Godzilla Destroy All Monsters

Lots of fun, but has some drawbacks

Rating: /5

First and foremost, Godzilla:DAMM is a lot of fun for anyone who is a fan of the movies. The developers obviously spent a good deal of time creating the monsters - they all have their distinct advantages/disadvantages and are rendered beautifully in the game. This is a great party game once all the monsters/arenas have been unlocked.

Gameplay:
The game plays as it is expected: a) big giant monsters are not going to be nimble characters (like in DOA:3 or MK:DA) b) it takes a lot more than a few combos to take an opponent out c) throwing buildings and other monsters at your opponents is a given.

The game offers a variety of modes (Adventure, Versus, Destruction, Melee). While Destruction is pointless, the other modes should give the game some longevity. The addition of Bots for the Melee mode boosts the replay value well above the GC version.

The drawback to the gameplay is the collision detection. At times, your character can be standing right next to a building and not be able to pick it up. Even more annoying is getting hit when you should be out of the opponents sites.

Graphics and sound:
The sound is superb - hands down. All of the yells and screams the monsters make in the movie are represented perfectly.

Graphics are a mixed bag. The monsters look great, but the arenas are often bland and look unfinished. The most disheartening aspect of the graphics is the building destruction - they fall down as if they were precision dynamited, not stomped on by a giant lizard.

Not the worst game ever, but not the greatest either

Rating: 3/5

Being a heavy G-fan, I rented this sucker the minute I saw it at my local Hollywood Video. I brought it back to my room and popped it into my roommate's X-Box, which was at first to much his dismay. However, within an hour him and two of our buddies were all battling it out as four of Toho's finest. We even played together on the storyline mode to unlock more monsters to make the one-on-one more enjoyable. So, after all that, what are my final statements on the game? Well, there are a lot of good things about this game that I like, but there are also some things that disappointed me.

First lets talk about the storyline of the game. Aliens come down to earth and announce to humanity that they are unleashing all the monsters from Monster Island, and its up to you as one of the selected monsters to stop them. OK, sounds fair enough, that was the plotline of most Godzilla films in the 60's and 70's (even harkens over to the "Destroy All Monsters" movie). I have to say I'm a bit turned off at the stupid, overused humor they gave the aliens ("Am I still on?") as well as the cheapness those CG scenes had. The alien hits a button on the table before him...except there's no button! Also, after defeating all the monsters on earth, the aliens throw MechaGodzilla at you. That's cool, and its fitting with the Godzilla universe as well, but I wish they could have thrown in some more Godzilla monsters on other difficulty levels, or maybe even unlock villains to fight. I know Biollante would have made an awesome boss, or even SpaceGodzilla.

As for regards to gameplay, this was a pretty decent melee game. Every one has their own blasting ability, especially Godzilla 2000 who has one mighty breath-of-death! Arguilas can roll (and if you hit his spiked back your monster will cry in pain). Rodan and King Ghidora, as well as his mecha counterpart, can fly. Megalon can burrow underground and pop up under his enemy, spinning them with his drill.

And yes, you can destroy the city. Buildings take damage either by being stomped or touched by monsters, or some parts can even be picked up and thrown by one of the fighters! There are plenty of stages to fight in, each a major city with day/night choice of time. If you destroy too many buildings in one area, the military will start to target you (although I never saw how that did too much damage).

There are other ways to get the upper hand, though. You can get power ups (Rage) that will increase hit damages, and of course the mandatory HP restore power up. You can also select some items that will bring in other monsters to aide you: one has Mothra swooping in and shocking your opponent, while the other has Hedorah in flight-mode pretty much farting over your opponent (I don't know what else to call it, it doesn't do much except steal the opponent's dignity). If melee is boring, they also have contests where who ever does the most damage in a city wins the round. Never played that too much though, unless I wish to practice a move or some thing.

Despite all this, I think some game issues weren't thought over before this was released to market. For one, some of the moves by the monsters are downright cheap - and their cheapness is exploited by the AI while you may have trouble figuring out how they work. The Megalon AI will continue to try and burrow under you, and there's no way you can attack them back. You're only hope is to run and hope eventually their power will go down. Also, once Megalon gets under you, you can't block - its an automatic drill attack. Rodan also has an incredibly cheap attack with his massive wing-span slap. Most of these monsters move pretty slow, even in their run, so its almost impossible to get to him especially since he flies. Also, I seem to notice the AI for Rodan and Ghidora seem to have unlimited flying abilities while I can barely stay up for more than five seconds.

I also wish they had had some original Godzilla music in there. The music in this game is no where near as memorable as the one from the films - where's my Akira Ifukube? Even "Godzilla 2000" remembered to have the original themes that highlighted Toho's 1980's revival of the G-man.

So what's my final conclusion? Well, I would rent this first. I'm sure most fans will read my complaints and go, "I don't care, I can overlook that." If you can, then by all means buy this for your own. If you get annoyed by this too, then rent it and decide for yourself. Just remember I said it was a "decent" melee game.

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