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 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.

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

[10] The levels are set in areas native to the War Gods, such as the Warhead's military base, Anubis's desert pyramid, Ahau Kim's ancient aztec temple, Pagan abandoned ghotic church, Voodoo's Bayou forest and Kabuki Jo's Samurai temple.

[6] Gamefan reported about War Gods in August 1995 claiming it will use the same hardware as Killer Instinct and will be unveiled at Amusement Expo International in September 1995.

[19] In response to suggestions and complaints about the gameplay, several months were devoted to refining the game's programming, delaying the arcade release to the third quarter of 1996.

[20] A Panasonic M2 version of War Gods was in development and slated to be one of its launch titles, but it never happened due to the system's cancellation.

[7] Commenting on the Nintendo 64 version, Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot called it "probably the first N64 fighting game to hit the market that actually shows off some of the power of this system.

[25][27][8] Casamassina wrote that the while the digital skin textures were "initially nice", the "animation and terrible character design detract greatly from the whole experience.

"[6] GamePro remarked that "The 3D button, while innovative, really doesn't enhance the gameplay" and is too easily confused with low guard on the N64 controller.

[31] The Nintendo 64 version was also criticized for having imbalanced A.I., Casamassina writing fighters would successfully pull off every attack without struggle on the easiest setting.