Godzilla: Save the Earth

"A couple steps foreward, several steps back."

Well, this is it. Finally, the review from the most controversial, influential, famous, no, INFAMOUS, outspoken, critical, (and damn handsome too) member of the G: STE GameFaqs message board, me, your hero and role model, Johnny B.G. Danger. Perhaps you saw my review for the GameCube entry in the G-Series, 2002's Godzilla: DAMM. I believe I scored it a 6. Would've been much lower if I wasn't a Godzilla fan. Well, Pipeworks has just released the sequel (conclusion?) to its Godzilla series, and I'm here to give you the info on it yet again.

Graphics: 7/10

Most of the monsters are reproduced faithfully. I STILL have a problem with Gigan's incorrect color scheme, not to mention the fact that Rodan should be red since its his Heisei version we seee in the game. Some of the old monsters like Angilas were improved this go round, and the newcomers are a mixed bag with Jet Jaguar and MOGERA in particular looking wonderful, but Space Godzilla being a bit of a dissapointment. Not to mention the MUCH too big and completely out of scale Mothra larva. They were too lazy to even color in it's eyes for god's sake!

I have noticed a bit of slowdown in the game, especially when multiple monsters are on screen. The levels look nice for the most part, and they are much bigger than those found in God:DAMM. The undersea/outerspace 'rail shooter' levels look crappy in my opinion. The cinemas in the game are TERRIBLY done, in fact they're on par with Final Fantasy VII's cinemas from an entire console generation and almost 10 years ago.

The weapon effects are MUCH nicer this go round, Godzilla's blast isn't the dissapointing thin laser blast we saw last time, Mothra's beams are more suitable for her, etc.

And I've gotta say I totally dug the title screen, which starts off in Japanese then the American title for the game appears.

Unfortunately, the buildings still melt into the ground just like before. I'm also dissapointed with the water effects in the game, as, for giant monsters, there really aint much splashing involved when they enter, leave, and move around in bodies of water in the game.

Some of the clipping errors have been fixed, unlike the PS2 version which looks awful.

Sound: 5.5/10

Another dissapointment. While most of the monsters have good, strong roars straight from the movies...I DESPISE the fact that MOGERA's "roar" is....saying its own name in a robotic voice like some kind of damned Pokemon.

Once again for some unforseen reason, despite earlier claims to the contrary, the BGM is ALL original music, and ONCE AGAIN the ONLY time an authentic Toho track appears is the Godzilla March during the end credits. Also, Ghidora's beams have a horribly annoying electric shock sound. At least they fixed the problem from God:DAMM where Rodan sometimes used Angilas' roar. And oddly enough, Kiryu/MG3 has MG1's roar during certain animations. When you combine that and the fact that MG2 has MG1's finger missles, you gotta wonder why they didnt just go ahead and put the popular alien machine in the game.

The other sound is alright. The beam sounds (except Ghidora's) are all nice and loud, especially a fully charged Godzilla blast. Sadly most of the physical combat impact sounds are pretty crappy and sound somewhat out of place, especially an annoying "chomp" sound. You REALLY need Toho music for these games. Which reminds me. Pipeworks FOR NO REASON AT ALL chose to remove custom soundtrack support, something that was in God:DAMM. This is a pointless decision, and I truly, truly hate them for it. I blame the inferior technology of the PS2, and the gaming community's unhealthy obsession with making games equal for all platforms, which caused downloadable content and custom tracks to be yanked from the X-Box version. I wish they'd stop catering to inferior hardware.

Controls: 7/10

No real complaints, here, but no innovations either. There's no new control features added from last game, except for the ability to catch thrown objects with the grab button, and the fact that most monsters now have a special ability activated by pressing R and L at the same time. Other than that, everything is still the same.

Story: 2/10

Well, its, uh...just barely better than last year. The lame ass "Vortaak" are back again (Whats the matter, Pipeworks? Toho wanted too much coin to use "Xians" or "Kilaaks"?") This time they want "G-Cells to create the ultimate monster". That's the last you'll see of the story, period. Unless you beat the game on Hard, you're then treated to a short cinema of crappy proportions. This is where Pipeworks REALLY dropped the ball, when they, at their own admission, took out any semblance of a TRUE story mode to get online functionality in the game. Horrible choice, really. All the promised features are gone from the game, from the Godzilla inspired story mode, to certain much ballyhooed levels (Anyone find that amusement park with monster statues that come alive yet?) were all cut, not to mention monsters such as Biollante. But I digress. That leads me to...

Gameplay: 6.5/10

Once again, same story as last year. The bigger levels add to the game, but I dont find the monsters move lists quite as revamped as was promised. Once again, you can find 2-3 useful attacks per creature to exploit, and forget about the rest. Some of the new monsters are nice to play as, I had a BLAST zipping around on MOGERA's treads and blasting away with his weapon aresenal, but I was vastly dissapointed when controlling the slow as molasses Space Godzilla who requires energy for just about any effective move as Pipeworks has for some reason chosen to make him highly reliant on telekenesis.

I am very much dismayed at the removal of so many previously announced features of the game for an online mode (That from what I hear is next to impossible to find people to even play against).

Multiplayer matches can be tough because of the awful overhead camera angle, and once again the single player experience is painfully similar to last go round's.

I also just discovered another HORRIBLE feature in this game. If you leave it sitting on the post match "Press any button to continue" screen for more than 2 minutes or so...THE GAME RESETS ITSELF FOR NO REASON. Wow. Brilliant, guys. Just bloody brilliant. Now, let me move on to the signature Johnny Danger exclusive...

GOD DAMN THIS CHEATING GAME!! Factor: 8/10

Yeah. It can be pretty bad. Once again the CPU monsters run off screen to collect invisable powerups, sometimes before they even appear (A "feature" of the game, according to Pipeworks staff). The "get up" attacks are now unblockable and the CPU will exploit this to their fullest extent. Dont play this game on Hard unless you want to break something. Gigan will teleport behind you ANY time you try and use a beam or pick up a building. Megalon will start to tunnel, as will Baragon (Who for some reason can not be blasted out of his ultra-slow burrowing animation). Mothra will deflect all of your beams, and for some odd reason, Megalon actually is healed by weapons like MG3's beam.

Then lets factor in that if you grab a computer opponent and hold them for more than a second (On Hard) they will break free, but, good luck doing that back to them. Its unfortunate, the game is far too easy on Medium, and Hard is a heart attack waiting to happen. I also hate the method of unlocking monsters this time, as instead of beating it with certain characters, you now must earn "points" by achieving a new high score. So until you do that, you get no new points, and everything stays locked.

Extras: 3/10

Another disapointment. The extra monsters are obvious, but they also have two different galleries. One is filled mainly with concept art, the other, stills and art from the upcoming GODZILLA: Final Wars....all of which were previously released online, making this kind of a downer.

Overall: 7/10

Maybe its my extreme Godzilla fandom that causes me to rate this mediocre game somewhat higly (A 7 is quite high for me. There's no game I've ever given a 10, and only a handfull of 9's.). I just expect much more, I really do. I know you people wont agree with me (At least not my fellow message boarders) but thats fine. I just want a better Godzilla game for all of us.

Replay Value: 4/10

I've had the game for 24 hours, and have already unlocked all the monsters and beaten the game several times over. I don't play online, so, the game is already done for me. I guess if you play online, and can find others who do the same, have fun...but as a 22 year old who works just about every day and doesnt have time to get together with friends...yeah. I hate hate HATE when single player experiences are toned down for multi player, as I get no use from it. Oh well.

All in all, its a (slightly) better game than the first, but I'm begging them to make a truly GREAT game next time, instead of busted mini-games like a half-assed version of basketball and the like. Godzilla deseves better for his 50th anniversary, but, much like I hope and pray his movie career isn't truly done...I also hope for another game in a couple years...preferably done by a different developer, as Pipeworks might've taken a few baby steps in the right direction...this is a giant industry, and Godzilla is the biggest giant of them all. RECOGNIZE!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/04