Since the mid-1960’s, Japanese movie giant Toho Co. and its filmmakers have been entertaining us for decades with outlandish scripts, cheesy effects and some of the most goddamn funniest and laughable dubbing ever to be seen. Yeah, we’re not exactly innocent of such crimes ourselves but we also didn’t dress our actors in giant rubber monster suits. But what we all are guilty of is enjoying the chaos ensue as a 30-story tall, nuclear-fire breathing reptile as it tromps through downtown Tokyo, slaughtering thousands of innocent people. And it didn’t happen just once, its happened well over 30 times now. I don’t know how the Japanese government has all this money to keep rebuilding, maybe they’re borrowing it from Nintendo and Sony? The story of Godzilla and his many zany adventures as he battles giant space monsters, earth invading aliens and toxic waste monstrosities is undoubtedly a classic character that will live on forever in our hearts and VCR’s. So my question is how is it that we could always sit back with a Coke and Hotdogs, watching the movies but we haven’t had one single decent game in the past 20 years?

How many Godzilla games have come and gone through the past? Nine? Ten maybe? Almost every game console from the NES to the Sega Dreamcast has had one game title or another of based on Godzilla and every single one of them has sucked, tremendously. But leave it to Sony to destroy that record with the most perfect Godzilla game. Produced by the most unlikely of game companies Atari, now we can not only watch the destruction happen, but we can be the cause of it all! And best of all; it’s good. It’s damn good.

Modeled in top-notch Nintendo Gamecube fashion and splendid graphical beauty by Pipeworks, is virtually every monster, good and bad that has ever been seen in any Godzilla movie. Rodan the flying Pterosaur, Gigan the mechanical cyclops, Megalon the mutant dirt-digging beetle, King Ghidorah the three-headed pest Anguirus the spiky shelled turtle, Hedorah the Smog Monster, Mecha-Ghidorah, Mecha-Godzilla, Orga the flying slime puddle, Destroyah the Oxygen Killer and not just one Godzilla…but two! That’s right, Atari went right for the jugular with this game and gave us nearly every Godzilla enemy that’s possible. Automatically, we gain control of the 90’s Godzilla, and Y2K Godzilla. But don’t think they will all be found ready and waiting for you. Oh no, you only get four characters at first boot-up. You’ll have a lot of fights to get through to unlock the whole cast. Unfortunately, Gamorah is nowhere to be found because his character is not a Toho creation but worry not, almost anyone can pick up this game and still have a tremendous amount of fun.

Taking the similar formula of a previous smash-hit title, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (or GDAMM for short) is much like it. Take your pick of any of the above mentioned monsters wrecking havoc and absolute destruction upon eight different countries such as Japan, America, Europe and even Monster Island. Running amuck toppling towers, collapsing bridges and throwing small businesses at each other has never been more fun or any better rendered. Of course, how can anyone expect to thrash downtown Los Angeles and not expect to get a little flack in return ala the military. You’ll be relentlessly pounded on by tanks, helicopters, jetplanes, alien spacecraft’s, X-1’s and even those fucking cryogenic ice tanks that will freeze you while you’re running and jumping through the city. But this isn’t what you should be concerned with. The problem is that other one to three possible giant monsters that are in the same arena with you aiming to make you the next part of their taxidermy collection.

Taking the game a step further into the fun zone, there are numerous items that can be picked up during the battle. Health and Power Up’s give you that slight advantage as long as you get to it first. But the two most important items to watch for are the Mothra and Rage power-up. By grabbing the icon that looks like a yellow Moth, our little flying buddy swoops down and fires upon the enemy, inflicting constant damage. The only way to get him out of your hair is by using your Energy Bar and shooting back. Like a moth to a flame… The Rage power-up allows the benefactor an instant attack that does tremendous damage, as long as the enemy is in range. Each type of rage attack depends on what character you’re using so finding the most effective attack is important. Some rage attacks are nearly unavoidable while others just plain suck because the enemy has to be right in your face.

This game also has no lack in options arena. After defeating several challengers in Adventure Mode, you’ll find yourself facing one cheap-ass CPU controlled bastard named Mecha-Godzilla in the very end. He wouldn’t be such a tough adversary if the whole fucking alien planet weren’t assisting him! Various other modes include your normal Versus and Survival Mode, Team Battle plus Melee Mode where yourself and up to three other players fight it out for the highest number of knock-out’s. But the real fun of this title lies in the Destruction Mode. Another mode where you and your friends try to out-do one another in total citywide carnage! Every building and structure found is worth a certain number of points and don’t think that this is fair play. If you wanna’ easily destroy a building, just pick it up and chuck it at one of your friends for a knock-out, then take the advantage. And let me mention quickly, these cities are big. Some of the cheaper but effective tactics is raining fire breath down on a foe and watch them duck behind the Empire State Building for cover. This game is so anti-9/11 but it’s not like they actually made a WTC model to be toppled. This game is exactly what it sets out to be: fun.

But with any good game there is the issue of control, which this game could use some polishing up on. It’s frustrating at times when you’re knocked down and you find yourself fighting not only the enemy, but also your controller when you’re trying to get up or turn around. The control is very responsive when it comes to the numerous attacks, blocking and throws but dammit, I’m about to throw my controller to the ground and stomp on it if I lose my match because friggin’ Destroyah doesn’t know how to stand up and face his opponent. The camera can also be difficult at times. When the battle has come face to face, you can get lost behind some of the larger structures if they haven’t been knocked down already. This makes it difficult to see what going on at the moment and the last thing any player wants is something obstructing their view. The other problem I noticed is the monsters tend to get stuck on areas of the cities and bounce wildly in place for a second.

To tie this up, this game fucking rocks. Although GDAMM has its problems, it’s no more problematic than any other game in its genre. GDAMM has a lot to offer in every mode and I suggest to all Godzilla loving fans and readers not use any of the cheat codes that unlock all the characters. This game is fun enough as it is and deserves righteously to be played the way it’s meant to be, so take your time to unlock all the monsters and gallery pictures. If I had say in it, I’d love to see Jet Jaguar, Battra, King Kong, M.O.G.E.R.A., Gabara, Biollante, Space Godzilla and Minilla in a sequel to this title. This game was really well developed and there was a lot of thought, effort and testing put into this game so no one monster can singly dominate all the others, forgoing that annoying top-tier factor. If anyone else wants to quote me on this, go right on ahead but I’ll lie this out easily, this game is the most perfect Godzilla title to ever be made. It’s just as much fun, if not more so than Smash Bros. ever was.