War Gods (1995 video game)

***War Gods*** is a fighting video game originally released to arcades by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios in 1995. Ports for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and PC were released in 1997. In the game, players control one of ten fighters who have been given great power by a mysterious ore that crashed-landed on Earth from outer space. The object of the game is to defeat all the other fighters to become the most powerful warrior on the planet.

The game was heavily influenced by Midway's *Mortal Kombat* series, and features controls similar to the *Mortal Kombat* games, as well as the series signature fatalities. Unique to *War Gods* is the "3D" button, allowing users to use the background/foreground for additional attacks and evasive maneuvers. The game's graphics were created using a technology Midway called "digital skin", which mapped photographs onto 3D models.

*War Gods* received mixed reviews, with particular criticism being directed at the game's character design and animations.

Announcement for War Gods that will be remake in 2016, as developed and published by Draconian Games.

## Gameplay

The game plays similarly to *Mortal Kombat 4*, using an almost identical button layout of high/low punches and kicks. The "Run" button was replaced with a "3D" button that, when held down while using other joystick and button combinations, allows the player to perform different attacks/evasions utilizing the background or foreground.[1] To prevent situations where opponents end up on different playing fields for prolonged periods of time, each character has a teleport move which moves them close to their opponent.[2] Just as in the *Mortal Kombat* games, players select a character and fight a series of opponents. *War Gods* also features combos which can be used through series of button presses. Like the *Mortal Kombat* games, the game also has fatalities that are used to finish off opponents.[3]

## Development

Released by Midway as the first of its new 3D software prior to the release of *Mortal Kombat 4*, *War Gods* was developed by a team led by Joe Linhoff and George Petro.[4] The arcade game utilized a hard drive for data storage.[5] All the moves were recorded using motion capture with just two actors.[6] The in-game characters were created using a technology called "digital skin", which involved digitizing reference photographs of live actors and mapping them onto 3-D models.[7]

Developer credits include: Joe Linhoff (Project Lead, Systems Design), George Petro (Co-Lead, Game Play), Matt Booty (Systems / DCS2), Ed Keenan (Systems, DCS2), Jim Gentile (Art Direction, Character Design / Models), Jim Rohn (Lead Animator, Character Design), Dave Zabloudil (Background Designs, Models / Effects), Tom Brierton (Character Animation), Eric Kinkead (Additional Art), Vince Pontarelli (Music / Speech, Sound Effects), Jeff Morrow (Voice of Exor).[8]

War Gods adopted Mortal Kombat's fighting style, but was created independently and never achieved the success of Mortal Kombat. The game boasted a "3D button" that lets fighters dive around the ring, in a circular arc, as part of their attacks and defensive moves. The orbiting camera smoothly follows the fighters, working to maintain the left/right "fighting line" needed for coherent two-player joystick control on the arcade cabinet.

The Nintendo 64 version was delayed in order to tone down the difficulty level and add additional moves.[9]

## Plot

Many, many years ago, a spaceship carrying precious life-giving ore crashes to Earth. The chunks of ore scatter across the planet, and over the years, ten humans each find a stone of the ore, and are transformed into powerful beings, War Gods. And now, they are fighting each other to possess all the stones and become the ultimate super-warrior.[3] To do this the player must beat the other 9 fighters, and a clone of the character the player has chosen, before going on to fight the sub-boss, Grox, and the main boss, Exor.

### Characters

* Ahau Kin - an evil high priest who, after having a vision, sent his slaves to their death diving into his tribe's sacrificial well to reach the Ore, before retrieving the Ore himself.
* Anubis - after uncovering a hidden burial chamber guarded by the Ore in the Valley of the Kings, his body was captured by the Ore and his soul was cursed to return as Anubis.
* CY-5 - a cyborg from the future implanted with the Ore by scientists who are unaware of the Ore's true power, CY-5 seeks additional Ore to achieve greater human consciousness.
* Kabuki Jo - a medieval samurai who seeks to master the power of the Ore after it causes him to slaughter his own men in a rage of fire and fury.
* Maximus - a gladiator who killed his opponent in battle and his masters, escaping with the Ore and fighting for all who have been enslaved.
* Pagan - a mistress of the black arts who finds the Ore, which increases her hunger for power and destruction.
* Tak - a stone idol brought to life by the Ore as the avenger of a lost civilization.
* Vallah - a warrior princess who stumbles upon a piece of the Ore while taking shelter during a storm; it transforms her into a Viking goddess who rules the realm of ice. Physical likeness portrayed by Kerri Hoskins, who portrayed Sonya Blade from early Mortal Kombat titles [10]
* Voodoo - an evil Caribbean witch doctor who is killed and thrown into a swamp containing some of the Ore, which brings him back to life as Voodoo, god of the undead.
* Warhead - a former soldier who was the product of an explosion due to a failed attempt by the government to merge nuclear weapons with The Ore. Physical likeness portrayed by Brian Glynn, the physical actor for Shao Kahn from early Mortal Kombat titles.[11]