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| Title: |
Godzilla: The Series |
| Publisher: |
Crave Entertainment |
| Features: |
Compatible with all GameBoys. |
| Format: |
Shoot-Em-Up, Monster Sim. |
| Reviewer: |
Jason Sunrider |
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Introduction
Godzilla. Gojira. The Big Guy. The G Man. Call him what you will! What
doesn't change, however, is the fact that Godzilla is probably one of the most popular and enduring cult monster
figures in Japanese celluloid history.
Sadly, most people might remember Godzilla as the mutant Iguana looking reptile that was portrayed in the American
movie of the same name. That was a 160 million dollar flop on Hollywood's part and another story altogether.
This version of the game, however, is based on the animated series which continues on where the aforementioned
Hollywood movie left off. So thanks to Crave, the biggest (literally) monster star in history now appears on one
of the smallest screens in the world - our GameBoy
For those unfamiliar with either the movie or animated series, here's a little background on the plot.
As those who have watched the movie know, Godzilla, ended with the scene of a baby Godzilla hatching from an egg.
Well, in the cartoon, Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (played by Matthew Broderick in the movie) finds this baby and raises
it.
Godzilla (apparently Dr. Nick couldn't think of a new name) becomes his friend and ally. Dr. Nick, a scientist
who studies atomic mutations, forms a research team known as H.E.A.T that travels the world to study giant mutations
like Godzilla and try to contain them. As you would expect, Dr. Nick and his team face many obstacles and challenges,
and most of the time, it is Godzilla who saves the day.
Graphics & Sound
As you would expect from the animated series, Godzilla the game is basically a "Monster bashing everything
in sight" kind of game. The premise is simple, so don't expect any kind of cerebral challenge.
The in-game graphics in "Godzilla: The Series" are, however, nicely detailed and richly colored. Godzilla,
the other monsters and the backgrounds all look as though they've been ripped-off from the actual cartoon, which
is a good thing visually, although some of the objects, especially the ground vehicles, looked rather chunky, which
come to think of it, is also a good thing since they make better targets.
In terms of size, "Godzilla: The Series" boasts the biggest sprites (character, object, etc.) ever seen
in the GameBoy's long history. For a GameBoy game, this is a godsend, and watching Godzilla take up literally half
the screen when doing his tail swipe is something that must be seen to be enjoyed.
The game is played in stages, and in-between, the view switches to the H.E.A.T team where we learn of plot developments.
Sadly, there is no animation during these instances. All we get to see are the character portraits with written
text. Not very pretty, but it helps to move the game along and break up a little of the "Monster Stomping"
monotony.The starting and ending movies are, however, pretty good but short.
The sounds in Godzilla is pretty decent too, and with the headphones on, you could almost swear that the gunfire,
stomps, and helicopter whirls are real. After each level, Godzilla does his trademark roar, which I must say, was
digitized nicely enough to give you goose-pimples.
GamePlay & Moves
Godzilla has a bag of moves which he can perform in the game to wreck damage on the tiny humans and bosses. They
include Bite, Tail Swipe, Stomp, Slash, Block and the infamous Atomic Breath. Yes, that's right, Atomic Breath,
Godzilla's trademark attack which was missing from the movie is accurately reincarnated in the game.
Sadly, because of his size, The Big Guy is constantly "stuck" on the left hand side of the screen, so
you'll never get to see all of him. In the game, Godzilla automatically moves at a constant pace (except when fighting
bosses), so you are never actually moving him around. As such, the only thing that you need to be concerned with
is destroying the enemies coming at you.
And what a flurry of enemies there are, ahem, should be, that is. You see, the problem is that the bad guys in
"Godzilla: The Series" are few and far in-between, which gives you plenty of time to recover from enemy
damage, or running off to the toilet to take a wheeze. The only time I was frantically pressing buttons was right
before the final boss! As you can see, the difficulty level isn't something to brag about. In fact, Godzilla is
nearly invincible, since the programmers decided to give him lots of health and powerful attacks. So all you need
to do is just move along and blast everything to bits. Neat, huh?
Final Comments
Oh, one thing I must gripe about is the Instruction Book? Hands down, "Godzilla: The Series" has the
worst instruction manual I have ever had the misfortune of reading. I know that game reviewers don't normally mention
the instruction book, but this one is so pitiful that I just have to mention it. Be warned that the attack moves
listed in the manual do not work. Trust me, the moves are performed in a totally different manner than what's described.
Heck, one of the moves (Streaming Atomic Breath) mentioned in the manual isn't even in the game!
As you can probably guess, I'll have to say that "Godzilla: The Series" isn't a game I'd recommend, even
to a die-hard Godzilla fan. Gameplay is boring, tedious and monotonous, and after the novelty of the great graphics,
sound and giant sprites die off, you'll be left with something that isn't even satisfying to finish. In retrospect,
Rumble support might have made it better, but then again, lousy gameplay is something that even the best cosmetics
can't cover. |
