Gamespot does not give this game the proper credit. It has a few flaws, but it provides a genuine monster experie
played the previous 2 fighters, finding a good amount of entertainment value in them. Now that I have my hands on the newest one, it's time to break it up, piece by piece. No stone on Earth or Planet X will remain unturned.
The Good:
- The monsters. Almost every monster in the Godzilla universe you can imagine is here. Even Godzilla 1954 is unlockable, but through grueling measures. The selection of playable characters available is on par to that of most DBZ games.Gamespot has said that all the monsters play alike. Well, yeah, don't all characters in most fighting games play alike? Not all monsters are the same as far as special abilities and attacks.
- The sounds. Toho has done a pretty good job of accurately depicting the
monster sounds from their original movies. Titanosaurus sounds the same as he did in "Terror of Mechagodzilla," and the unforgettable cello still resonates in Godzilla's trademark roar. The sounds add that atmospheric environment to the game that is true to the roots. Also, the music is pretty good too. It's not exceptional, but it provides adequate background noise.
- This is one good looking Wii game. The monster models look great and the cities and environments deserve the same praise. Major cities have their corresponding national landmarks. The building models are excellent. Structures break apart and shatter debris at the spot where you punch or kick them.
- The game interface: Recently I have gained a little pet peeve about game
menus. Take the SSX game for the Wii, it had a horrible main menu which you couldn't even access until you were actually playing the game. The menu looks great, it is easily understandable, it has some good sound effects, and it also uses both joystick and tight Wii-mote pointing. The only thing I would make better is the custom multiplayer design, which doesn't even let you save them under custom names.
- It's fun for Godzilla fans. Here is the main impression I get from most
reviews about this game, and other Godzilla games: the people who write said reviews are not Godzilla people. I really can't blame them, the popularity of the giant monster movie is not exactly well distributed today. It seems to me that many bad opinions are biased against that fact that this is a Godzilla game and they don't find amazement in it. If you don't like Godzilla, then don't play it and mock it. This is a game for fans and those familiar with Godzilla.
- Positive minor game aspects that make it different from the rest: Monster special abilities, the fact that you can charge energy for thermo-nuclear death-breath and other beam attacks, critical mass, some neat unlockables such as videos and images, and so on and so on.
The Bad:
- The motion aspect is the biggest control flaw. In order to use different physical attacks, you need to swing the remote in a certain direction while holding A, B, or both. The trouble is, the direction you may swing the remote may not register properly with the game, and you'll end up performing a different attack. In the end I just found that flailing the remote in any direction was good enough. I know that they didn't have much to work with considering the Wii's control setup, but I wish they tried something else. The button configuration on the other hand, works just fine.
- Aiming beam and breath attacks is as cumbersome as shooting a shotgun while wearing two arm casts. This is something else that the developers really couldn't do anything about, because besides the control stick, which is used to walk around, what other control mechanism is available to aim a beam attack? It's best to get within range of your enemy, and if you have the 2-monster side view, it really isn't that bad. You basically point the Wii-mote at the screen as if you were firing the beam from your hand itself, and point to aim. It's not the best way to pull this off, but I suppose it was all they could really do. I play as Anguirus a lot, so I never have to worry about aiming.
- The story line in single player mode is lazily thrown together. While the cut scenes with an interesting comic-style to them do their best to narrate the story, there isn't enough guidance to progress the events that are happening. The ending scene last about 10 seconds followed by immediate credits.
- Even though the stages are put together nicely, I would have liked to have seen more. Nine levels is not enough in my opinion.
- The computer AI is not very good. Either your opponent will engage you in combat and run away from all your attacks, attack with hesitation, or try to destroy you. Normal mode is too easy, you need to put the game on hard to make it reasonably challenging.
- You'll never figure out how to unlock every monster unless you look it up in a player's guide or online. Throw us a friggin' bone here.
What have we learned here? The point I am trying to make is to play what you like. Gamespot attempted to review this game but did nothing except write a 1,112 word hate monologue. Rather than elaborate on the game's positive features, they decided to draw on the flaws and poke as much fun as humanly possible. The game isn't perfect, I'll agree that it should have had a lot more work done it to fix the quirks it had. However I enjoy Godzilla Unleashed, and no bad review from anyone else will tell me otherwise. Heed my words of wisdom: With a hefty single-player story mode, plenty of multiplayer options, and more monsters than giant lizard victory dances; this is a unique fighting game with Godzilla and company that is a pleasure for fans, and may even be enjoyable for those who don't know who King Ghidorah is. Those who will enjoy this game the most will be fans playing versus mode, arguing about who can beat up who.