War of the Monsters
is like WWE tag-team wrestling between Godzilla and any of his enemies
and they've come about as the result of aliens being defeated while trying to
invade our planet.
It's a game that I wasn't particularly looking forward to as it's something
that, in theory, has been done many times before, such as in the two-dimensional
Rampage. However, after a short while playing with this game, you'll
discover just how much fun it is - and how many games can you say that about?
From the moment the game begins, you have the free-roam of the city. Pick up
cars, broken bits of buildings, or - my favourite - exploding fire trucks
and throw them at the enemy. There's also broadcasting towers which you can
impale upon your victim. However, they can also do the same to you.
It's fast, it's colourful, it's got decent sound FX and a fantastic musical
score that harks back to the era of B-movies from the '50s, which is what
War of the Monsters is trying to recreate and does so perfectly.
Playability is the only bug-bear. Once you've got going it's easy enough to
control your character, but sometimes just getting them to even walk in the
right direction can be a chore - and this can occasionally lose you the edge
on a battle.
The only thing you have to decide now is whether it has the longevity as
each level doesn't differentiate largely from the last. A couple of hours on a
rental should decide whether you'll stick with it for the long-haul. I certainly
reckon it has that "Just one more game" feeling!
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
From the moment the game begins, you have the free-roam of the city. Pick up
cars, broken bits of buildings, or - my favourite - exploding fire trucks
and throw them at the enemy. There's also broadcasting towers which you can
impale upon your victim. However, they can also do the same to you.
Playability is the only bug-bear. Once you've got going it's easy enough to
control your character, but sometimes just getting them to even walk in the
right direction can be a chore - and this can occasionally lose you the edge
on a battle.
