18th June 2008.
Godzilla Unleashed
Atari
Nintendo Wii
 When I was a lad (cue Hovis music) I used to play a game called Rampage where battling monsters, a reptile, gorilla and something else would destroy cities by basically smashing them with their fists. Forward twenty years or so and a copy of Godzilla Unleased fell through my letterbox. Seriously, dear reader I’ve never been a happier man as the waft of building destruction nostalgia brought a tear to my eye! Let me explain further…
In this game (well the Story Mode version anyway) you play the part of the giant radioactive monster Godzilla. By using the unique Wii wand motions you battle against some of the fiercest beasts around you have to save the planet from certain destruction. The non linear storyline (loads of crystals have landed on earth driving all the monsters around bonkers) means anything can happen, and frequently does as you pick up buildings, smash power stations and battle in the sea against robots, aliens and dinosaurs!
And that’s basically it, think of Street Fighter but with gigantic mutant beasts and you’re almost there. This is a joyous romp of a game where, in the first instance you destroy everything and everyone in sight using whatever you can find. Obviously there are some nice power-ups to discover giving you just that added attack power to help bring your opponent down. Don’t get greedy and use too many as this’ll make you vulnerable for a time. Talking of opponents there’s a good range to battle against and if you choose one of the other game modes such as Brawl, Classic Melee and Last Man Standing, you’ll get to fight them all. Be careful though for if you destroy too many buildings the Global Defence Squad will be after you. As I’ve said, the Story Mode version has a rather dodgy plot with flat acting but I guess it adds to the cheesy fun.
 The graphic design is good but characters sometimes lack the amount of detail I was expecting. Limbs seem to be stuck on at times and are not articulated as much as I would have liked to have seen. The Godzilla here seems to be directly inspired by the Toho Godzilla 2000 movie and not the rather bland version that Hollywood cooked up. It really adds that authentic touch to the game and the first time you hear it scream really does send shivers up the spine. Most of the classic Toho monsters are present including Gigan, Megalon and Mechagodzilla. The beasts are split into four factions, the aforementioned Global Defence Squad, Earth Defenders (Godzilla is one of these), Aliens and Mutants. Each one has the same basic goal – to claim the Earth as their own but for very different reasons. Some monsters will ally themselves with other beasts so keep an eye on who is stamping around. The scenery design is well realised with good depth, you can venture almost anywhere on screen and no matter how close you get to buildings and rocks etc the detail never wavers.
Using the nunchuk system you can guide Godzilla with little difficulty and at times can have the beast pointing and fighting in three different directions. It’s not a hard game to pick up mainly because of the limited controls on offer so even the weakest of players will be able to get to grips with this game.
To sum up Godzilla Released is a fine traditional beat-em-up with giant beasts that pushes all the right gaming buttons.
Godzilla Unleashed is also available on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS formats.
James.
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