Of all the possible movie
franchises, Godzilla seems like a no-brainer for a classic video game. I mean, really, all
of the elements are already there: huge, fearsome, monsters with super powers brawling
across the largest populated cities in the world. The King of Monsters series on the Neo
Geo did a good job with this premise, and Rampage had a little fun parodying it, but
cmon, we want Godzilla! Well, Infogrames and Pipeworks are currently making this
dream a reality for Gamecube owners in the form of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. The story has aliens
trying to take over the Earth by unleashing Godzillas most fearsome enemies to
destroy the biggest cities on the planet. Fans will recognize this as the exact
"plot" from Destroy All Monsters, the classic cult film and basis for the
game.
Game
features include 14 different playable monsters and 8 cities to demolish. Screenshots show
Godzilla, Mecha Godzilla, and Rodan. Given the games namesake, we can probably count
on Mothra, Angilas, Minya, and King Ghidrah showing up as well. Each monster will be able
to fight using hand to hand and close range combat, as well as special moves and
specialized projectiles, such as Godzillas blue flame. During the course of battle,
the cities will be demolished realistically with real time physics. Also, human military
forces will enter into the fray to try to take the monsters down and save their fair
cities.
But I
havent gotten to the best part yet
the 4-player multiplayer mode. Your favorite
monsters from Godzilla, destructible cities, human interlopers, and three of your buddies
to duke it out with, I dont have to tell you how cool that sounds.
The graphics
look terrific. There are huge, sprawling cities complete with detailed billboards, street
signs, landscaping, and rivers. And the cities look as if they have been modeled pretty
closely on the real thing (I am no world traveler, so dont ask me which cities I am
looking at, but it is a pretty safe bet that Tokyo will be included). The sense of scale
is dead onthese monsters are huge. There is a lot of detail worked into the monsters
as well. The texture of Godzillas skin is wonderful and the different facial
expressions (snarl, glare, roar) show promise. He even has that dead-eyed stare going on.
Amazing real time effects like lighting, particles, and building deformation top it all
off.
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee is still listed as coming soon. As far as I am
concerned, it cant come soon enough.