GamersCircle

Fifty years ago, Japanese film studio Toho released a black and white monster film that was eventually released in the US (with actor Raymond Burr edited in) as Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Since that time there have been 26 Japanese made film sequels (with an all new filme due out in Japan in December), an all US remake that’s perhaps one of the worst movies of all time and all sorts of merchandising surrounding the 300 foot lizard with the atomic breath, along with all of the other related huge monsters that are a part of the Godzilla legend.

Very soon developer Pipeworks Software and publisher Atari will release their own 50 anniversary celebration with Godzilla: Save The Earth, the next game in the giant monster fighting game series that began in 2002 with the GameCube-Xbox title Godzila: Destroy All Monsters Melee. HomeLAN got a late beta copy of the Xbox version of Godzilla: Save The Earth to check out for ourselves (a PS2 version of the game will also be released).

The storyline for the game is…ah, who are we kidding? The storyline for the single player campaign, such as it is (something about an alien invasion that wants Godzilla’s cells to make new monsters) is just an excuse to have big monsters that tower over skyscrapers beat each other and the surrounding environment up. There are different types of Gozilla to pick from or unlock (both organic and mecha) along with other members of the Godzilla mythos like the flying insect Mothra, the three headed lizard King Ghidorah, and the flying bird-like Rodan among many others among the 18 monsters available in the game.

In addition to each monster having his (her? it?) single player campaign, there are also melee and survival modes where you fight against AI controlled monsters. Versus allows you to play against offline human opponents and the new game now allows for online matches as well (although we didn’t have a chance to test this mode). You unlock new monsters, areas and other content through collecting points while winning matches. One neat new addition are new mini-games called Challenges that, among other things, have your chosen monster protect a skyscraper from being destroyed by flying saucers, sinking attacking battleships and “bowling” down other monsters with giant boulders . These mini-games add to the overall theme of the game; namely, don’t take what’s happening on the screen too seriously.

The fighting system for Godzilla: Save The Earth is pretty similar to the first Pipeworks Godzilla game. Don’t expect these monsters to be quick on their feet; they are lumbering and massive, although some monsters do have special moves like tunneling under the ground or ranged attacks like Godzilla’s own atomic breath. The Xbox version we played looked terrific as well. Not only do the various monsters have detailed character models but the various arenas and environments are more detailed than the originals, complete with pesky human helicopters trying their best to bring you down. And yes, everything in the arenas is destructible.

Pipeworks and Atari looks like they have kept what works in their first Godzilla fighting game for Godzilla: Save The Earth and added in enough new features and improved the graphics so that it doesn’t feel like a remake. The Xbox version we previewed is scheduled to ship on Nov. 9, while the PS2 version (which will have the same content but will likely not be as graphically good looking) is scheduled to ship one week earlier on Nov. 2.

HomeLAN Fed

Related posts:

1. Godzilla: Save The Earth – Xbox version delayed a bit
2. Atari Ships Godzilla: Save the Earth
3. Godzilla Save The Earth
4. Godzilla: Save The Earth Q&A
5. Godzilla to trample landmarks