Idol Hands Review

Idol hands developed by Pocket games and fluid games and published by Green man loaded is a strategy sim game were you have to lead your minions / followers with your gracious god powers over the land to being to a prosperous future. Currently Idol Hands is only available for PC. Probably easier to state that it’s of a God game Genre as strategy sim seems a bit vague.

Idol hands story is pretty basic and strikes a little discord with its charming soft aesthetic as in the beginning there were the furling’s, a race of Labradors that decided to stand on their hind legs and evolved too have massive heads too erm… think with. However after a while there tribes began to fight each other which descended into a bloody civil war with many casualties. However one of these tribes tried to bring it to an end by praying to a god for help and salvation. Once the God had answered there call it became clear that this was an even bigger mistake as it turned out that the god was a malicious and dark god that enslaved the Furling’s and used them too his dark ends. In a last ditch effort a small number of the remaining Furling’s began to pray again for a better god – a god that would save them – and that god that appeared is you. At this point I thought what most people probably do when they play these games you guys are screwed. You thought that god was evil but I’m going to build you up until I get bored and then find as many entertaining ways to destroy the village just as soon as you think your safe. Luckily for them this didn’t happen as there were plenty of other tribes too work my new god like powers of destruction on.

The mechanics are fairly simple and incredibly easy to get too grips with as in order to build your village you must carve it into a flat and usable plain. Another helpful thing about this is all the controls are also hand and intuitive, you want to flatten ground. Hit the F key. You want to strike a bolt of lightning than hit the L key. You can also manipulate the land by raising and lowering the ground enabling you to find minerals too mine or shield yourself from enemy forces. However I didn’t particularly find this very helpful as when you did decide to try and do this it would usually be immediately undone by the enemy A.I and would just exhaust your manna pool. Yes, because even as a God you have limits. In order for you to have more manna and regenerate faster you need to have priests or build your village up. Again, when you’re already winning because you have amassed an army and begun decimating the enemy tribe it becomes a little bit redundant and only speeds up the process. Which it has too due to how slow the combat feels. Especially when waiting for them to tear down buildings. There is only so many times you can hear there adorable yells as they mercilessly help you slaughter and burn a tribe too nothingness and the odd juxtaposition this puts you in feeling after burning their houses with lightning bolts or causing earthquakes striking terror into their village.

The juxtaposition made is in no way clearer than in the graphics or the aesthetics of the game as its very simple but well done style makes the game seem so friendly and nice and sets that quite childlike turn however I don’t think I have ever heard the phrase “now watch those cabbages burn” in such a sinister way that even after the crushing of many other tribes made me feel slightly uncomfortable. The sound is simple enough nothing outstanding however it does keep in with the game and its aesthetic and feel even if it is just a single track.

Overall the game is nice but that’s all I can say about it, it was fun to play however after a while there isn’t a lot to do. In a way I think this may not be due to the game itself but the genre it was created in – A god like game. If the game were too have more interesting units and a real strategy based combat system too it than it would quickly become a standard Real time strategy game. In essence God like games feel like watered down versions of RTS’s which probably handicapped this game before it really got started. So if you want a short easy to play and drop-in game that has plenty of adorable charm and personality too it than I recommend this game. However if you want something to a really get into and be a long lasting game then I would probably look else were. However this isn’t knocking the game at all and is something an experience ill certainly remember especially if im near a farm on fire in Sussex.

Grab the game from here Green Man Gaming, and Steam

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.