Godzilla: The Game, which was announced for North America at The Game Awards last December, seeks to right this wrong. Portions of the PlayStation 4 version that we were treated to, to say nothing of the remarkable enthusiasm of everyone in the room, paid homage to Godzilla’s endearing legacy. Creating a monster fighting game shouldn’t be especially difficult, but matching Godzilla’s unspoken kitsch alongside faithful representations of his friends and foes requires an unflinching adaptation of the source material. I didn’t see too much of the actual game, but I can safely declare its intentions to be sufficiently pure.
This sentiment is easily relayed by observing the fallout of Godzilla’s ethically unconscious municipal demolition. Buildings don’t explode and come crashing down with pompous zeal and architectural bloodlust of a Michael Bay film. They also don’t aimlessly shrink and disappear, like the similarly positioned Earth Defense Force series. Instead, they briefly shake before sparking, crashing, and popping into a pile of rubble because that’s consistent with Godzilla’s classic films. I’m sure the programmers and artists charged with effectively wrecking cities were glad to not have some sort of ultra-detailed spectacle challenging their abilities every single day, but it’s a change in perspective that also works in the eyes of the player.
The cast of characters helps carry some of Godzilla: The Game’s weight along. Multiple iterations of the titular character are expected, but they’re joined by Mothra, Gigan, King Ghidorah, Biollante, Destoroyah, and, Jet Jaguar. It was Jet Jaguar, in particular, that sent our press group howling—although I’m not sure if it was from genuine admiration or the fact that Bandai Namco actually took the time to recognize the relevance of Jet Jaguar in the 2015 landscape.
Perspective also helps convey a sense of Godzilla’s transient realism. The normal camera angle occurs with Godzilla’s back to the player, which is probably best for effective play. More interesting is the pedestrian point-of-view (unlockable in the game) that places the action through a nearby office window or far away residential area. This mocks the more personal point of view often seen in Godzilla films, and adds another cinematic injection to Godzilla’s unique presentation. The way it affects player control, however, remains to be seen.
Diorama mode was another bullet-point on Bandai Namco’s presentation. This will allow you to position Godzilla (or any other monster) all over the city and essentially arrange the surrounding destruction. Pictures can be taken, and then shared on a variety of social media services. I sort of hope a screenshot feature is available during normal game modes, as it would capture a more authentic sense of the chaos enveloping the city, but meticulous and deliberate chance to set everything up perfectly isn’t a bad option.
Actually playing Godzilla: The Game came with its own series of revelations. First and foremost, the game feels uncharacteristically slower paced than its peers. This is a deliberate decision, as an ultra-fast Godzilla wouldn’t be coherent with any of his implied fiction. Fortunately the game is balanced around this conceit, opting for careful and resolved animation priority over straight-laced aggressive action. I had a weak slashing attack where Godzilla slashed his arms, a power move where he did a 360 with his tail, his usual laser breath attack, and a charging tackle for range. I’m not entirely sure how I pulled it off, but in my battle with King Gidorah I also managed a body slam at some point.
My demo consisted a of a straight-up fight between Godzilla and King Gidorah. Or at least it did for a while, until Mecha Godzilla showed up to make things more interesting. A three-way battle then unfolded, and while the development team stated both AI-controlled monsters would also fight each other, they certainly seemed pretty focused on wrecking me exclusively. In the end a bit of anticipation management and careful positioning left me and my vanilla Godzilla the victor, but not without bringing down half the city as a consequence of our actions.
There was a bit more to the King of the Monsters mode I played. By incurring more and more destruction, Godzilla was able to grow in size. The bigger Godzilla gets, the more chaos he’s able to cause and the greater the threat of human opposition becomes. At the end of the level the time it took to beat it, percent of the city destroyed, and total growth of Godzilla are all taken into account for a final score. You also had the option to either destroy or protect the city as a latent objective, although I wasn’t sure what the exact difference between the two was.
It seems Godzilla: The Game is attempting to meet parallel objectives; it has to match the legacy left by its namesake while simultaneously shying away from the stigma of all of those other Godzilla games. From an excellent presentation and a rousing hands-on session with the game, it Godzilla: The Game feels primed to play both parts. We’ll know for sure when it’s released in North America on July 14th of this year.
