E3 | Godzilla Destroy All Monsters – Melee Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Pipeworks Genre: Fighting Release Date: Fall 2002 Platform: GameCube The Down and Dirty Everyone's favorite lizard is finally making his way to a living room near you, and he's bringing a few of his rompin' buddies to join the mayhem. Godzilla Destroy All Monsters - Melee is being developed for the Nintendo GameCube, which seems to be the perfect home for the green goliath. Gamers will finally be given the chance to destroy vicariously through the legendary creatures of Japanese fame, in an all out multiplayer battle royale or a single player story mode. The arena: Where else? A Metropolitan area near you! The Good Lead Producer Kirby Fong treated us to a hands-on metro mayhem 4 player skirmish, in which we had our monstrous butts handed to us by Fong himself on 4 out of 5 matches. Sartoris, myself, and one other media representative were briefly run through the basic combat controls and a few special moves. Fong pointed out that he wanted the game to be accessible to everyone, with a simple control scheme that allowed even a novice gamer to pull off a few victories with mad button mashing. My own single victory against the creator himself proved that the control was simple, as I have all but forgotten how to use a controller since my demise as a console gamer. Multiplayer offers 11 playable legends, from Rodan to MechaGodzilla. There are 2 versions of the lizard king himself, one is the 80's version and the other is the 2000 model. Players are able to easily pull off 3 hit combos, chain hits, and utilize special abilities unique to each monster. The battlegrounds are fully destructible, i.e. buildings, vehicles, streetlights, etc. Many objects can be hoisted and used as a projectile, including smaller buildings and other creatures as well. UFO's frequent the area dropping off power-ups and health, which may also be found inside buildings. Armed forces will even add to the chaos, firing rockets and other projectiles at the nearest behemoth. I believe the mode we played was timed mode, in that if a player died, he/she would respawn right away and return to battle. Score determined the winner once the time limit was reached. Other play modes include Destruction mode, a "timed challenge to see which player can destroy more of a city in a given amount of time", and Survival mode, the "ultimate test of a player's skill, pitting him against monster after monster with the score based on the number of enemies defeated before losing a match". There is also a Practice mode where players can hone their skills for each of the monsters, and learn each map and location of power-ups. It is unclear at the moment as to how many various moves can be performed by each monster, but it is certain that each has his own weakness and strength. Special moves can be performed, but only when the special meter is full. The meter refills slowly, keeping special moves from being spammed. Each creature is made up off roughly 8000 polygons each, and bears a high level of detail. The battlegrounds themselves entail a high level of detail as well, with seemingly miniscule vehicles traversing the streets and working city power systems, such as traffic lights and neon signs. Destruction is well rendered in the wake of battle, and entire cityscapes left leveled as if a nuclear weapon had just been detonated. Overall, the visuals are a bit above par for what one would expect from the GameCube. Fans of Godzilla will be treated to many of the great anti-Godzilla creatures, including a few hidden surprises, which we were asked not to disclose. The development team is currently working on an "unexpected" battleground, which we were also asked not to disclose, so I won't. But I will say that Don King will likely not be involved in any promotions. Blurp_anim · Fight as one of 11 monsters in 8 different arenas. · Destroy all monsters with hand-to-hand, close range and special moves. Dominate with specialized projectile weapons. · Each monster has specific physical attributes to be used as an advantage or a weakness. · Level each city with real building destruction and physics · Huge sense of scale puts you in control of a 180 ft. 80 ton beast. · Take on all four modes of play as any of the monsters: Adventure, Destruction, Melee and Versus. · Watch as the human army of each city fights off the monsters with advanced weaponry. · 4-player fighting mayhem! The Verdict The game still has a bit of polish to be done and a few features still added. The game is roughly 65% complete, but even at its current state, it was easy to see that Godzilla Destroy All Monsters – Melee will be a hit (pun intended). We thoroughly enjoyed the 4-player mode, and hope to get in a bit more before the end of the E3 event. Non-gamers will no doubt be compelled to pick up their buddies GameCube controller and join in on the delightful destruction. Godzilla just reeks of hours upon hours of thumb-blistering fun! Related Links Infogrames E3