Unlike Godzilla's success on the big screen, the iconic kaiju has had a rough go in the gaming world. Uninspired side-scrollers and toothless arena battle games litter 'Zilla's virtual history, but none of those games had the power of the PS4 to bring the iconic super lizard to life.
Surely, a system as powerful as Sony's latest could breathe life into Godzilla and his mountainous supporting cast in a manner befitting his cinematic prowess, right?
Well, Bandai Namco tries to pull this enormous feat off, but in the company's latest attempt – simply titled Godzilla – the Big G is again the victim of a medium that doesn't quite know how to pull off full-on monster mayhem.
A Slow Crawl
Godzilla starts off as a sloppy love letter to fans of the series. With the classic Toho score blasting and a black-and-white tutorial reminiscent of the character's first big screen appearance, the game does show promise right away. But when you actually sit behind the controls and walk Godzilla through the game for the first time, it immediately falls apart.
In the movies, it's thrilling to see Godzilla slowly make his way through a city — crushing everything in his path as he gets fired on by all manner of military vehicle and gigantic beast.
However, when you transfer that slow, clumsy, monstrous walk to the gaming world, it just becomes pure tedium. You feel less like Godzilla and more like the poor overheated actor in the rubber suit.
Moving is generally accomplished by the analogue sticks, obviously, but that only permits forward and backward movement. To turn, you have to rely on implementing the shoulder buttons, as well as the analogue sticks. It makes just navigating the city an absolute chore, and when it comes to fighting bosses, you can't move away from their attacks. It's a gameplay decision that makes any sort of dynamic movement not only a chore, it makes it an impossibility.
Even if you could duck and dodge, it doesn't help the fact that 'Zilla only has a handful of attacks to begin with — some claw action, a tail whip, a "grab" feature that only works in certain instances, and the iconic fire breath — which is admittedly fun to use. In one instance, I was faced off with a version of Mechagodzilla that was about twice my size, and without the ability to actually ward off his attacks, I stood about as much of a chance as a tree against a chainsaw.
Destroy All Generators
The main game mode in Godzilla is God of Destruction Mode, in which you go from location to location, toppling buildings, defeating bosses and destroying power generators in order to score G-Energy to increase your size and strength. Basically, you move (slowly) around a small map, tasked with destroying everything and anything in your way. Lather, rinse, repeat. While that sounds like the prototypical Godzilla game, the fact that the character moves at such a glacial pace and is so clunky to begin with makes getting from one end of the city to the other a slog.
Couple in the fact that destroying 100 percent of everything in each city is the only way to really beat the game, and you'll spend most of your time lumbering around a lifeless map — destroying poorly rendered buildings in hopes of making the game more interesting. There's a light story holding everything together in this mode, but it's nothing that really adds to the mythology the way Rocksteady did with the Batman: Arkham franchise.
Other modes, like Diorama Mode and Evolution Mode, feature content that depends on finishing God of Destruction Mode in a comprehensive manner. So basically, any replay value hinges on your patience with controlling a clunky Godzilla and destroying inconsequential cities along the way. Not only does all of this get repetitive, it's not exactly engaging to begin with. There's also an online vs. mode that only hosts up to three participants.
Up From The Depths
It's not all bad news for Godzilla fans, though. It's obvious that Namco Bandai had people who love the franchise working on this game, as seen in the small touches throughout. There is a huge roster of kaiju that can be either played as or fought against, and while the graphics are no more impressive than a PS2 game at times, it's still a thrill to see King Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla staring at you from across the battlefield.
The game does nail the overall aesthetic of Godzilla and, to a degree, the charm of the film series. Godzilla and his monstrous supporting cast are all nicely rendered, it's just that everything around them – controls, objectives, fighting mechanics – falls woefully short. For hardcore fans of the series, the ability to play as the 20+ kaiju and scroll through all of the character bios might be enough. For others, there's not enough here to make Godzilla worth the tedium.
It's clear that there's a better game waiting to be unleashed from below the surface of Godzilla. For every repetitive destroy-the-generator mission, there's a moment of zen when you sucker-punch Destroyah right through the side of a building. It's a shame these disparate successes can't form a cohesive Godzilla experience, but there are just too many glaring weaknesses that keep this title grounded.
Godzilla is available now on PS4 and PS3. The PS4 version was the basis of this review.
Overall:
★★☆☆☆
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