This past week at E3 I got to play quite a few games from Bandai Namco. One of their highly-anticipated games coming out this summer is Godzilla. This game definitely caught my eye right away because who doesn’t like Godzilla? Here is the hands-on recap.
To start off, this is and isn’t exactly based on the 2014 film. Let me explain, they based the look off of the 2014 film and go with the chubby American version of the monster but you can also play as the classic version, so it does not serve as a film to game adaptation. In this game, you take on quite a few monsters such as Mothra, Jet Jaguar, King Ghidorah and many more. One of the game developers said that there are so many monsters in this game that he couldn’t even name them all. So this has characters from all generations of Godzilla.
So as I played this game as the American version Godzilla, I quickly noticed that it’s a mix between a fighter game and the classic game some might remember called Rampage. As I was fighting King Ghidorah, our battle was destroying buildings in the city just like you see in the movies. It took me a while to figure out the controls (particularly the movements) as it was pretty tough to just walk around. The game developer mentioned that they wanted to make it just like the original Godzilla where it was a man in a suit walking around, so they copied the similar movements. So think slow wide turns and not too maneuverable. Aside from that, the way the camera rotates added some frustration to the mix. It kept changing angles when I would try to back out of a corner and I wouldn’t be able to see where I was going at times. Now the attacks where the pretty easy and very fun. You are able to swing your tail, breath fire and use lightning strikes. These all do quite a lot of damage to your opponents.
The graphics looked pretty smooth and were very clear. You can see all the details like scales, fur and such.
The features of this game include:
- DESTRUCTION – Bash your way through each stage to take out the Energy Generator and proceed to the next area. Be sure to smash as many other buildings in the stage as possible to maximize your G-Energy. But beware, because the more buildings and structures you take out in the stage, the higher the Hazard Level will go, bringing out legendary monsters to battle.
- MOVIE STYLE ACTION – Players can choose to view the action with a special Movie-Style Camera Angle System. Choosing this camera angle switches the camera view to special, pre-set locations on the map. Players can switch to the special camera points, and control Godzilla as seen just like in the movies!
- MULTIPLE MODES
Mission Mode – Crush your way through over 20 stages of mayhem!
Diorama Mode – Build the Godzilla scene of their dreams!
King of Monsters Mode – It’s a time trial of chaos! - POWER-UP – Collect G-Energy in each stage to Power-Up your Godzilla! Grow Godzilla from 50 up to 100 Meters tall. Godzilla’s defensive and offensive prowess will increase in line with his size. Your Godzilla will also learn new skills, and you can power up his heat ray as well
I do think this game can be some fun once you figure out the controls, though it make take some time and getting used to. The actual fighting and destruction of the environments were really fun. Also, the fact that it features a lot of Godzilla fan-favorite characters is a plus for fans of the franchise.
Godzilla will be released July 14 for PS3 and PS4.
Check out some gameplay footage below: