DAMM, this game is great.
I am usually pretty down on remasters, mostly because here lately they make them for games like the Last of Us who isn’t in need of one. But every great while we see the return of a true gem, a king even; the king of monsters has returned to us! Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered is surely in the running for longest title in history; the original game came out in 2002 for the GameCube, but I remember I owned that Xbox version of the game. Interestingly the original developer Pipeworks Software is also the ones doing the remaster and instead of simply porting the old game they opted to rebuild it in Unreal 5; but after so many years is this still the King of Godzilla fighting games?
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered retains almost all of its gameplay modes from the original from what I can recall. For starters there is an adventure mode that has players experiencing the story of the game. In it, an alien race known as the Vortaak are invading Earth and to do so they assume control over the planet’s giant monsters and send them out to attack the cities. The player’s monster has broken free and is now battling the other monsters in order to stop the Vortaak. Yea, it’s not much but it doesn’t have to be; it’s as good a reason as any to have these 12 monsters slugging it out in major cities.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: XBOX (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
The roster is the same 11 monsters from the original, Godzilla (90s and 2000), Anguirus, Megalon, Gigan, King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, Rodan, Mechagodzilla 3, Mecha King Ghidorah, and Orga. with the 12th being Kiryu (a version of Mecha Godzilla) instead of Mecha Godzilla 2 from the original. I won’t lie, I was hoping that we would see the addition of Godzilla Minus One, Shin Godzilla or maybe Godzilla from the Monsterverse series, but maybe we will get DLC. Each monster has their own moves and attack styles well except for the King himself, both versions of Godzilla share a move set that are just different colors. Unlocking the extra monsters is done by playing on certain levels, leveling up monsters and more; there is a handy menu that tracks the unlocks.
Graphically the game looks freaking great. I know folks have issues with Unreal 5 but none of those problems are on display here from what I can tell. Cities all look more realistic with cars driving around the streets and the lights of monster energy blasts accurately reflecting off the windows of sky scrapers. Picking up a building and throwing it at an enemy monster leaves huge chucks of debris. Visuals are great to be sure but the sound design is also on point. Hearing all the iconic roars from Godzilla and King Gidorah was so dope and there is even a button combo to roar on demand.
Speaking of controls though, I was and still am super disappointed that I can’t change my buttons. I played the game on Xbox so I don’t know if PC is able to edit their buttons but have X as Kick, A as Punch, B is a fierce attack and Y is block just seems crazy. RT is how you jump… WHY, I ask you again WHY?! These are the controls from the original, I don’t know why they wouldn’t redo them to be more in line with fighters today; prayerfully we see a patch that lets us remap our buttons as we please but for now, it is what it is. More than that though, I have had numerous instances of pressing buttons and the action not performing on screen. I have dropped combos and taken damage when I tried to block all because of lag of some sort. Prayerfully we see patch that allows us to map the buttons and fixes the input lag.
I talked about the adventure mode but there are a few other modes that players will have available to them at launch, the destruction mode is a great way to test out new monsters. It pits the monster vs the city and tasks players with destroying as much of the city as possible in a given time frame. Once you have gotten comfortable with your monster there is also a Survival mode where players can test their prowess as they fight waves of monsters with one single health bar. All of the game modes I was able to play are a blast but once you master each monster, I can see things getting stale, there is a local and online multiplayer mode but I wasn’t able to test it for review.
I think my biggest complaint with this remaster is the fact that there are elements that aren’t explained to the player. For instance, as players fight and destroy cities there are various power-ups that will drop from the alien saucers, most of which are common sense, health, energy but one is rage. The game doesn’t explain what rage is or that when you level a monster to level 4, they will unlock a rage attack. Things like this are annoying to be sure but they don’t get in the way of the fun of being in a giant 4-monster fight in the middle of London.
I’ve wanted a new version of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for years. As a huge fan of the original I am just over the moon that Pipeworks was able to put out this remaster. Godzilla and friends have never looked better with their U5 makeover, cities and arenas are more alive and the sound effects are top notch. Even with the issues I have with the controls I found it hard to put this down, it’s a great hit of nostalgia and a great way to celebrate Godzilla Day.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.