Just when you thought it was safe to… well, c'mon, did you really think it was safe? There are monsters out there, people! Gargantuan freakish monstrosities who know only chaos and destruction! They may be fictional, but aren't they just fantastical manifestations of the darker, more insidious fear that pervades your very being? Aren't they just externalizations of your own nightmares, your crippling fear of the vast, creeping unknown? Aren't they?!

Whatever they are, they're back. Atari announced yesterday that Godzilla: Unleashed will be coming to the Wii, DS, and PSP sometime this autumn. Players can look forward to expansive cities with lots of buildings ripe for the smashing. How said smashing will be incorporate the dynamic Wii Remote or the DS stylus remains undiscussed, but we're looking forward to hearing about it down the line. The game promises a reinvented fighting system, and an "innovative non-linear storyline" that will unfold differently depending on your choices in battle. To stomp, or not to stomp?

Above: Godzilla ponders our question in this shot from Godzilla: Destory All Monsters Melee (GC)

We're also looking forward to, or more accurately, hoping that Godzilla: Unleashed follows in the footsteps of the enjoyable smashfest, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, and avoids the lame effort put forth by Godzilla: Save the Earth. Because fun is better than crap.

We'll leave you with this paradox from Atari's press release, which reads, "gamers are challenged to ultimately save the planet from mayhem and destruction." Can one save the planet from mayhem and destruction through the rampant perpetration of mayhem and destruction? Leave it to Godzilla to raise the tough questions.

February 1, 2007