The God of High School Review

School Is In Session

As I first launched the tutorial with The God of High School by Pangsky, I was in for a surprise. There is no doubt that there’s a bubbling charm radiating from this Android game. However, the learning curve that comes with this unique action turn-based RPG can be difficult to digest. There’s a lot to learn and its deep menu system can be jarring at first. With that said, I found that this title offers tight combat and an engrossing story if given a chance.

When The God of High School starts, it showed me a step-by-step process of how the combat system works. It’s fairly simple and can also be a bit nuanced with its tactics. The screen is split into two halves. The upper half shows the actual gameplay while the bottom half displays the avatars of the characters. Clicking on the avatar of the character you want to use springs them into action. Holding down and sliding the avatar either left, right or down will activate a special move or a defense stat. The combat basically operates like rock, paper, scissors. Players will need to best their opponents by canceling out the elemental powers of other characters. For example, fire powers will destroy tree elementals, while water powers will squelch fire elementals, etc. The roster of characters is endless. New characters are unlocked daily and range from magical martial artists to Gods in physical form. Plus, the overall art design is spot-on from the South Korean comic and it’s a joy to look at.

The Elements Of Fighting

There are rather extensive cut scenes that flesh out the story in comic book form. The characters do speak, but it’s only in Korean. Unfortunately, the text bubbles are roughly translated into English which can be problematic. Sometimes it’s hard to determine what the exposition of the story is due to the translation. I suppose it’s good enough to garner the gist of what’s going on, but it is noticeable nonetheless. The sound design is good enough to get the blood pumping, but it’s nothing memorable. The sound effects when it comes to combat, however, are punchy and bone-cracking. I found myself using the special moves simply because they flooded the screen with a spectacle that never gets old.

There are no advertisements in The God of High School. However, there are some special loot boxes that can be purchased for special customizations, extra XP, etc. These aren’t game-breaking by any means. However, the option is there for fans of this title that want a little boost. One design flaw I found was the fact that I unlocked rather powerful characters early in the game. This allowed me to use a special move that would one-shot bosses eliminating the need to use any other characters. I flattened them with one hit and there was no need to use any of the other characters. As a result, the game felt a little too easy at times, leaving me hankering for more of a challenge.

Lessons Of The Fist

Much like AFK Dungeon, players will get loot and unlockables at a steady pace after play sessions. Sometimes, it can be a little overwhelming. Plus, learning all the items and their uses can be confusing. The God of High School is loaded with menus, submenus, side menus and even hidden menus. These range from upgrading the entire team to just individual characters. Not to mention that players can collect gems that will unlock various Gods. Navigating through everything can be a bit daunting and it may even turn away new players.

After playing for a couple of days, I discovered that I could sign up to “enroll in High School.” This serves as the game’s online component. Players can raid each other’s bases and take on each other’s teams. Based on my experience, the servers are highly active and full of players to compete with. Launching matches only took a few seconds and they can be fun to play at times. There’s a lot to do just with the multiplayer alone.

The God of High School is oozing with material and things to do. Despite its wonky layout, I found myself getting addicted to it this title. Therefore, I recommend this Android game for anyone that’s a fan of the comic.