Godzilla: Unleashed has a lot in common with the Hollywood-produced Godzilla movie that came out almost ten years ago. It's cheesy, terribly produced and has no excuse for existence outside of paying a meager tribute to the older films. It may have a few moments of joy, but not enough to justify the ludicrous $40 price tag.

In the game, you stomp through Tokyo and other cities as Godzilla or other super-mutated creatures, including the debut of the monstrous Obsidious. Each has up-close attacks and moves that can cause damage from a distance (like Godzilla's "atomic breath"). However, the ranged attacks never work properly because of a terribly implemented aiming system. You use the right analog stick to point at your enemy, but most of the time your attacks don't connect. The up-close attacks aren't that good either -- they're just repetitive tap-tap combos that knock your enemy to the ground. Furthermore, you can't use anything in the environment to your advantage, for some stupid reason.

Visually, the game is a mess. The monsters never animate well, not even in a " I'm in a rubbery suit" kind of way. The cities are full of possibilities, but Pipeworks Interactive never takes full advantage of them. Buildings crumble without any debris on the ground and smaller objects are gone in an instant, as if they have Styrofoam walls. The explosions and attack effects aren't bad, but they're lost amidst the other graphical screw-ups. Even the cut-scenes fail to do any good. Instead of representing the classic movies, they resemble a crudely animated Saturday morning serial.

Godzilla's audio is also poorly balanced. While there are some great monster noises (we love Godzilla's battle cry), the other sound effects are generic at best. When a building crumbles, you can barely hear it as it falls apart. On top of all this, the game features a below-average rock soundtrack. Godzilla wouldn't dare trash a city to the likes of 80s metal.

Unleashed does provide the option of fighting with up to three of your friends in a huge "winner-take-all" battle royale, but the game's broken controls take most of the thrills out of it. You're basically mashing the buttons as quickly as possible to assure survival --what's the fun in that? Only young children or drunks will find anything worth coming back to. There are unlockable characters and stages, but none of them make a game-changing difference.

Talk about a monstrosity. Godzilla: Unleashed should be a better game, one on the level of Atari's previous releases. Unfortunately, its below average presentation and weak gameplay force it back into the ocean from whence it came. Save your money and buy Incog's War of the Monsters instead.

Our Final ScoreBad

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