Godzilla Unleashed Wii Review
Over the years, Monster games have either been a hit or miss on consoles making these a dime a dozen on their quality. I have always enjoyed the Godzilla games dating back to one of my favorites on the Dreamcast version of Godzilla. This is a franchise or even type of game that can be royally screwed up if not done right and especially if the gameplay mechanics are lackluster. Let’s take a look on how Godzilla: Unleashed fairs on the Wii.
Godzilla games have been hit or miss over the years like all monster games before and after them. Growing up watching Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, amongst many of the Japanese monster movies, I can’t wait to dive into these games to wreak the same havoc as their movie counterparts. Granted the plots of these movies were just a backdrop of the story since the monsters were the centerpiece. How does Godzilla Unleashed stack up to the old and even newer Godzilla movies?
The Graphics
The graphics look good for a Wii game and are a step above the Gamecube, Godzilla game released sometime ago. This is one area that nobody could really complain with the game, buildings, vehicles, and the heroes of the games – the monsters all look good.
The Sound
The sound is rather interesting as their using a hard rock/heavy metal sound and for localization purposes, I can understand why they left the music in since in Japan its some of their favorite music. But how about some official Godzilla music in the future to make these packages feel like complete.
Controls/Gameplay
The one area that I find lacks in Godzilla: Unleashed has to do with the Wii controls. I found them to be a mess and getting an attack to engage just didn’t feel right. There is a lag in response time with the controls and trying to position Godzilla was a bit cumbersome. I’m already not a fan of the Wii mote/Nanchuck issues in some games, so this just adds to some of those frustrations. This game is an all out brawl fest as we would expect from all the Godzilla games from the past. At times it’s like a Royal Rumble in a city, where you can have multiple monsters battling it out. But the A.I. lacks in a few areas and that is one of the small downfalls if you’re looking for a game that will provide the ultimate challenge. There were times where I just stood there while the A.I. monsters brawled taking each other one by one and then I snuck in for the remaining beat down. I’m surprised that the developers didn’t fix the slow pace of this game since over the years; one of the major complaints has been how slow the Godzilla games have played.
We have two main modes in Godzilla, Story and Brawl. Story mode is where the single player component is chosen from to play. Brawl is for multiplayer battles. Story mode is non-linear so you are not on a set path the entire game which allows for multiple play throughs. You will have many objectives as you play in each stage as opposed to walking from one end of the screen to the other destroying everything in your path as you get ready to fight the monster on the other end. You can even fail objectives in a stage, but continue on in the story mode with consequences. Those consequences are no unlockables such as new monsters. To add to the Brawl and Story modes, we also have a training mode that is good to learn the controls, but would be better if the darn controls worked properly.
While the controls leave a lot to be desired, the lineup in this game is just purely fantastic for Godzilla fans. From Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, MechaGodzilla, Biollante, and many new monsters that have been also created for this game rounds out the roster. All in all, we have 20 monsters to add to the line-up which is good, but there are still some classics missing.
The Bottom Line
Godzilla Unleashed will appeal to all Godzilla and monster fans more than any casual gamer that wants to play this type of game. This game is only available on the Wii and PS2, but was finally getting closer to getting a very good Godzilla game. Only problem with the Wii version is the AI and my top complaint is the Wii controls. Maybe with the next iteration, Atari will get all these issues ironed out.
