than makes up for itself with the wonderful charm of the art-direction.  What a beautiful little game, everything is bright and cartoony, whilst the purposefuly low-poly avatars and creatures just pop and look perfect against the backdrops. Speaking of backdrops, each level/map is themed and dressed accordingly, they all look great and they’re designed to fulfill the game mode at hand.

The audio is pretty and works really well with the aesthetic that the game is delivering.  In fact, between how it looks and how it sounds, there’s a lot of charm about this little title.

Better yet, this game truly shines when playing against others.  This is where it’s heart is, and where the fun lies.  As with any couch co-op title, being physically there with others, competing, scraping a victory or making that kill is oh-so-sweet and a real joy. When real people are playing the game, it becomes interesting and challenging.

Unfortunately, when you play it solo, the AI is really quite weak.  I found myself in a deathmatch, just literally turning around and launching myself at all the opponents, killing them within seconds of a round starting.  It was the cutest looking, most boring gaming encounter I’ve experienced for a while.

Worse still, there’s no online matchmaking or any means to play others when your friends aren’t nearby.  It’s a really strange decision to make in this day and age, but if they were aiming to keep it a “pure” couch co-op title, they succeeded, but in doing so, they didn’t give OH MY GODHEADS chance to be something more than a game you’ll play a couple of times with some mates, and then forget about.  Kind of sad really.

All in all I had loads of fun testing this game with others, and I think the way in which it’s presents itself both graphically and audibly really help it play up to the “party game” vibe.  It’s immediately accessible and fun.  Sure, it could do with some more gametypes, or perhaps off a little depth or context for the characters and the titular godheads, but it’s simple, unadulterated fun.

However, remove other players in the same room as you and you’re left with what is sadly a pretty hollow experience, marred by poor AI, little in the way of gametype choice and no online matchmaking at all.  Solo players clearly weren’t the focus of this game when it was being developed, and it only stands to hurt the game. If there was a semblance of a story or a little quest to undertake, that would be a great deal more than what you have here.

I think the questions you need to ask yourself are this: Are you going to have a few buddies round often? Or are you more likely to end up playing this game yourself? Should your answer to the first question be “yes”, then go for it, there’s enough charm and fun to be had here for a few hours, without a doubt.  However, if you’re a solo player looking for some party-game type fun, you’d be better looking elsewhere. As a package, this game only delivers a little bit, in a very specific manner, so it’s hard to rate it as anything too high.  It can’t be saved by charm alone I’m afraid.

REVIEW CODE: An Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.