But what exactly IS Godzilla? Godzilla, the character, is a daikaiju (meaning "Strange Beast"), a type of monster capable of growing to absurd sizes in a short span of time. Godzilla made his debut in the horror film Gojira (released in 1954), where after a nuclear experiment goes horrifically wrong, a little lizard is mutated into everyone's favorite radioactive dinosaur (cause he's RADIOACTIVE! RADIOACTIVE! Whoa oh-oh oh, woah oh-oh he's, RADIOACTIVE! RADIOACTIVE!). He was promptly given the name "Godzilla" as it is a mutation of his original name, Gojira (literally meaning "ape-whale"). Since his debut, Godzilla has appeared in just about every form of media imaginable and is so well-known that slapping the suffix "zilla" at the end of something is universally understood as a Godzilla reference (Baconzilla, Burgerzilla, *Flonnezilla, etc). The interesting thing about the character is that Godzilla himself serves as a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear warfare, as Godzilla wouldn't exist if the government have tried developing nuclear weapons. The main movies are also infamous for their somewhat inconsistent portrayal of the titular creature. Some films portray him as a world saving guardian, others portray him as a malevolent, destructive villain, and others still portray him as a pragmatic anti-hero out to save his own skin. Not that people really care what role Godzilla's playing, as the main reason the Godzilla movies have been as successful as they are is simply because everyone loves seeing a giant radioactive dinosaur beat the tar out of monsters similar in size and power. I've personally been a massive fan of the franchise (I assure this review is not biased lol) basically as long as I remember, as one of the first films I've ever watched was Godzilla: 2000, which sported a tougher, more animalistic design for the Big G (WHICH ISN'T EVEN IN THIS GAME. Sadness), had a neat villain, and some surprisingly funny moments on the human side of the story. I've actually seen almost all the Godzilla films, the only ones I haven't seen being Godzilla vs Megalon (thankfully, from what I've heard, this one is the worst Godzilla movies ever made), Godzilla vs Biollante, which is ironic because Biollante is one of my favorite daikaiju due to her having a really cool design, Godzilla: Resurgence, a remake of the original horror film, and Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, because that's not coming to the United States until next year and I don't feel like going to Japan just to watch a movie. Keep in mind that while I do love the franchise as a whole, I don't think it's perfect. Like Son of Godzilla. Just... Why? Why does that film exist!?
80's Godzilla vs. Type-3 Kiryu!
Which brings us to this game, Godzilla: The Game. Also, before I talk about the game itself, I just want to say the game's description on GameStop/GameFly made me laugh because it literally opens up with "Forget the Dragons from Game of Thrones, here comes the original (atomic) fire-breather!" or something similar, I'm obviously paraphrasing but the simple fact that they have a jab at Game of Thrones is inherently hilarious.
Modern Godzilla vs Destroyah!
On with the review. Godzilla: The Game's story is pretty barebones, but let's be real, how many of you watch a Godzilla movie for the story? A better question would be "How many people know that Godzilla movies even HAVE a story to begin with?". Anyway, in the game's story campaign, after a devastating rampage from the Heisei Godzilla (also known as 80's Godzilla), humanity discovered a way to use G-Energy (the exact same kind of radiation that powers Godzilla) as an energy source, leading to a new era of technological and economical advancement. Unfortunately for humanity, Godzilla wants his G-Energy back. So you take control of Heisei Godzilla and mount a crusade to raid every city in the country, smash and grab that oh-so-precious G-Energy, and beat the tar out of any other daikaiju that has the guts to get in the way. Oh, and also there's some political drama where three governors argue over how to deal with Godzilla, with one being a daikaiju sympathizer who believes that treating everyone's favorite radioactive dinosaur with respect and compassion is the best thing to do, one adopting a "You don't mess with me I don't mess with you" attitude, and one that really wants Godzilla dead... Completely ignoring the fact that unlike a lot of movie monsters *cough cough* King Kong *cough cough* Godzilla is basically immortal, as he can never be permanently destroyed, thanks to him regenerating so quickly Godzilla could give Wolverine from X-Men a run for his money. That's right. The reason why Godzilla is impossible to defeat is not because he's invincible, but because he heals too quickly to make any lasting damage.
Before I talk about the gameplay, Something I need to talk about first is the roster of playable monsters. You see, the reason I'm reviewing the PS4 version of the game, and not the PS3 version, is because the PS4 version lets you play as other daikaiju, each with their own campaign (the PS4 version also has multiplayer). Unfortunately, some daikaiju are absurdly overpowered while others are laughably weak by comparison. For example, you can cheese almost every boss battle in the game as Mothra's Larva form, simply because her hitbox is (relatively speaking) so small that most attacks sail over her head, with very few exceptions. Likewise, Biollante (pronounce "Bye-OH-Lawn-TAY") has absurdly far reaching melee attacks, letting her essentially juggle her opponents with almost no challenge whatsoever. An example of an underpowered daikaiju would be Jet Jaguar, who, while having some really fun combos to work with, suffers from being the only daikaiju without a projectile attack, meaning if he has to fight King Ghidorah (who can spam lightning bolts), Hedorah (who takes almost no damage from melee attacks) or Biollante (who has the aforementioned reach) he's going to have a painfully difficult time.
80's Godzilla vs. Modern Godzilla! It's the ULTIMATE
SHOWDOWN OF ULTIMATE DESTINY!!!
Oh, and while this is kind of off-topic, something I wish was a thing was that Shin Godzilla and Plant of the Monsters Godzilla were in this game. For those not in the know, shortly after Legendary Pictures made their own Godzilla Movie (which I will refer to as Modern Godzilla), Toho (the company that owns and created Godzilla) released a live action film known as Godzilla: Resurgence, a remake of the original horror film that started it all, which became (in)famous for having a more demonic/eldritch design for the atomic dinosaur, which was nicknamed "Shin Godzilla" (because the Japanese title of the movie is Shin Godzilla). After that Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters was announced to come out sometime next year (Japan gets a theatrical release, everywhere else gets it on Netflix), and that is an anime series/movie, where Godzilla is no longer radioactive and now solar-powered, as well as bearing an uncanny resemblance to Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. I understand that neither of them existed when this game was released but the more I play this game the more I want another game in the same style (just with a better control scheme) with both Shin Godzilla and Planet of the Monsters Godzilla. Especially Shin Godzilla, as that incarnation is the living personification of Nightmare Fuel at it's finest. Seriously, that design is so grotesque it wouldn't look out of place in Dark Souls.
Super Mechagodzilla vs the original Mechagodzilla!
On to the actual gameplay. The thing that hurts this game most is it's somewhat bizarre and dated control scheme. You can use the left analog stick to move, the right analog to adjust the camera, very standard things. But here's where it gets weird. Every daikaiju in the game has tank controls, a la Resident Evil 4. In other words, you have to hold a button down to turn your monster around, otherwise the daikaiju just strafes. The strafing would be nice if you could fire projectiles while moving, but you have to stand still to fire projectiles (unless your daikaiju can fly, in which case they can move and shoot simultaneously, but only in flight). Additionally, it's way too easy to juggle and get juggled in this game, due to the fact you only have two methods of blocking, the first being roaring, but the roaring animation on almost all the daikaiju is so slow you need near psychic reflexes to pull it off in time (and you can't roar if you're trapped in the opponent's combos), and the other being the Emergency Counter, a move every daikaiju has that pushes the opponent back, inflicts a fair amount of damage, and gives your daikaiju a moment to heal, but this has to be charged up. While you do get used to the controls after a while, the fact there isn't a conventional block is rather irksome. Especially since the previous Godzilla game, Godzilla: Unleashed, actually DID have a conventional block.
Anyway, the two main modes, God of Destruction Mode (play as 80's Godzilla and take back your G-Energy) and Invade Mode (play as any daikaiju of your choice and compete in a race against time to gather up as much G-Energy as possible), make up the bread and butter of the game. The former contains the game's story, and has a nostalgic feeling to it, due to it paying loving homage to the older Godzilla movies. However, Invade Mode is my personal favorite mode, as seeing my favorite daikaiju (Biollante, King Ghidorah, Gigan, etc) finally get a hard earned victory after spending decades as the Big G's punching bags is INCREDIBLY satisfying.
Gigan vs Modern Godzilla!
Speaking of the daikaiju, you know how I mentioned that they can grow to absurd sizes? Well this game lets you grow daikaiju even to even larger sizes! The more stuff you destroy, the larger your daikaiju grows. The larger the daikaiju, the stronger it becomes. While you start the campaign at 50 meters (164.042 ft), you can grow a daikaiju up to 100 METERS. For those that don't use the metric system, that is 328.024 ft. Speaking of 100 meters, you need to reach that height in order to access the true ending and final boss battle. Keep in mind that if a daikaiju is canonically taller than 50 meters, they start at that height from the get go. The most hilarious example of this is Modern Godzilla, who clocks in at 108 meters, meaning he's at max size the moment you start his campaign (you still have to destroy everything to get the true ending/final boss battle as him though).
Super Mechagodzilla can shoot RAINBOWS!!!
There's also Defend mode, a third set of campaigns that only Mothra, Mecha-King Ghidorah, Jet Jaguar, Super Mechagodzilla and Type-3 Kiryu can undergo. Basically, instead of destroying everything to grow larger and more powerful, the Defending daikaiju have to keep the damage to a minimum in order to grow. How the various Mecha- daikaiju can grow when they are all made of metal is beyond me. The only criticism I have here is they definitely needed more daikaiju compatible with this mode as five (technically six, Mothra's adult and larva forms count as separate characters) out of 25 playable monsters is not enough. At least have half the roster able to go on a Defend campaign! Not one fifth of it!
Why are there so many pictures of Mechagodzilla!?
Rant about the available Defend-friendly daikaiju aside, Defend mode offers a nice change of pace from the regular stages. It would just be better if you could play as even more daikaiju besides Mothra and the various Mechas (and Kiryu). Although this mode is notably easier than the main campaign. There's also King of Kaiju mode, which is a boss rush where your chosen daikaiju must fight several bosses in a row. And you're being timed. This mode is not as fun or engaging as the other two, but it's good for grinding.
Type-3 Kiryu in all of his glory!
Oh, did I mention grinding? Because there's grinding. You see, to can exchange Cells/Parts for upgrades for all the playable daikaiju. How do you get Cells and Parts? Either by playing as the daikaiju in question or defeating that specific daikaiju in either the main campaign or the Defend campaign. The quickest way to get Cells and Parts is to play as the desired daikaiju and complete a round of King of Kaiju mode.
King Ghidorah vs 80's Godzilla!
Unfortunately, most of the daikaiju get the short end of the stick when it comes to upgrades. 80's, 60's and Burning/Meltdown Godzilla have by far the most upgrades, getting branching skill trees that unlock new attacks, provide upgrades to their respective Energy Beams, and even let them use the Emergency Counter several times in a row. What does everyone else get? Faster recharge times for their respective projectiles, and the ability to use projectile attacks up to three times in succession. That's it.
Biollante is one of my favorite Godzilla
villains ever, but the English dub butchered
her name...
And finally, there's the Kaiju Guide and Diorama Mode, the former containing the origin story for each daikaiju (and even some daikaiju that were planned for this game but scrapped due to time constraints, such as Grand King Ghidorah, Monster X, and Ebirah), and the latter letting you pose collectible figurines and take snapshots with them, respectively. I haven't really touched Diorama Mode, mostly because I consider features of that nature to be boring, but that's really subjective. The Kaiju Guide, on the other hand, is actually one of the best things about the game, as not only does it contain the origin story of each daikaiju, it also contains trivia about the daikaiju in question, such as their exact measurements and the thought process that went into their designs. Did you know Godzilla was originally going to be a squid? He was changed to a dinosaur because Toho had difficulty making a giant squid rampage through cities and making it look like an actual rampage. The Dinosaur motif not only looked cooler, but also was much simpler, since having one man body-act everything while in a suit was less awkward than having 20+ people operate a giant squid puppet. Both creatures were radioactive and could shoot energy beams out of their mouths, though.
Multiplayer!
As for the presentation, this is by far the best looking Godzilla game to date. Given this is a franchise infamous for it's cheesy visuals, that is not saying much. But seriously, this game looks really good on PS4. The daikaiju models are particularly impressive, as you can see each scale of the various Godzillas, and the immense foliage growing haphazardly on Biollante's body, or the surprisingly elaborate detail on Mothra's wings. The more metallic daikaiju look, well, metallic, which is a good thing, because, you know, they are SUPPOSED to be made of metal. All the special effects are also nice, as the older daikaiju (Mechagodzilla, Hedorah, etc) have a blurrier, deliberately cheesy aesthetic that matches the time period of their debut, while more recent daikaiju (Biollante, Modern Godzilla, Kiryu, etc) have a cleaner, crisper feel to them. The same applies to their abilities, as all the energy beams, explosions, and lightning bolts look like they've been pulled straight out of the movies.
This is one of Godzilla's more ridiculous upgrades.
The environments are pretty forgettable, but hey, you're supposed to destroy as much of the map as possible while you complete the main objective (unless you're doing a Defend campaign). A neat little detail is that the more of the map is destroyed, the foggier the area becomes. By the time you destroy 80% of the map, the background is almost completely obscured by the smoke and debris caused by your daikaiju. Of course, this is a double-edged sword, as while it's thematically fitting and instills the feeling that you are an unstoppable force of nature, if you're trying to go for 100% destruction rate, that smoky haze is going to hide those last few buildings you need to smash for 100%.
Also, the cinematics are nice. They are few and far between, but they're nice. The way cinematics work is that, with the lone exception of the various Godzillas (sans Modern Godzilla), every daikaiju gets a cinematic when you encounter them for the first time, and for the most part, the cinematics are fun to watch. Except for Hedorah and Battra (Larva form), as both use a lackluster shot of them walking up and firing their respective projectiles using the gameplay engine. Everyone else gets fully-rendered CGI cutscenes that are surprisingly faithful recreations of iconic moments from the films the daikaiju made their debut in, highlights include Mechagodzilla II doing his signature salute before flying out of the underground base from the film Terror of Mechagodzilla, a massive inferno suddenly appearing and then morphing into King Ghidorah, Gigan breaking free of his stone prison, and perhaps the most epic of them all goes to the game's opening cutscene, which you'll see when you turn the game on.
Even MORE Multiplayer!
As for the sound, Godzilla: The Game has sound effects pulled straight from the movies, including but not limited to Godzilla's iconic roar (which is apparently transcribed as "SKREEONK!!!"), to the sound of Godzilla's footsteps. Heck, every daikaiju gets a pretty awesome roar. The only thing this game didn't do right in this department was Hedorah, whose quote-end-quote "roar" (which is more akin to really high-pitched beep than a roar) plays absurdly frequently when attacking, which is literally the only reason why I don't like playing as him/her (Hedorah was never given a canon gender), as it gets really annoying really quickly. As for the music, the only real songs in the soundtrack that stand out are the main theme (plays during the intro and whenever you fight any variation of Godzilla, sans Burning Godzilla), the Jet Jaguar theme (only plays when fighting against Jet Jaguar and sadly never plays if you play AS Jet Jaguar), and the final boss theme. But when these songs play, you know things are about to get serious. My only gripe music wise is they should have made it so if you are playing AS Jet Jaguar, his personal theme overrides the generic battle theme, instead of restricting it to his boss battle. And finally, the thing that I consider to be the worst part of the game, is the voice acting. Specifically, the English voice acting.
Mecha-King Ghidorah vs 80's Godzilla (with Space
Godzilla in the background)!
Why do I have a problem with the English voice acting? My biggest gripe is with the pronunciation of the daikaiju's names, as their pronunciation is wrong at best, cringey at worst. For example, King Ghidorah is supposed to be pronounced, "King Guh-DOOR-ah". The English dub pronounces it, "King Gee-durr-ah". The biggest offender is Biollante, whose name is pronounced, "Bye-OH-Lawn-TAY". The English dub gives it the incredibly stupid sounding, "BEE-oh-LAN-tee". It's not just the pronunciation errors, either. Most of the dialogue comes across as corny, but then again, this IS Godzilla we're talking about. If a Godzilla film has good acting in it, then that's a stroke of sheer luck. The only movies that had good acting on the human side of things were Modern Godzilla's movie, the '98 Godzilla movie (yes, I praised the 1998 Godzilla movie, it's actually a lot better than every Godzilla fan on the planet would have you believe), and the Heisei-era movies, but that may be personal bias because the Heisei movies are my personal favorite out of the franchise. Back on subject, the governors and the G-Force Operator also have some particularly cheesy/melodramatic dialogue, and the game LOVES to reuse dialogue. I do like Hatogaya, the governor that sympathizes with Godzilla's need to replenish his G-Energy supply, though. Also, a minor gameplay mechanic exclusive to 80's era Godzilla's campaign, is every map has four "data points" and if you have Godzilla stand still at these locations, the camera angle will lock at a dramatic angle and the game will take a screen shot (which, along with reaching 100m size, is a requirement for the true ending). What's funny about this is the timer until the picture is taken is complete, you can hear a random soldier make a remark, all of which are hilarious. Highlights include "Say 'Cheese', Godzilla!" and "WHY IS HE LOOKING RIGHT AT ME!?".
If you look at 80's Godzilla's face long enough,
he's actually kind of cute. Is that weird?
But overall, I give Godzilla: The Game an 8/10. The biggest flaws in this game are the awkward control scheme, the somewhat unbalanced roster, and the English dub being laughably bad. Or so bad, it's good. Depends on your tolerance. Oh, and this goes without saying, but add or subtract a point if you are either a fan or detractor of the Godzilla franchise. The films, with the exception of the 2014 Hollywood movie, are an acquired taste. And Godzilla: The Game is essentially a giant interactive love-letter to the older (read: before 2014 made Godzilla cool and mainstream) movies. But hey, once you get used to the controls, this is one heck of a fun, destructive, nostalgic, and EXTREMELY cathartic ride.
*- Disgaea references for the win!
P.S. Anyone who isn't jamming out to Blue Oyster Cult while reading this review is seriously missing out. I had it blaring off my laptop the whole time I was writing this!
hi thanks for the review. I cannot play this game though because i do not have a ps4. I also share your enthusiasm for the Godzilla
ReplyDeletefranchise and i would have to disagree that Godzilla vs Biolante is
one of the worst the worst in my opinion is Godzilla vs Hedorah but that is beside the point. Your description of the game was great thanks for making this review and I hope to see other game reviews you make.
Thank you for the positive feedback! And if you want more video game reviews, this blog is literally full of them. That's like my thing. Reviewing movies and video games. And finding excuses to talk about my favorite franchises. That too.
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