By Elias Dounis on November 13th, 2004

It’s been two years since Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee first made its way onto the GameCube. That game, had been considered to be the best Godzilla videogame to ever be created at that time, and after the completion of the game, or until players got bored with it, Godzilla fans clamored for a sequel. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for Pipeworks Software to reprise their role and develop a sequel to the beloved Destroy All Monster Melee. However, this sequel, named Godzilla: Save the Earth, doesn’t really feel like the sequel it should have been. Instead it comes off as a rehash of sorts.

Go! Go! Godzilla
Godzilla: Save the Earth isn’t your traditional 3d fighter. In fact, it has more in common with a pro wrestling game or Capcom’s Power Stone games for the Sega Dreamcast than a 3d fighter like Soul Calibur II or Dead or Alive Ultimate. In the game, players are tossed onto a city battlefield, as they stomp their way through buildings, attacking opposing monsters, tossing buildings and tankers, blasting fire balls, and cool things giant-monsters are bound to do, while watching human military forces attempt to attack the monsters with tanks and aerial fighters.

All in all, the scope of the game is rather enjoyable, however, Save the Earth isn’t the deepest of fighters. Many will even prefer to call it a party game because it is grasped easily. Combos, for instance, are simple punch, punch, kick combinations that apply to nearly every character in the game. And the game’s other attacks, such as grapples and long range beam and projectile attacks are easily performed by the tapping and prolonged pressing of the controller’s triggers and face buttons. Of course, the game also has some super maneuvers that can be performed when acquiring the "rage" item that is dropped on the

Unexpectedly, there are a few issues with the whole fighting aspect of the game. For one, characters move slowly around the battlefield. True, in the films these kaiju were never known to trod at fast paces, but the slow two-step forward movements featured in Save the Earth hurts the pacing of the game quite a bit. Even worse is the fact that a good amount of running has to be performed in the game to acquire items. Most of the time, when fighters are locked onto each other, L1 is used to break the lock and freely move around, but it’s sketchily implemented. I would have much preferred if a double-tap movement had been used to allow the characters to sprint, or perhaps even the proper use of these analog sticks on controllers, because while being a fighter played on a 3d plane, the game is played with a 2d mechanic that isn’t exactly suitable for it. Of course, when you add more players into the mix (up to four can play simultaneously), things get a bit more chaotic and frustrating, due to the fact that it’s difficult to concentrate on one opponent.

The additions made to Save the Earth aren’t drastic changes, but they do improve on the previous game, the best of which being the beam battle feature. In Godzilla films there have always been moments were the beams of two monsters would clash, causing a battle between the two to see who could overpower their opponent’s beam and engulf them in a blast of energy. For the most part, it’s recreated well in Save the Earth, and fans of Dragon Ball Z videogames should know what to expect in this sense, because the rapid repetition of button presses determines who will be the victor of these beam battles.

Other new additions to the game include a significant amount of new characters from the Godzilla universe. Characters like Space Godzilla, Kiryu (a.k.a MechaGodzilla 3), Jet Jaguar, Baragon, and Moguera have been added to the game’s cast of characters, increasing the amount of playable characters to 18 from the previous 11. Each one of these characters has their own uniqueness, the coolest of which is the Ultraman knock-off known as Jet Jaguar, who can grow and shrink in size (while already being a towering specimen), thus giving him unique attributes that make him quicker and invulnerable to beam attacks in his smaller form and much stronger is his larger form. Also, while included in the previous game as an x-factor of sorts, Mothra returns in Save the Earth, but this time as a playable character. Without question, Mothra is one of the most unique characters in the game. You see, Mothra starts off in its larva form at the beginning of each match and, when players choose to do so, she can encase herself in a caccoon and transform into her Moth form. This transformation changes her from a ground attack based character to an aerial one. This

There have also been a few changes made to the game’s play modes but they certainly aren’t unique when compared to other fighters, although entertaining nevertheless. For example, the game’s main story mode is pretty entertaining, yet not much different than its predecessor, except for the addition of Street Fighter II-like bonus games. These bonus games give players a handful of tasks that must be completed in a given time limit, which range from destroying cities to throwing boulders across a large body of water in what the game calls "monster bowling." Because of the slow pacing of the game these bonus games often come off as mildly entertaining, if not not plain frustrating at times, and there have been moments where I wished there had been some way to skip these bonus games because there’s no denying that fighting other kaiju one on one is much more entertaining.

Adding to the lasting appeal of the single-player portion of the game are the many unlockable treats available. These include new characters (you only have 6 of the 18, initially), new arenas, and a rather large art gallery which even includes some production photos and art renders from the upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars film.

Online Disappointment
The biggest additions to the game, as well as the reason the game had not been released on the GameCube platform, is the inclusion of the game’s online multiplayer modes. However, this multiplayer mode is bare bones, so to speak. It isn’t fleshed out in any way and not much is done to create a sense of community or anything of the sort. Not helping the online experience much is the fact that it’s incredibly difficult to find other players to fight against, and thanks to all the chaos that ensues on screen, lag is encountered a little more than can be stomached, although, it’s not as bad as I’ve seen in other games. In short, Save the Earth’s online multiplayer is a huge disappointment.

Crappy plot and bad presentation
A big mistake that Pipeworks has repeated with this

It is quite possible that the game could have benefitted from not having any kind of story at all, and making the overall effect of the game’s plot even worse are terrible FMVs featured in the game. Although, I’m not sure if the Xbox version of the game has the same problems, but the PS2 version of Save the Earth has these fluidity problems with the game’s cutscenes. They seem to stutter in an awkward fashion. Adding to this sign of a clear lack of polish is the fact the game’s interactive menus feature a similar stuttering problem as do the in-game music tracks.

Not looking too great
Perhaps it’s just me, but at first glance, Save the Earth actually looks worse than its predecessor. The game’s visuals have this dull, dirty look to them that is just made worse by the overuse of this fogging effect that had once been used to hide pop up and short draw distances in early 3d games (although, I’m not sure if this is actually the case in Save the Earth but it isn’t exactly pleasing to the eye). However, upon closer inspection it can be seen that the character of the models of the kaiju are more detailed than they once had been, improved upon further with the use of better textures. Also, the graphical effects that made the previous game visually pleasing do not have the same effect in Save the Earth but are used just as well. Additionally, you may notice a few civilians running out of buildings when they are damaged by a monster attack. Overall, Save the Earth is indeed a better looking game that its predecessor but the changes are so miniscule that it’s incredibly difficult to notice the enhancements at first glance.

Take Advantage of the source material!
One of my complaints about Destroy All Monsters Melee had been that it did not feature Akira Ifukube’s themes from the movies as much as it should have, if at all either than in the game’s end credits. And to my surprise, absolutely nothing has been done in Save the Earth to remedy this and include more of Ifukube’s amazing orchestrations. Simply put, the music that is featured in Save the Earth is bland, uninspired and easily forgettable. Not only this, but it’s outrageous that Ifukube’s musical tracks aren’t featured anywhere but in the game’s end credits. His music goes hand in hand with every Godzilla film released since 1954 (except for all the films released post the year 2000). Playing a Godzilla game without his music is comparable to playing a Star Wars videogame without the themes of John Williams. It’s just unforgivable. Well, perhaps it’s not unforgivable, but there will be many kaiju fans that are sure to be disappointed in this respect.

The saving grace of the audio portion of the game, just like its predecessor, is the authentic sound of each one of the monsters. All the kaiju in Save the Earth sound exactly like their film counterparts and any one who has seen a Godzilla flick can tell you that each one has its own distinct, roar, growl, or screech, and thanks to the clever use of organic sounds, they’re all cool in their own unique ways. The game’s sound effects are also well done in a similar way since most have been pulled from the movies or been created to best recreate the sounds of the movies, which include laser blasts, crumbling buildings and things of that nature.

Godzilla’s Final War?
Don’t get me wrong, Godzilla: Save the Earth is a fun game, but it really doesn’t improve itself upon its predecessor as much as one could have hoped. Because of this, those who have played the original will have a difficult time enjoying Save the Earth as much as they did Destroy All Monsters Melee. All it really seems to be is a game with some minor gameplay tweaks and a few extra characters. Although, as a Godzilla fan, I have to admit that seeing Jet Jaguar, Kiryu, Baragon and the other new characters is pretty cool.

One has to also wonder if the game can be recommended to players who aren’t Godzilla fans... and yes it can, however, the game will not appeal to them as much as it would otherwise since it can’t really be justified as a purchase for those who aren’t fond of Godzilla. There just isn’t much depth to the fighting, thus taking away from the lasting appeal of the game.

Hopefully, we’ll see a third Godzilla game from Pipeworks that improves upon Save the Earth significantly. Although, the chances of this are slim since Godzilla: Final Wars will be the last Godzilla movie produced for quite some time. It’d be hard to expect another game without a new movie to tie it in with, that is unless the sales for Save the Earth are good enough to warrant another sequel.