Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

"Godzilla: A Perfect 10"

Now where do I start? The Godzilla game franchise has always been subpar...until now. Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee is hands-down the best multiplayer game ever created. The sense of power and destruction is unrivaled. With 11 different monsters and TONS of battlegrounds, this game is diverse. You start off with three mosters, Godzilla 90's, Megalon, and Anguiras. As you play through adventure mode, which is you monster fighting a series of other monsters much like in any other fighting game, you can unlock more monsters. If you play on medium or hard mode, you will be rewarded with gallery items as you crush buildings. I'm a little dissapointed though that the developers didn't include Jet Jaguar, or Space Godzilla in the game, but it's okay, the game still rocks. You also start out with a few battlegrounds and as you complete adventure mode, you are rewarded with more.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay simply rocks. It has never in any game been so fun to fight other people/monsters etc. While fighting in melee combat is one thing, in this game you are able pick up buldings and throw them at your opponent. But its not just limited to buldings. You can pick up ships (yes cargo ships) and throw them at the enemy, or trucks or that annoying freeze tank. Nothing is more satisfying than picking up a giant ship and throwing it at your opponent. Your monster also has a projectile attack with the Z button. This is one of the best parts of the game, but also one of the most unsatisfying. Most breath attacks are very...destructive. But anguiras's sonic breath attack is lacking. While it has a very big area-of-effecticness, its range is very short, so when you charge it up all the way, it knocks the monster back so far that its out of range for further pummeling. Also, none of the monsters breath attacks has a long enough range to shoot all the way across the screen. It makes me mad sometimes that I charge my breath attack all the way and the enemy is on the other side of the map where my attack wont reach. Another interesting note is that the military attacks you also. This is a very interesting part of the game. The most interesting is the occasional freeze tank. I dont know if the freeze tanks have helped me more than hurt me, but they freeze any monster it shoots for a few seconds. Overall, the gameplay recieves a 10.

Audio/Music: 9/10

The sound is good. That's about it. Most of the sounds take place from the army's point of view, like you occasionally hear ''fire at will'' or ''troops move up''. This scores some points for originality. The soundtrack is very good, serving as background music. It does a good job of creating the atmosphere.

Story: 9/10

Just like an old cheesy Godzilla movie, this game achieves the same cheesyness. Aliens called the Vortakk land on Earth to plunder the resources for their own purposes. They take control of the monsters on monster island with their mid control ray. Pretty straight foward, but sets a good stage for adventure mode. I love how the alien commander sounds like he was dubbed really really badly, like other Godzilla movies.

Graphics: 9/10

This game shines. And I mean that literally, the lighting is awesome. Just playing in Tokyo at night makes me drool, though at times it seems too overdone. There doesn't appear to be many graphical glitches in the game, except for the occasional monster-in-the-cliff. This happens when you throw a monster into a cliff on monster island, it appears the moster is through the cliff. Minor problem.

Controls: 10/10

The controls are very easy. No mortal combatesque combo moves like down, down, up, right, B. I mean, anyone who wants to play a game like that, fine. But for me, i love these controls. A direction plus either A, B, or X does its own unique attack. Plus there are 3 mid-air attacks, 3 throw attacks, 1 rage attack, either 1 or 2 breath attacks, and special character-specific moves like Megalons ability to burrow.

Replayability: 10/10

This game is packed to the gills with extra features, gallery items, and secrets. I was playing a LONG time just to collect the gallery items. Plus the rumor of either Space Godzilla or Godzilla 80's kept me playing hard mode, and I wont tell you if there is a secret 12th character ;) you'll have to play for yourself.

This game tops my list of best multiplayer games. While not being the best single player game, it is good enough to keep you playing. As far as either buying or renting, BUY! BUY! BUY! This has one of the best Enjoyment per Dollar spent ratios ever. Bottom like: Godzilla is a flawless game that deserves all the praise it can get.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/03, Updated 02/27/03