Finally, my patience has paid off and the opportunity has arrived. Not only will players have the chance to square off against some of the biggest baddies ever to fictionally walk across the planet, but also get to fill the radioactive shoes of the king of the monsters. Now, the only question left to answer is; was it all worth the time in waiting or have fans been left out in the cold once again to suffer through a substandard offering. The only way for you to find out is to scroll on down the line and see what the final word is this time around.
If you were to look back in time for the catalyst that brought Godzilla: Save the Earth to life, besides the previous next-generation game or the upcoming 50th anniversary movie, you would have to travel back to the year 1968. Godzilla-holics would know right away that I’m referring to none other than the granddaddy of all monster battles, Destroy All Monsters. Being the ninth film in the Godzilla series, and the twentieth Toho picture overall, this film reached down into the depths of what had come before and brought to the screen the first true battle royal in monster history. No less than eight creatures, eleven overall made an appearance in the film, took part in the final fight scene, which became the landmark from which all movies of this caliber would be graded.
Even the plot lines seem to parallel each other somewhat. Aliens (the Vorillium in the game and Kilaaks in the movie) attack the Earth from outer space using controlled monsters to help them in their quest of conquest. It is here that the game detours from the earlier movie, as none of the kaiju seem to be under direct control of the invading forces. However, the similarities are enough to make a mental connection. Attack from outer space has been the most popular motif for the Godzilla series and has reappeared about a half-dozen times. The upcoming Final Wars, due out in Japan on 12/04/04, looks to challenge this lineup with over eleven monsters gracing the screen, while still carrying along that “invaders from space” theme seen so prominently in the past.
For those concerned with the legitimacy of the game, Godzilla: StE has the full backing of Toho behind it. This means that all of your beloved monster calls are authentic and have been simulated to the best of Pipeworks’ ability. Whether it’s the roar of Godzilla, or the screech of Rodan, every monster’s unique call sounds exactly the way that they do on the big screen. Although non-Gojira fanatics might not give a hoot about how the creatures sound, this title is targeted towards the connoisseur and they could hardly forgive the creators of the game if the vocalizations of the monsters were anything but authentic. Also, the March of the Monsters, better known as Godzilla’s theme music, is included within the game’s ending credits. The rest of the sound is just as impressive, with the power of the Dolby Digital working its magic, and everything comes through with crystal clarity. Buildings crumble with authenticity, explosions rock the listener and even the sound that the monster’s assorted breath weapons make has been replicated exactly.
This, of course, is not where the game stops reflecting the personalities of your favorite kaiju. Graphically, every monster is instantly recognizable and the amount of detail is profound. The way that Godzilla leans back and draws in a breath, not to mention the way that his dorsal spines begin to glow before firing off a ray of radioactive breath, takes a page right out of the recent movies. Your kaiju also have personality and their human traits come shining through from the hopping on one foot when it is stepped on to trying to shake the cobwebs out of their skulls after receiving a stunning blow. Each of the playable kaiju have different attributes for attack, defense, speed and weapons. Where one monster may be a powerhouse of offense (Mecha-King Ghidorah), another is a defensive specialty (Anguirus). This can create some definite imbalances between the monsters, but this also is reflective of the movies. Once you learn to vary your attacking styles according to the creature that you are using, it is only a matter of time until you conquer the action portent of the game.
And conquer it time and time again you will, but only if you really want to get the full exposure that Save the Earth provides. You only get a limited supply of monsters to use at the very beginning of the game, with the remaining kaiju needing to be unlocked by acquiring points by going through the story mode numerous times. There are multiple difficulty levels for each creature, and you definitely can tell the difference in your opponent’s attacking prowess when ramping up to the most difficult level. The tougher the difficulty, the more points you can score, and this will be needed as you only are awarded more points when you surpass a previous high score when using a creature additional times. Locales and opponents will change depending on which monster you have chosen to use, but even the biggest fan will begin to tire of seeing the same places, and playing the same intermission mini games, well before you have unlocked all of the secret items. Experiencing only minor setbacks, you can usually complete an entire creature’s storyline in about 30 minutes and there are no differences with the ending cinematic no matter which creature you have chosen to use. This definitely is a lost opportunity for fans of the long-running series as one would have expected to have specific full-motion videos for each and every creature.
The battle engine is not your standard fighting affair. If you are expecting these behemoths to react as nimbly as those experienced in Tekken or Virtua Fighter then you are in for a big disappointment. All of the creatures move at a pace as if they actually were recreations of the silver screen battles, including the ability to pick up entire buildings and heave them at your opponent. This is in no way to infer that the fighting mechanics are dull or badly constructed, as there are plenty of blocks and counters that the monsters can employ. However, the fighting engine is not the best ever seen in game of this standard and, honestly, it could still use some refining.
Environments are exceptionally varied and are taken from locales scattered across the globe. From San Francisco to Tokyo, there doesn’t seem to be any place left unscathed by the wrath of the kaiju. You have the wide open spaces of Monster Island to the claustrophobic streets of New York City to pass out your own personal form of destruction. Each environment is completely destructible, and buildings, smokestacks or even vehicles and ships can be used by each monster as either a projectile or melee weapon. However, you can’t get too comfortable expecting your projectiles to hit their mark every time. A new wrinkle to the game, this time around, is that objects can be caught and then thrown back in your general direction to be used against you. Larger skyscrapers will reflect different degrees of damage before falling and the avalanche of concrete and steel can be effective for hurting a monster if it gets underneath its downward path. There is also a military presence in the different environments, but just like in the movies they play little to no part in the defeating of any of the creatures. Also, you can even see the scurrying of civilians as they attempt to get out of the destructive path of your colossal battles.
There are also quite a few mini games for gamers to unlock. Most of these seem to be a complete waste of time, like the Vorillium Basketball or the Monster Bowling, and suffer from some big camera issues that make them a lot harder than they should be. The exception to the rule is the few games that let you rampage through a city and reduce it to rubble. These games can only be acquired by taking the different creatures through the story mode, but there is no other requirement for having them available, including actually beating them.
There are also some interesting unlockables concerning movie stills for Final Wars along with original artist renderings for the characters of the game. Although they are a nice addition, they just weren’t worth the overall price of admission and there really should have been more added to give fans something special to crow about. Perhaps including movie trailers, developer interviews or some more exclusive content to keep players coming back for more would have been more rewarding in the long run, as I’m sure that the game DVD had plenty of space left over for extra storage.
Godzilla: Save the Earth unfortunately does not live up to everything that was expected of it. There are only about 18 different creatures available and only two of the different versions of the king of monsters himself. There was talk about having additional monsters and environments available via downloadable content earlier in the development cycle, but this talk has been recently quashed by Atari. Pipeworks did an honorable job of keeping the integrity of Toho’s creations intact, but there just wasn’t enough filling inside the pie to satisfy the gaming tastes of fans across the globe. For dedicated fighting fans, there just won’t be enough to keep you coming back for more, and even the Godzilla faithful will have to struggle to look for that silver lining within the dark cloud that Save the Earth eventually became.
Difficulty: 4
Control: 7
Visual: 7
Sound: 7
Replayability: 5
Overall: 6.5
Wow...this is another one I had never even heard of. Like yourself, I am a huge Godzilla fan, and I wouldn't mind checking this out just for that reason alone.
ReplyDeleteThe overall score you gave it may not be the greatest, but it IS Godzilla we're talking about!