Dec 06, 2007

You wouldn't know it from the nearly identical packaging or from the website that it shares with the PS2 and DS versions, but the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed is a notably different game. Sure, you're still playing the part of a giant monster stamping around various cities and mashing other monsters in the face with buildings, but there are several things here you won't find in the other versions. This results in a better game, although it's still rife with problems.

The PS2 version's big handicap was chuggy, jerky graphics - not a problem with the Wii version, which moves as gracefully as a ballet dancer 99% of the time. However, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls - you can't use a GameCube or classic controller - will trip you up constantly. B, A, and B+A trigger basic attacks, but you can choose fancier abuses by swooshing the Wii Remote in any of the four main directions before pressing the buttons, but it doesn't work as well as it sounds. Even after you get the timing down so that you actually do the move you wanted instead of the default, "no swish" version, it's just not responsive.

Add to that the facts that aiming your breath/beam weapon is a pain and it's far too easy to accidentally jump when you meant to grab - not to mention the fact that it's too easy for other monsters to run right around a grab - and it just gets worse. And just as in the PS2 version, the camera is unable to decide whether it wants to be over your shoulder like a shooter, off to the side as in a fighting game, or just riding a blimp so high up that a skyscraper-sized monster looks like a small child.

The roster is larger, with 24 monsters lining up to stomp the cities of the world into rubble - though that number is debatable because there are multiple versions of some monsters. They're a bit hit and miss. Battra is basically a goth-y reskinning of Mothra (though, to be honest, that's faithful to the source material). And the two developer-created monsters, giant lava gremlin Obsidius and crystal-powered porcupine Krystalak don't fit in very well. However, Biollante's presence is welcome, as are old-school faves Varan, Titanosaurus and King Caesar (sic). Unfortunately, only a handful of daikaiju are available at the start of story mode, so you have to beat story mode about 15 times to get everybody unlocked. You can see them all at http://www.atari.com/godzilla/  in the meantime.

There are also some significant changes beyond the controls and characters. You can/have to manually recharge your breath weapon's energy when you stand still, you can charge like a bull now, and although the aliens-and-crystals invasion story is just as lame, the missions are a bit more elaborate. For example, you're more likely to have multiple objectives, like destroying an alien mothership in addition to (or possibly instead of) beating another 30-story horror unconscious. Certain levels are different too - most notably London, which is floating.