Though the learning curve is rather odd, this is a quality game for Kaiju fans or anyone who enjoys stomping Tokyo.
Story-
The Godzilla: Unleashed story mode is probably where most players will begin, (as you must beat it in different ways to unlock more monsters). The story itself is just a combination of plot elements from the last two games: The Vortaak attempt to invade the Earth, but a "meteor" shower slows their advance while seeding the world with crystals that cause environmental disturbances. The crystals, (whose source will be familiar to anyone who watched a certain Godzilla movie from 1994), are an incredible power source, so the race is on between the monsters to destroy them or capture them. The game's plot won't win any awards for being overly creative or engaging, but it does provide a good excuse to battle other giant monsters.
It's pretty straight forward for most of the battles in the story mode. However some of the objectives are rather vague. Typically, you're tasked to "Defeat your enemies and defend your allies", but it's the crystals that cause most of the problem. If you're an Earth Defender, you're supposed to destroy the crystals, but if you destroy the crystals you hit critical mass and receive negative points with your faction. So it's kind of confusing on the overall goal of these kinds of missions, especially when you're opponent is one of your allies. Also of note are the odd things you must do to unlock some of the monsters. Some of it is straight forward, like shooting down a UFO in San Francisco to be able to unlock Varan. Others are things I wouldn't have thought of, like shooting the ice "cake" shaped structures around Sydney to unlock Titanosaurus.
Multiplayer-
Other than story mode, there's your basic versus, melee, and destruction modes from the last games with a few variations. None of them tread ground that the last games didn't, except that you can customize your own variant of these modes. The options given by them are simple, like team battle options, human military attackers and gravity strength, but are decent enough for this game. If you have a friend or two, it's a fun way to enjoy the game.
Controls-
Now on to the most maligned part of this game: the control scheme. It does take some time to get used to, and it can be frustrating when you start out. The basics are simple: A is punch, B is kick, and A+B is a fierce attack, (tail whip, chest laser, etc). These attacks can be modified by swinging the Wii remote in a particular direction, then pressing one of the buttons. That little bit of information is the most crucial information to the controls. You have to swing the remote, and then press the button of choice. The game doesn't tell you that, so most of the time you are swinging and pushing buttons at the same time with mixed results. That reason alone is why I've only played this game for around 20 hours: I didn't know that you had to swing then press a button, which made me dislike the game for its unresponsive controls. If I hadn't read another review stating the proper way to attack, I probably wouldn't have given this game a second chance. Along with the basic punch/kick options, the C button allows you to fire your monsters beam weapon, which don't seem as powerful in this game for some reason…
Graphics-
The graphics of the game are decent for the Wii. The monsters, for the most part, all look pretty good, though some are better than others, (Biollante especially could have used a little more polish, though her addition is incredible). Each Monsters beam attack looks decent, but the attacks have a set range and then just disappear into thin air, which is uninspired and unimpressive. The cities do not look good. The different effects of the crystals on the cities aren't impressive, just generic. Seattle is volcanic, Tokyo is flooded, Sydney is frozen, and London is floating in some kind of gravity vortex, (okay, not generic, but dumb). I would have much preferred a more realistic layout of these cities instead of a goofy, fictionalized version of them, (along with more cities in general, like Hong Kong, Paris, etc). The building damage, unfortunately, looks about the same as it has since Destroy All Monsters Melee, which is getting pretty old. I'd like to see more responsive building models that you can shoot through with your beam weapon or that are more detailed when they are destroyed, instead of falling into the ground as a generic pile of rubble.
Sound-
The music in the game is not very good at all. Typically, I don't even notice it's on, and when I do I wish it wasn't. If only they'd use the music from the Godzilla movies themselves instead of some kind of monster elevator music. The monsters sound pretty good though.
Overall-
In the end, Godzilla: Unleashed is a solid game that is well worth whatever price it's selling for now. It's a lot of fun, both with your friends and alone. It has an excellent roster of monsters that all play a little different than the last, (unless you're playing as one of the monsters who have different versions of themselves, like Godzilla or Mechagodzilla). The controls are probably the biggest issue that the game has, and, (though they make sense when you figure them out), I can't help but wish that this game had been released with a classic controller option or that it had been released on the X-Box instead. Controller complaints aside, this is the best Godzilla game out there right now, and it is well worth your time to at least give it a try.