Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

"No baby Godzillas in sight"

There’s no other way to begin this review than by saying: how could you not like a game whose abbreviation is God: DAMM? Poor Godzilla has really been on the short end of the adaptation stick. That NES game, all those Japanese ones never released here, and that Gameboy puzzle game? How does that suit the series?! However a good melee is exactly what the franchise called for. DAMM incorporates a lot of the things we shameless geeks love about our giant radioactive buddy; crushing buildings and wanton destruction, shooting atomic blasts, aliens, attacking armies, and freaky monsters (I have a can opener that’s as fearsome as Gigan). Am I biased towards Godzilla? Yes, in any attempt to maintain objectivity I will admit that. In anything dealing with giant monsters and especially Godzilla, a lot of criticism can simply be tossed aside by pointing out that it’s just a guy in a rubber suit! In all fairness though, the Godzilla suit they use now is great.
A word of warning but on your initial play throughs you will yell at the game and declare cheese constantly. Although once you learn how to properly take the game on, it becomes extremely fun. The biggest contributing factor is the blast moves. All the monsters have an energy blast. Some are stronger, some have great reach, and others freeze you in place. Learning how to properly use these moves is the key to your survival. Once you learn a character, you will know exactly how long to charge for maximum effect, how much energy it uses, and how long until your meter recharges for another attack. There is an attempt at balancing characters and it’s done fairly well. Godzilla is average, Rodan is incredibly fast but is crippled by physical attacks, and Destroyah is a powerhouse but can easily be taken down from a distance. However, Rodan and Mecha-King Ghidorah escape balancing and can ravage anyone if played correctly. Rodan is the fastest, has a great reaction time, can fly, and has a long reach. Mecha Ghidorah’s weapons allow it to pull off a chain of attacks that leave your opponent almost dead time after time, it’s resilient (he is metal after all), and is incredibly strong. There are great characters but some are noticeably missing. They should have included USA Godzilla for fun, why no King Kong and Jet Jaguar?, Hedorrah should have been playable rather than just a hazard, and instead of 90s and 2000 Godzilla they could have had the first Godzilla and 2000. I was never a big Mothra fan so I’m fine with not having her playable (she does show up as a really cheap power-up though). The story is standard B-movie fare. Aliens have taken command of Earth’s monsters, one breaks free, and it’s up to you to stop them. An extra Kudos to the producers for the casting of the main alien. He has THE definitive sci-fi voice.
There sadly are some problems. The camera is your biggest opponent. It swings wildly or goes in way too close. Because DAMM is 3D, your moves are based on the typical away/towards/etc directions rather than specifically up/down/etc. So when the camera swings or your character involuntarily changes direction, your away becomes toward, you do the wrong move, often leaving yourself open to attack. They include a Demolition mode to destroy cities, but it’s all based on the same maps the fighting is staged in. It should have been a Rampage-esq world tour in order to be fun. The game also features great cheat codes (black and white and Technicolor mode, all objects become throwable) but unless you hit the Internet you’ll never find out about them. They should have been unlockable like the extra monsters, art gallery, and cities. Also, there’s a great rendition of the Godzilla March theme but they put it over the credits. I wanted to hear it first thing on the title screen.
Godzilla: DAMM is aimed at a specific audience but if you can sucker your friends into playing it’s colossally fun. After I finally made a good strategy for taking out Mecha Godzilla I jumped up and taunted the game. It’s just that much fun. Now why aren’t they releasing the new Godzilla movie in the US? I think we’ve proved we deserve it after Godzilla 2000. Yes Orga is in the game, and I’m God DAMM good with him.
Final Score- 8.5, rounded down in GameFAQs submission

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/03