Godstrike is an arcade action online game from the developer Friv2Online in which every battle is a boss fight and time is the key game mechanic. Here's a review of this hardcore but addictive game. Once upon a time, a powerful god gave people magic masks. They provided their owners with unprecedented power, but not everyone used this gift for good: power and might corrupted the heroes, who turned into monsters. The villains were imprisoned in the temple, but after a while a terrible spoil began to spread through the world. Now Talaal, the last guardian of the mask, who did not take the side of evil, must fight with his brothers and bring salvation to mankind. It's much more interesting to dive into hardcore battles with bosses. Actually, there are no other opponents here - in this respect, the project reminds of Furi, released in 2016, but now we are not a slasher, but an arcade shooter with an overhead view: we guide the character with the left stick of the gamepad, shoot with the right stick, use the trigger and bumpers to activate active abilities. In turn, Talaal has active and passive abilities that increase in number as he takes down enemies. Teleportation, homing projectiles, temporary invulnerability, increased movement speed, and more - you can take several of them into battle, but you can shuffle them around between matches as you please. It's a unique idea, but not a very good one, as it makes you rush, trying to adjust to the inexorable timer, making an already hardcore friv game even harder. In my playthrough, sometimes the realization that time was up and a single mistake could be fatal led to that very mistake and imminent doom. Godstrike is a good option for those who want to challenge themselves. This is a top-down shooter with a series of boss-fights, original gameplay finds and a serious test of reflexes speed. If you are not ready for hardcore shootouts, you'd better pass by - otherwise you risk burning your nerve cells in vain.
The plot in Godstrike is served up in short text inserts between battles, and the vague phrases don't encourage you to delve into the hero's story. These are not the events that you follow with bated breath: they justify what's happening, and that's fine.
Each boss is a serious threat to the hero. They have different patterns of behavior, have several phases in which they change their actions, and several health bars. One enemy always stays in place, but dots the battlefield with bullet hell shooters, another constantly moves around the arena, the third teleports, and so on. Dealing with bosses is not easy, and I had to make many approaches to some of them.
However, each ability takes a few seconds off the battle timer. Godstrike has a curious system: the character's life bar is a time meter, and if it is empty, any attack will kill Talaal. As a result, you have to choose between stuffing him with buffs and sacrificing a few dozens of seconds or providing him with time to the detriment of his power. In addition, you must remember that during the battle the timer is ticking and time is running out, and each missed hit takes away a few seconds.
Aside from that, the friv game looks both stylish yet modest at the same time. Some bosses delighted me with their design, while others caused boredom. The same applies to the arenas, of which I remembered only a couple, and to the soundtrack.