Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

"Godzilla has entered the area. Please evacuate the city immediately."

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Uaaaahhhhh!! Gojira da!!!
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Godzilla movies are awesome. I personally have grown up watching them (I lived in Japan during my youth) and own 19 of them on both VHS and DVD. Yes, I know that it's painfully obvious that Godzilla and friends are just guys in rubber suits, but there is something curiously compelling about watching the Big G stomp his way through various Japanese cities causing extreme mayhem and destruction. Being the huge G Fan that I am, when I first learned of the upcoming release of Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters Melee (God: DaMM) for the GameCube I was beside myself with excitement. Who wouldn’t want to play as Godzilla and his various gigantic friends and advisories in an intense multiplayer fighting game! So did the final product live up to my expectations? Read on to find out...

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Who Needs Dragon Punches When You Have Radioactive Breath?
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The gameplay in God: DaMM is simple. You brawl against other Kaiju (Japanese world for large monster) in cities across the world to see who is the true king of the monsters. There are typical fighting moves to be found such as: Strong, weak, grapple, projectile and special attacks. Controlling your Kaiju is a breeze. In fact, that might be one of the game’s biggest weaknesses: It’s just too damn easy. You’ll master each Kaiju after playing through only a few times and long combos are nowhere to be found. I suppose it makes sense because in the movies Godzilla never pulls off any 21-hit combos, but it still limits the lasting appeal of the game.

Because God: DaMM is a fighting game at heart, there is no story to speak of. Sure, there is some mumbo-jumbo about aliens using the monsters to take control of the planet, but it's not elaborated on and is just an excuse (and a pretty sorry excuse at that) to pit the kaiju against each other. It would have been nice to see some more effort put into the game's cutscenes, as they are extremely short and extremely cheesy.

The line-up of combatants is varied and has many of the most popular kaiju including: Godzilla '90s (a version of the Big G based on his films of the '90s), Godzilla 2000 (the Godzilla from the film of the same name), Rodan (the popular flying kaiju), Gigan (monster with huge buzz-saw on its chest), Megalon (bug-like kaiju with good all around abilities), King Ghidora (this powerful flying monster is Godzilla's arch enemy), Mecha King Ghidora (a more powerful version of the original), MechaGodzilla ('90s version of the powerful robotic Godzilla imitator), Destroyah (massive kaiju capable of doing serious damage), Anguirus (scrappy four-legged monster with a spiked shell) and Orga (slow but powerful kaiju). I wish that some other monsters would have made the cut, such as Titanosaurus, Biolante, Mothra (she is only in the game as a power-up), MechaGodzila '75 and Baragon, but I suppose they need something for the sequel...

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Guys In Rubber Suits Have Never Looked So Good
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The visuals in Godzilla: DaMM are quite good, certainly the best ever in a Godzilla game. You can actually see the rough textures on each of the Kaiju, and their skin flexes and moves realistically. There are some cool graphical effects in the game such as the particles that are created when using a projectile attack and the flickering lights when a building is struck during a night battle. The buildings and environments are not very detailed, but they certainly don’t look bad. Most likely the lack of detail in the environment is to help keep the framerate solid and it works for the most part. Slowdown is very rare and only shows up briefly in heated 4-player matches.

The kaiju themselves are all modeled to look nearly identical to their big-screen counterparts. Little touches like King Ghidora waving its three heads spastically and Gigan clanging his metallic arms together are all animated very well and add to the game's realism.

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Ahhh...The Cacophony Of Destruction
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All of the monster’s roars are taken straight from the Japanese Toho movies and they sound amazing. When King Ghidora lets out his high pitched “roar” in the game it sounds just like he does in the movies. I was worried that a Western developer would botch the small details, but Infogrames did a good job in keeping the authenticity of the Japanese movies. The only problem with this is that many of the people who know nothing about Godzilla movies think that many of the Kaiju sounds are lame. Well in my opinion they can go watch the American version of Godzilla (which was a travesty) for all I care, so long as they aren’t bothering me. All of the other sound effects are well done and add to the overall gaming experience. I was disappointed that Godzilla’s main theme is only played during the final credits, but, hey, at least it’s in there right?

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There Goes Tokyo...Again
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This game is incredibly fun in multiplayer...and that’s the extent of its longevity. There are a few gallery pictures which can be unlocked, but with only a handful of monsters available you’ll be hard pressed to come back much to play the 1-player mode. Fortunately, as mentioned above, the game is very fun when played with friends, so as long as you have 4 controllers and buddies to play with you’ll be all right.

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Gigantic Fun For All
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In the end, God: DaMM is a very good game that fighting fans and Godzilla enthusiasts will surely enjoy. It isn’t quite as deep as I would have liked, but I am just happy to be getting an authentic Godzilla product that is based on the Toho movies. It doesn’t rank up there with Super Smash Bros Melee in terms of game modes and depth, but what other game allows you to have a four way brawl in downtown Osaka between Godzilla, King Ghidora, Mecha Godzilla and Rodan? Long live the Big G!

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Review Recap
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Gameplay: 8 – Control is responsive and intuitive, but the fighting is slightly basic.
Visuals: 8 – The Kaiju look very close the their big-screen Toho counterparts. Cities are not quite detailed or expansive enough.
Sound: 10 – Excellent. Monster roars and other sound effects are lifted straight from the Toho films!
Music: 6 – Not enough use of the great Akira Ifukube's wonderful Godzilla score.
Lasting Appeal: 6 – There aren't quite enough monsters, and the single player lacks depth.
Personal Tilt: 10 – Battling it out with the Big G and company is great fun, especially in multiplayer.

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Final Score: 7.8 (rounded up to 8 for GameFAQs)
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Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/03, Updated 07/19/03