`Godzilla: Unleashed` Review

21 Apr 2008 at 18:37:16 by Paul Younger
Systems used to review this title: (PS2)

‘Godzilla Unleashed’ is your bog-standard big-monster bash-em-up, aimed at kids who watch

"I had to start off as Godzilla to give the big guy a test run"

cartoon TV channels. Just because it's aimed at kids though, doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it. The 'storyline' is something that would only interest an 8 year old, but so long as you only expect the sort of thing you would get in the computer-generated trash that's supposed to have replaced proper cartoons (i.e. ‘Thundercats’, ‘Bravestarr’, ‘Transformers’, etc.) nowadays then you won't be too disappointed. In fact, you might actually find yourself pleasantly surprised at how much fun you're having.

Of course, I had to start off as Godzilla to give the big guy a test run, but then I went straight to unlocking the other 'factions' to see if anything was different. The short answer is: not really, but so what? Yes, the story has been tweaked, but who cares, right? We're here for monsters and a monster is a monster. What we do have is a story that arbitrarily includes as many of our mega- and mechafriends as possible. Embrace your inner child, forget about cynicism and you'll do just fine. Just don't start trying to critique its story arc, ok? There isn't one.

Picking up the controls is straight forward enough as it's the usual punch/kick/block/special getup. The choice of buttons is a little topsy-turvy to my mind, but that doesn't stop you causing almost instant mayhem after struggling through the opening scenes. (Thankfully you can skip through these once you've worked out that there's nothing useful in them).

Whilst you can happily play just by button-bashing, combo- and special moves are pretty easy to start to pick up too, which makes a change from trying to memorise complex 10-button combos in games like ‘Tekken’. Not that I don't love ‘Tekken’, but this is more of a switch-your-brain-off-and enjoy-the-mess type of game we're playing here.

Combining the individual combos of the monsters as well as being able to earn points to buy even more of their buddies to play with meant that there was something more to get my teeth into (pun intended - apologies) than it first seemed. I'm not saying it would keep me occupied for a whole weekend, but it did take a few run-throughs before I started to get bored, and I have a low boredom threshold.

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