Reviewed: December 28, 2007
Reviewed by: Jason Porter
Publisher
Atari
Developer
Pipeworks Software
Released: November 20, 2007
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1-4
5
3
6
4
5.0
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
At the core, it's all about a huge green lizard with thermonuclear death breath. No, not your mother-in-law: this is the one and only Godzilla I'm talking about! The definitive icon of Japanese monster cinema, Godzilla is at once fearsome and ridiculous, a rubber-suit beast from the era of atomic paranoia with surprising cultural longevity, and a legion of die-hard fans both young and old. He's grappled heroically with a veritable army of allies and enemies, almost all of whom owe their existence to his continued popularity, and almost all of whom appear in the latest video game based on this legendary franchise, Godzilla: Unleashed.
Godzilla: Unleashed takes the epic brawl for world domination to the skylines of Sydney, Seattle, Osaka and more, with fighters ranging from Megalon to Jet Jaguar divided into four distinct factions.
Godzilla: Unleashed Features:
- Unrivaled Destruction: Unleash citywide destruction as one of 23 monsters – including two all completely new monsters
- All New Story: Make and break alliances within the all new dynamic storyline and choose to amass an army or go it alone
- Multiplayer Mayhem: Party modes supporting four players for insanely destructive social battles
Godzilla: Unleashed is a brawling game at its heart, in much the same vein as the Super Smash Bros. series by Nintendo. Up to four players at once take control of any of a wide variety of classic Toho monsters and heroes and try to defeat each other in expansive 3D environments based on real-world cities such as London, San Francisco and (of course) Tokyo. The action is spun into a semblance of sensibility by a very basic one-player story mode about evil space aliens (the Vortaak) firing destructive crystals at the Earth, which awaken Godzilla and his ilk to do battle against the invaders. Aside from the story mode, the bulk of the game's entertainment is to be found in multiplayer modes.
The crystals play an active role in fighting, with different colors granting different bonuses to the monster that destroys them. Additionally, super moves called Power Surges are earned in the story mode (one per chapter), and can be spent in any mode, though they are lost once used. With up to four players on screen at once, Godzilla: Unleashed encourages all-out mayhem in a group setting, rather than skillful one-on-one arena-style fights.
It should be made clear before anything else is said though that Godzilla: Unleashed is not a good game. Most of the fighters feel as though they are moving through molasses, and the vast majority of moves available to each character are strikingly similar, which makes them feel bland. Even Power Surges are the same from monster to monster. Additionally, balance is poor: heavier characters like Godzilla and Megalon almost always have the upper hand in a fight, whereas light, relatively fast combatants such as Rodan and Mothra are relatively ineffective (though there are a couple of exceptions).
Annoyingly, the vast majority of monsters are not available at the start of the game and must be purchased with money earned in other game modes. This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that the cost of each character is extremely high in comparison to the rate at which players can earn money. Even more annoyingly, most unlockable characters are not even available to purchase until their associated faction has been purchased for play. For example, players might save up around 20,000 to purchase a faction, and then still have to earn an additional 5,000 to 25,000 to purchase a single character in that faction. This translates to mindless grinding that gets old well before the requisite currency is earned to unlock very much new content. As the King of All Cosmos (Katamari Damacy) would say, "Ick. Tepid."
On the other hand, longtime Godzilla fans (or Toho fans in general) should not dismiss this game outright. It is true that when Godzilla picks up Jet Jaguar, they look for all the world like a pair of wrestlers in rubber suits. Godzilla hobbles around carrying his opponent hoisted over his head before tossing his enemy into the air and punching it on the way down. It's all slow and awkward looking... which, if nothing else, makes it completely true to the films. This point, for fans, cannot be ignored. Of course monsters move slowly and ponderously--that's how they're supposed to move!
Although (as noted above) it doesn't make for an especially fun video game, it is certainly good fan service. I, for one, was charmed by Godzilla: Unleashed despite myself, having grown up on TV marathons of old Japanese monster movies. I found myself playing long after the also-ran mechanics of fighting had lost my interest, because watching gigantic monsters toss each other awkwardly around Tokyo is a form of entertainment that, for fans, transcends the game itself.
This game won't be fooling anyone into thinking it's the same as the version of Godzilla: Unleashed developed for the Wii--not in the graphics department, anyway. The PS2 version was obviously not a high priority for Atari, and it shows. The camera tends to be zoomed out too far to get a good up-close view of the action (though not always), and regardless of distance there is a problem with jaggies on almost all of the monster and building models. It just doesn't look polished, which is too bad since it hardly needed to look realistic to be enjoyable--this is the Godzilla universe we're discussing here. Just making it look sharp and clear would have been enough. At least the energy attacks look decent, if not eye-popping.
The game's story is advanced by still renderings/drawings with voiced-over dialogue. Despite the fact that these renderings could have been made to look as good as the designers wanted them to (since they're stationary, pre-rendered images and not moving video), the original Myst for the personal computer, another, much older game that utilized pre-rendered backgrounds, generally looks better than these scenes.
Interesting fact: Godzilla's roar has sounded the same for over fifty years, ever since the very first movie. True story! According to the big guy's Wikipedia page, the distinctive elephantine roar was "created by Japanese composer Akira Ifukube by rubbing a resin glove over the strings of a contrabass." Hmm. I'll get back to you once I know what that means. Happily, this sonic consistency seems to hold for video games, too, since the roar is featured prominently whenever Godzilla appears on-screen.
Other Toho monsters have had their distinctive battle cries left intact, as well. It's this kind of fan service that Godzilla: Unleashed is best at. Similarly, the voice acting is pretty shaky, but in a way not unpleasantly reminiscent of the old dubbed monster movies many Godzilla fans know by heart. The main problem anyone, fan or otherwise, will probably have with this game's sound is its forgettable music. I mean that: it's forgettable. I don't even remember it. Seriously.
Whichever camp you fall into (fans or people who won't like this game), between all the saving up for new fighters and the large number of destructible environments available to fight in, there's a fair amount of content to experience in Godzilla: Unleashed. Whether or not it's worth experiencing is another matter entirely. Generally speaking, my recommendation is to avoid paying much of anything for this game, if possible.
Only the most ardent Godzilla fans will feel that they've gotten a good value buying it at its full retail price of $39.99. Even then, go for the superior graphics and control of the Wii version unless that isn't possible. The PS2 Godzilla: Unleashed is a rough approximation of the game it should have been.
A little bit Rampage, a little bit Super Smash Brothers, a little bit Double Dragon and a dose of Tekken: Godzilla: Unleashed straddles the line between practicing with a character to increase skills, and just smashing buttons and knocking down buildings. It's a fun idea, but it could have been so much more than the lackluster, derivative game it is. The only thing really saving this title from utter mediocrity is the fact that some of what would be considered problems in a normal game (sloooow combat, bad voice acting) could actually be considered odd strengths, thanks to the Godzilla license.
Bearing that in mind let me reiterate: Godzilla: Unleashed is not a good game. It's certainly not a good value at its retail price. And the Wii version, by all accounts, is superior. But it is charming, nonetheless, and I like it despite myself. For me, and other fans like me, even bad Godzilla can sometimes be good. This is one of those times (though again, not at full price). Godzilla: Unleashed, like the movies that inspired it, is far from perfect. That's not always a bad thing.