- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98
- Date added: January 25, 2006
- Total Downloads: 8,710
- Downloads last week: 1
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 12 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Despite a hokey backstory and less than impressive visuals, the gameplay of this quality freeware game will quickly attract those predisposed toward retro top-down shooters. Taking the basic foundation of Asteroids, Overgod ups the ante with eight spaceships, 100 enemies, and power-ups that include a variety of interesting secondary weapons and boosts. In keeping with the retro theme, the controls are sluggish and the graphics are understated. The game definitely has a style of its own, and a variety of unlockable modes, plus Time Attack and two-player options ramp up the replayability factor.
In-game action consists of thrusting, turning, braking, and firing primary and seconday weapons, the latter of which are offered as power-ups and have cool names like Claws of Hunger and Eye of Desolation. The idea is to destroy all of your essential enemies before the Eyes of the Watchful Ones awake and start blasting you to pieces. Essential enemies are marked on your HUD with large yellow dots, while minor enemies are small and orange. The electric Eyes are a nice timer touch, and the enemy variation also offers another level of complexity.
Stability issues arose when quitting a game in progress--the application froze and required a forced quit. Aside from that annoyance, the game installs quickly and runs smoothly. The music isn't too annoying, which is always a bonus, and all of the volume and game controls are easily customized. Overgod moves a bit too slowly and looks pixelated when compared to 3D games, but the unique gameplay and freeware status help it easily earn a high rating.
Publisher's description
From Linley Henzell :For too long has the world been ruled by cruel and disputatious gods. You have constructed a vehicle in which to visit the outer layers of the Celestial Oversphere and do battle with those who sit in judgment of the Universe. On each layer of the Oversphere you must fight your way through hundreds of enemies. Most of the foes you meet must be destroyed for you to reach the next layer. A secret ritual has shut the fearsome Eyes of the Watchful Ones, although only for a time. You will have from two to three minutes in each layer before they open again.
You can tell which enemies you need to destroy by looking at your overview on the bottom right of the screen. Essential targets are large yellow dots, while unimportant ones are small and orange. The amount of time you have, and your progress through the layer, are indicated on the top left of the screen, while on the bottom left you can check how well your vehicle is holding up against the fury of your enemies and how many lives you have.
If the normal game isn't frantic enough for you, go to the Special menu and choose Time Attack mode, where the goal is to survive for as long as possible, and every essential target you destroy gets you a few extra seconds. The Special menu also includes Duel Mode, which lets two players fight it out between them, although the game isn't very well-balanced for this. Below Duel Mode are some challenge mode settings which you have to unlock by playing the main game. They make things even more difficult.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 1.8 stars out of 12 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 10 user reviewsSee all 10 user reviews
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9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Version: Overgod
Pros: The ships may move slow at first, but the action can get quite intense. If you enjoy retro-looking, somewhat simple, arcade shooters, you'll probably enjoy this game. It reminds me of the old space combat (spacewar?) game.
It's free and has low system requirements.
Overall, I had fun with it and will definitely play it again.
Cons: The color palette for the second level makes things hard to see. (somewhat minor)
The left-right setting on the speakers are backwards by default. (minor)
The sound effects are a little loud compared to standard system sounds, so I had to turn the game volume settings down to 20. (minor)
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9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Version: Overgod
Pros: Nothing is good in this game, sounds are bad, visuals bad, everything is negative
Cons: The Graphics are horrible, you can barely read anything. I got sick of it on the first level. This game has nothing good in it.
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Overgod
"Professional, good-looking, but slow... and you're just gonna die."
Pros: 1. Overgod looks, feels, and is well put together. Sweet particle effects. Just clean graphics all together. It all matches and all achieves the retro but technical look as though you're computer just got infected five times and you have to go in and play Norton. Even the GUI is fitting, good looking, and gets the job done.
2. Variation of ships. There are 8 ships, each with a special element. Some examples are a shorter cooldown on secondary fire, slow regeneration, primary fire shoots backwards too with each shot, and more. Nice assortment. None too overpowering. The **** I had the most success with was either the one with stronger lasers or the short secondary cooldown. I thought the regenerating health one would be good, as you can fly around and keep out of trouble and let your hull integrity improve, but the time it takes to heal enough to just be able to stand up against one more shot isn't worth the time you just expired.
3. Powerups. Over the course of the game, enemies random drop colored powerups, which change from color to color as they sit around. Different colors provide different upgrades, like thruster or primary fire enhancement. The second kind of powerup gives your a secondary fire. However, you can only utilize one secondary weapon at a time, and running over another will replace the one you previously had. The secondary weapons in the game are actually useful, fun to use, and the game extends its particle and neon glow effects into them.
Overall, the game is simply hindered by its difficulty, as your demise is usually going to be of something that moves two times faster than you and homes in on you. The whole level. Overgod is tied-together visually, and doesn't have any quirky problems. I just wish level 6 wasn't my max on the highscores list.
Cons: 1. The game is just too difficult. Overgod would have been much more appealing if after 10 games, the average level you got snuffed out by a flying box was greater than level 4.
The biggest reason for this is the controls. You can move forward, turn left and right, and press down to break. You cannot move backwards or strafe around. The ships of Overgod must also have missed out on the acceleration when God was passing that out. When anything kills you by simply being faster or more agile than you, it's extremely frustrating and feels like it was out of your control.
Another towel in the stack of difficulty is the accuracy of the enemy. There's lasers and green crap coming right at you from across the level like it calculated your position 10 seconds in advance.
Some enemies just need to drop the ********. This one guy just floats around and lets go red flares that just track you down the rest of the level, negating the use of your brakes all together. Yess. Less movement options!
Sometimes you'll be cruising your slow ass around, and BAM. A huge boss fabricates from the empty matter before you. On level 1. Come on.
When you're facing your enemy and he shoots at you, what are you going to do? Oh yeah. You can't do anything.
You have 3 lives. During my playtime (over 20 games), I never got another life. Cool.
There's a time limit. In Overgod, you have seconds to complete each level. When the time runs out, turret things appear and **** electricity bolts at you. You were already being trailed by a dozen projectiles when the time ran out, killing crap you didn't need to kill, and letting mine man infest the playing field with green plastiques, so odds are, you're ******.
The worst enemy has to be the mine layer so far. This guy randomly spits out small green mines at a quite rapid rate. The mines repel you when they explode, conveniently into other mines and/or six enemies. When you kill a mine layer, he explodes and drops more mines.
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Version: Overgod
Pros: Will keep you amused for about 10 mins - When you want to "just have a game" before going to bed, and want to feel like you are in the 70s again, it's superb!
Uses very little sysytem resources.
Cons: Not something you'd spend hours playing. Sluggish.
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Version: Overgod
"Slow gameplay, poor looks. Less than 5 minutes fun."
Pros: Small download. Easy install and uninstall (just unzip the file / delete the folder).
Cons: Poor graphics and very slow gameplay. Controls feel clunky. No real fun to be had.
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