Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, GameCube

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee on the GameCube was developed by Pipeworks Software and published by Infogrames, under their Atari label, in 2002. The GameCube and Xbox were the only consoles to get this game, although the handheld Game Boy Advance got a version too.

I’m partial to the occasional Godzilla film, and I know a little bit about the monsters, but I do have to say that the story in this game is really f**king stupid… An alien race known as The Vortaak invade Earth and take control of the planet’s monsters. Under Vortaak control, the monsters set out to attack cities across the globe. Only one monster – yes: Godzilla – has resisted the Vortaak mind control and is now en route to intercept all the other monsters. One after the other… So you set out – as Godzilla – to stop the other monsters, and to drive away the Vortaak. That said: I can’t really complain about the story being “stupid”, because that is the case with most Godzilla films/games anyway… They’re hardly Kurosawa/Koijima, but they ARE often a lot of fun in their own right.

The camera follows you around the cityscape, as the monsters slug it out. If a building in front is obscuring the view, it becomes transparent, so you can see the monsters behind it. The camera also zooms in and out, depending on how close or far the opponents are to each other. The camera works well enough in this game so as not be annoying or intrusive.

The other monsters will try to knock buildings down onto you, or even rip them up and throw them at you, which is an effective way of reducing your health from a distance. Learn how to do it to them before they do it to you, though.

The destruction in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee I would say is excellent, but not quite “God Tier”. Tail-swiping an opponent into a magnificent set of buildings, only to watch them crumble, looks spectacular.

Basic play modes include: “Versus“, “Adventure“, “Survival“, and “Team Battle“. Other gameplay modes include: “Melee” – up to four human players fight it out simultaneously, and “Destruction” – compete against a second player and destroy as much as possible within a set period of time.

I would say that Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee does have enough destruction and playability to make it worthwhile to play nowadays. I had my doubts at first, but after a couple of hour’s play I started to appreciate the detail and nice touches.

One thing I did notice, that made me laugh, was that Godzilla‘s eyeballs often lagged behind his eye sockets when he was being spun or thrown, which led to some funny screenshots.

Available monsters: Anguirus, Destoroyah, Gigan, Godzilla 90s, Godzilla 2000, King Ghidorah, Mecha-King Ghidorah, Megalon, Orga, Rodan, and Mechagodzilla.