War of the Monsters
- January 09, 2003 00:00 AM PST
Why limit yourself to Godzilla? Incog borrows from every monster and robot movie you've ever seen for its own melee fighter.
The folks at Incog must really like making multiplayer games. Case in point? Twisted Metal: Black is still some of the most fun you can have with three friends (or online, even). War of the Monsters, their latest production, keeps this meritorious habit going: it's at its most exciting only when you've got another human by your side.Note the singular there. War of the Monsters may bear a striking resemblance to Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, but there's not one bit of four-player support in this game. You can either fight it out against a single opponent (using a variable split-view that divides the screen in half when you're far away from each other) or team up against one or two CPU opponents. There's also a story mode, of course, should you have no friends to speak of at all.
Although the lack of four-player is sincerely missed, the rest of WotM was a treat to play. Control was very simple, but still left the door open for some strategy�you've got weak and strong attacks, and most monsters also have some sort of beam weapon for long-range warfare. Special attacks are powered by a rage meter which rises gradually as you destroy surrounding buildings and cars; each monster has a couple, and most of them blow any nearby monsters away from you, making them useful in four-creature battles.
War of the Monsters was virtually unknown before E3, but now it's aiming to be the Godzilla beater that PS2 owners are hoping for--a testament to the sound game design that underlies most of Incog's productions. You'll get to see whether they succeed in just about a week's time.
