A few things have happened this year for Godzilla; a new movie that didn’t entirely suck or star Matthew Broderick and it’s the big guy’s 60th anniversary. Sixty years tormenting the residents of Tokyo, bashing multi-limbed freaks into a fleshy pulp and causing what must be, by now, zillions of yen in property damage.
To commemorate this wondrous occasion, Toho are releasing a new Godzilla game for the PS3. We had to play it. And while the result is far from awful is does take some getting used to, the graphics are okay but not stunning, the character animations can be a little stuttery and the controls are not what you would call intuitive. If fact, out of the ten minutes of allocated playtime, seven we spent on figuring out how to turn left and right (turns out it was the shoulder buttons), we’re guessing this is to give a sense of size as you’re moving Godzilla’s vast tonnage around, but it doesn’t really achieve anything except allow you to watch yourself lumber towards the sea while King Ghidorah punches you in the back.
Once you get used to the controls the fighting is pretty fun, nothing beats watching your enemy take flight only to come crashing back down after you give him a face-full of atomic breath. You can also ‘charge’ at your enemies, resulting in a shoulder-barge or you can grab them in a bear hug. We noticed on the English control list we were given that once grabbed, you can perform three alternative moves; bite, throw…and ‘point-blank heat-ray’. Guess Which one we went for…
We were rewarded with the sight of Godzilla giving a radioactive hickey and then our time was up. Definitely one to grab if you’re a fan.