Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
- October 15, 2002 00:00 AM PST
It's about time Godzilla was treated with respect in the gaming realm�and Destroy All Monsters Melee gives the lizard his due.
With beautiful creature designs and sound effects ripped right from its celluloid roots, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee boasts enough attention to detail to make fans of the big G praise the patron saints at Pipeworks. And though it misses a beat here and there, DAMM ultimately rocks hard in the gameplay department, especially if you have any sort of nostalgic feelings for the boffo thunder-lizard of doom.
Earth�s Greatest Decisive Monster Battle
DAMM�s fighting system isn�t robust enough to hook fighting aficionados, and a broader palette of individualized button/control stick combinations would�ve made the game more devastating. Pipeworks makes up for this by imbuing each creature with its own strengths, weaknesses, fighting style, and rate of mobility�and also by implementing fully interactive environments and randomly spawning power-ups. Most of the game�s arenas are sprawling cities filled with lovely, destructible buildings, which can be used for cover from an attack or chucked at your foes. You can also put even more hurt on opponents by hurling them into skyscrapers. As matches progress, buildings collapse, depriving you of places to hide and weapons to hurl�at which time it all boils down to the sheer fighting prowess of you and your foe. So while mastering the subtleties of each monster and using your surroundings to your advantage are crucial, you�ll also need to adapt to the changing environments, as well as an onslaught of tanks, helicopters, and freeze rays that will relentlessly pummel you and your enemy.
Along the grid of city streets appear health and energy power-ups, and when one of these babies appears, the game becomes a foot race to see who can negotiate streets and leap buildings fast enough to get it first. Among the de facto health and energy upgrades is the way-cool Mothra AirStrike in which Mothra swoops overhead to sizzle your enemy with lightning. These elements add extra layers of strategy that compensate for a fighting engine that some may find limited and lazy.
Giant Monster All-Out Attack
For the most part the wicked creature models retain the proportions of their rubber-suited counterparts, while slick animation lends them convincingly nimble mobility. The lighting and particle effects are gorgeous, while buildings belch fire and massive plumes of smoke as they crumble beneath your mighty rage in an orgy of destruction that will hypnotize you with its beauty. With dead-on monster roars, bottom-heavy explosions, and screaming energy attacks, the sound design destroys. And although Pipeworks should�ve gone the LucasArts route by culling music from the films, the score is competently punishing. Commands are mapped out logically, and responsive controls ensure that your creature will become an extension of yourself, even if they�re a bit oversensitive (you�ll often find yourself locked into a combo instead of performing that grab you intended).
Save the Earth
Since you�ll possibly play through the game enough times to unlock every monster in a couple of days, much of DAMM�s lasting appeal hinges upon its multiplayer modes, which are pretty rocking. As multiple monsters spread throughout the city, however, the camera pans back so wide that it�s hard to see what you�re doing. This problem is compounded during nighttime, rendering the onscreen action indecipherable. The only other complaint: There are only a measly 11 of the promised 14 playable monsters from Toho�s bestiary of nearly three dozen (inexplicably, Hedorah and Mothra appear only as NPCs), but nevertheless Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee slays.
