Why Godzilla Video Games Are So Hard To Get Right
Few Godzilla games have managed to capture the fun and spectacle of giant monsters laying waste to iconic cities from around the world.
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There have been plenty of Godzilla games over the years, but few have lived up to the full potential of the franchise or the character, with most games seeming to miss what makes the series so fun to begin with. Godzilla may be the King of the Monsters, but when it comes to his video game career, the Big G hasn’t made as much of a name for himself.
Most people would argue Godzilla is primarily about giant monsters battling it out in iconic locations, and while that isn’t all there is to the franchise, it is the aspect of the series most easily translatable to video games. It’s no surprise then most Godzilla video games put an emphasis on kaiju brawling – it’s the key to making a fun Godzilla game. But, in reality, only a few games have managed to translate what is almost guaranteed movie magic into video game success.
The most recent big-budget Godzilla game is a lesson in how to not adapt the franchise into video game form. Simply titled Godzilla and released on the PlayStation 4 in North America in 2015, it sported some of the most visually-authentic recreations of Godzilla and his monster friends and foes ever seen in a game. Unfortunately, the game proved to be almost too accurate to the franchise’s “men in suit” roots. Controlling Godzilla felt like moving a slow, lumbering suit-actor through molasses, and while it did allow for monster-on-monster battles, the combat was so slow and shallow it might as well not have included it all. Was it technically accurate to the films? Yes. But was it accurate to the feeling watching those movies as a kid gave audiences? Not exactly.
Godzilla’s Many Video Games (& The Few That Worked)
Older games have struggled to capture the spirit of the films as well. Super Godzilla, released in North America for the Super Nintendo in 1994, is one of the most well-known Godzilla games, but is also one of the strangest. Super Godzilla sports a dual screen layout that looks like it would be more at home on the Nintendo DS than a home console. Players control a blue dot representing Godzilla and move it around a grid-based map on the bottom of the screen. It’s all a little strange, but even stranger is the monster battles which occur at the end of each level.
Presented in what at first looks like a traditional 2D fighting game, it’s actually anything but. Players control Godzilla and must land a single punch on their opponent before backing away as far as possible from the enemy to raise Godzilla’s “fighting spirit.” The further back they move, the more powerful special abilities which can be selected are. Once an ability is selected, a cutscene plays, showing Godzilla whipping the opponent with his tail or using his signature atomic breath. While the cutscenes look nice visually, it makes for some terrible gameplay that fails to capture the energy or excitement of the monster battles from Godzilla’s long film career.
The only Godzilla games which have managed to capture the fun of monster-on-monster mayhem is the trilogy which began with the 2002 GameCube release of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. Developed by Pipeworks Software, this was the four-player, 3D arena brawler Godzilla fans had always wanted. Sporting a solid lineup of monsters to choose from, fully destructible environments, and entertaining combat that made good use of each monster’s unique abilities, this is how developers should make a fighting-focused Godzilla game. Two more games in the series followed, 2004’s Godzilla: Save the Earth and 2007’s Godzilla: Unleashed.
A great Godzilla game needs to cash in on the over-the-top nature of giant monsters engaged in a battle to the death. It’s mindless, popcorn eating fun to watch Godzilla and King Ghidorah destroy an entire city while blasting atomic breath and gravity beams at each other. That’s what a video game version of Godzilla’s iconic battles should be, too – simple, destructive, fun.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/godzilla-game-ps4-ps5-super-unleashed-monsters-melee/