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Godzilla Unleashed Review for PlayStation 2 (PS2)

Godzilla Unleashed Review for PlayStation 2 (PS2)

King of the Monsters

Godzilla is one of the most iconic monsters in the world. The misunderstood giant green lizard is recognizable and beloved around the world. Where else can you find a giant, green, super-strong monster devoted to protecting the earth? Okay, not counting the Incredible Hulk. Godzilla’s appeal and his epic battles to protect the world make him an obvious fit for a translation to video games, where he and the dozens of monsters made famous by his movies can clash and entertain fans. While the recently released Godzilla Unleashed attempts to convey the monster’s appeal to video games, their admirable attempt fails to create an experience that is deserving of Godzilla’s prodigious allure.

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  • 2x the graphic processing power of Quest 2 with the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
  • Mixed reality blends virtual elements and physical space
  • 4K+ Infinite display
  • 3D audio with enhanced clarity and bass
  • Touch Plus controllers deliver a more intuitive experience
  • Library of over 500 titles
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Godzilla Unleashed screenshot

Godzilla Unleashed begins with the discovery of mysterious crystals that have the ability to empower the gigantic monsters that populate the Earth. The story mode of the game revolves around the different factions of monsters and their quest to recover the crystals, which some of them to unpredictable results. The different factions all have different agendas, so they clash in their pursuit of the crystals. This sets the stage for the monsters to battle. The story isn’t incredibly important, nor is it especially compelling, although most fighting games don’t require much depth. Like most games, all that is needed to know is that your opponents stand in the way of your goal and that you must take them down.

The bulk of Godzilla Unleashed is spent in combat. You begin the game as part of the Earth Defender faction, which gives you access to Godzilla, Anguirus, or Fire Rodan. The game gives you a cutscene which introduces the conflict through poorly written dialogue and then places you in an environment where you must battle against opponents from the various factions. Here is where the game falls short in a number of areas, and since the bulk of the game takes place in combat, the entire game feels a bit unpolished.

Godzilla Unleashed screenshot

To begin, the control scheme is a very unintuitive. Your monster is controller by the analog stick, but all of them move sluggishly. This may have been done intentionally to convey their bulkiness, but slow controls in a fighting game, where reflexes can make or break the match, is usually the kiss of death. The attacks are mapped to the face buttons, and throwing, jumping, and energy attacks are performed by using the shoulder buttons. The controls may have worked better for a different game, but the slow moving characters onscreen make it difficult to figure out which button corresponds to which attack, especially for people used to more responsive gameplay. To add insult to injury, the priority seems a bit random, so in close combat Godzilla Unleashed devolves into random button mashing to beat your opponent. The loser is often knocked away from the combat in a floaty arc, where they finally collide with the ground and then roll for an unnecessary length of time before becoming battle ready again. The A.I. makes the energy attacks nearly useless, as they block as soon as you begin to charge an energy blast. Since you can only charge for so long before releasing while the block is indefinite, they seem to block any energy attack that isn’t performed while they are otherwise occupied, such as when they are carrying a building to attack you with. The energy attacks aren’t very useful anyway, since if you aren’t pointed in the direction of your foe you’ll fire blindly at whatever object is in front of you until you exhaust your attack, leaving you open for attack. The collision detection is also unreliable, so it is difficult to tell when your attacks should be used. Most of the time it is simpler to complete other objectives when they are available, since in some battles you can win by completing another task like destroying the stage’s crystals. Since the battles aren’t fun, it is easier to trek about the stage smashing the crystals instead of fighting the opponent, which will probably be busy with your ally on select stages anyway.

Meta Quest 3 128GB - Asgard’s Wrath 2 Bundle
  • 2x the graphic processing power of Quest 2 with the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
  • Mixed reality blends virtual elements and physical space
  • 4K+ Infinite display
  • 3D audio with enhanced clarity and bass
  • Touch Plus controllers deliver a more intuitive experience
  • Library of over 500 titles
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Godzilla Unleashed screenshot

The graphics in Godzilla Unleashed are decidedly last gen. The visuals look like they came from a game at the beginning of the PS2’s life cycle. The monsters animate so stiffly that at times it is difficult to discern what it is they are doing, and the framerate seems to jump randomly. The buildings that you pick up look more like painted boxes than actual edifices. There is no feeling of the scale that the game is attempting to convey, so although you are supposed to be controlling giant monsters fighting across a cityscape, you actually feel as if you’re controlling plastic figurines traipsing across a toy city. The buildings have almost no feeling of weight and collapse as if they were nothing more than paper cutouts. The human presence in the game is neglible, with military attacks that are nearly unnoticeable, although again that may be intentional.

Godzilla Unleashed screenshot

The sounds in Godzilla are not memorable at all. The background music is largely forgettable and the sound effects during gameplay don’t seem to match the epic battles occurring onscreen. Even worse is the atrocious voice acting that accompanies the between battle cutscenes, with bad dialogue and sorry acting. Since the game is world spanning, you’ll hear obviously English voice actors attempting various accents with varying degrees of success, although they are all, for the most part, far from Oscar worthy.

One of the game’s biggest assets is its impressive roster of monsters. Godzilla Unleashed boasts 23 playable monsters throughout the game, so if you have a favorite, chances are you’ll find them represented here. Toho, the original creators of Godzilla, even approved a few new monsters that are exclusive to this title. However, the drawback to the number of monsters is the lengths that you go through to unlock the monsters. You’ll have to play through the game to earn credits to unlock monsters, and the number of credits that each monster costs ensures that you’ll have to play through the game for a long time. Even worse, before you can unlock a particular monster, you have to unlock the faction that that monster belongs to. After unlocking a faction, you can play through the story mode using the initially unlocked monsters from that faction, but the more impressive monsters require credits to play as. Using different factions to play through the game changes the story and the objectives slightly, but it amount of credits per monster is a bit steep and feels like a cheap way to increase the game’s length.

Beyond the story mode, there is a multiplayer mode that supports up to four players in combat with the unlocked monsters. Of course, the use of four human players at a single time can make the fighting a bit messy, with the screen pulling out to show everyone when there is a great distance between players and zooming in on combat when everyone is close. However, with the camera zoomed in it can be difficult to follow the action, as the monsters can block the view of the field at inopportune times.

Godzilla Unleashed is not the best fighting game available by far. Its sole redeeming quality is the incredible number of monsters that are available in the game. Fans of Godzilla may find that to be a refreshing tribute to the icon, but they must decide for themselves if that is reason enough to purchase the game. There is a Wii version that will be available shortly, however, which may prove superior to the PlayStation 2 version. Fans eager to get their hands on this game may want to hold out for the Wii version, which we will be reviewing shortly. Hopefully the Wii, which is more powerful than the aging PS2, will be able to improve upon the visuals and present a better control scheme. However, if you aren’t a fan of Godzilla and can’t tell the difference between Ghidorah and Mothra, you’d probably do better to stay away.

Features:

Meta Quest 3 128GB - Asgard’s Wrath 2 Bundle
  • 2x the graphic processing power of Quest 2 with the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
  • Mixed reality blends virtual elements and physical space
  • 4K+ Infinite display
  • 3D audio with enhanced clarity and bass
  • Touch Plus controllers deliver a more intuitive experience
  • Library of over 500 titles
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
  • Multiplayer modes supporting up to four players;
  • A completely redesigned massively destructive 3D fighting system;
  • Innovative and re-playable non-linear storyline
  • 23 playable monsters including classic and new Toho (original creators of Godzilla) approved monsters;
  • A minimum of eight intensely destructible environments featuring partial building pieces and updated physics;
  • Inventive fighting mechanics including power-up upgrades, breath weapons, hand-to-hand combat, grappling moves, and more.

    RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.5 Graphics
    Visuals look like they belong on an early PS2 title. 2.4 Control
    Clunky controls mar the gameplay. 2.6 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
    Bad voice acting and negible sound effects. 2.8 Play Value
    Play through as multiple factions, versus mode adds slightly to replayability. 2.5 Overall Rating – Average
    Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

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