Godzilla: Save the Earth

The Good
This game was totally incredible and a big improvement on Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee! It has great new features, new monsters and a whole lot more. I’m happy to explain it all so let’s begin.

One thing I really like that they changed was the opening sequence, it looks much better than the one in the previous game even though it is shorter. I like how it is all CGI without using the graphics used while playing the game, it looks real good. Also the actions of the people and the monsters look better and more realistic than in the old introduction.

This game also takes on a bunch of really neat features that were not in the old game. For example the new monsters selected for the roster really do go beyond the roster for Destroy All Monsters Melee. It features six new monsters: Jet Jaguar, Mothra (Playable), Baragon, Moguera, Megaguirus, and Mecha-Godzilla 3(New if you never played the X-Box version of Destroy All Monsters Melee). It even gives Ebirah and Battra a chance to make an appearance even if they are unplayable. Though the number of new monsters may not be as much as the roster to say Super Smash Brothers Melee the monsters at least have really accurate physical looks that they have in the movies and enough moves to last a lifetime.

Another neat feature of this game is the modes of play it has, and even better one mode may contain more than the other depending on how difficult it may be. This game brings back Action Mode (Which was called Adventure Mode in the old game.), Survival mode, Versus mode, Melee mode, Team battle and Destruction mode, but they are much better in this game. In the old game you could only do Team Battle and Destruction mode if you had 3 or more players, but now you can play just by yourself and play against a computer character now that’s neat! The best change that was done is how they expanded Action Mode with more monsters to fight and with mini games for extra points in between certain battles. Even the three difficulties have each gotten better. Medium contains even more monsters to battle and more mini games to play than easy does, and hard is even longer. Also in action mode you have a mission to collect a total of 5 G-cells in each battle and each will offer extra points at the end. The cities also look very realistic and they were put together really well

In Destroy All Monsters Melee you got new monsters, cities, and gallery photos by beating certain games with certain monsters, and collecting Atari pieces by destroying buildings in hard level. In this game however none of that is necessary all you have to do is now purchase that stuff by simply buying them with the points you get by winning battles in action mode. No more taking forever to find an Atari piece at hard level by waisting your time destroying buildings.

It’s also good how they added new power ups and changed the rage attacks for some monsters. Now both Godzilla 90’s and 2000 may have most of the same attacks, but their rage attacks are different making them both more unique. This game brings back the air-strike power up that when you picked it up summoned Mothra to come to your aid, but she would attack you with your lightning until you hit her with your own beam. This game however has either a military jet or Battra come to your aid and they don’t attack you the whole battle even though you can still get rid of them by striking them with your own beam. I’m also glad this game still has the rage attacks, which make you more powerful and give you a really strong attack that can only be used in Rage Mode and only used once.

The Bad
While the game features many good improvements it gets rid of certain things from the first game that I thought were great.

With the monsters, though they may look physically accurate as they do in the movies their move characteristics may appear completely inaccurate. For example: Gigan never had an eyebeam in any of the movies he appeared in, since when does Jet Jaguar shoot a beam from his hands, and gee didn’t the 70s Mecha-Godzilla have rocket fingers and a moment where he used every attack he possessed? I never saw the 90s version of Mecha-Godzilla do that. Though it gives the monsters new moves which may make them seem more powerful, its like a movie based on a book featuring everything that book has, but get criticized by fans for adding things not in the book.

Also even though the roster looks real good, their are a few things that I’m sure could’ve been done to make it even better. This game features two Godzilla the 90s version and the 2000s version, but neither Godzilla has a major difference other than their rage attacks, neither one is stronger than the other. This means that their could’ve been space in the roster for a different monster instead of two of the same monster that just have different physical features. I also don’t like how both King Ghidorah and Mecha-King Ghidorah both have the same rage attack, where they circle in the air shooting lightning. While it seems just fine for them to give that attack to King Ghidorah they truly could’ve given Mecha-King Ghidorah a different rage attack like the Godzilla Grappler he used in “Godzilla v.s. King Ghidorah”, also make the 90s Mecha-Godzilla accurate by giving him say the G-Crusher for his rage attack. The rage attacks for some of the monster from the first game also look rather bland in some instances. I don’t like how they modified Gigan’s spinning attack by removing the red that comes from his spinning blades with tiny yellow dots it just looks plain boring and less intense.

The battle modes may also be better in some ways, but also leave out some old good things. In Adventure mode in the old game after the battle they would show a replay of how the opponent was defeated, but this game does not have that feature. Also I don’t like how the narrator changes his voice tone with certain monsters sometimes he louder and sometimes he says it as if the monster looks ugly. In destruction mode and team battle in the old game you could practically select any arena to fight in, but this game only has a few that you can fight in for those two modes, in fact some of these arenas are downright tiny and include very few building to destroy. That’s just not fair at all. I also don’t like how that in Action mode there is only one video at the beginning, and in the first game their was a video at the beginning, and before and after the final battle, but in this game you will be taken into the final battle without an introduction into the level.

The Bottom Line
I think the Atari company did a real good job on this game. It's the perfect game for any Godzilla or Japanese Monster fan and contains just as much action as a monster movie. Though it is really violent in some ways I think they game would be fun for practically any age, because their is no blood or gore. So if you love monsters or Godzilla, I say give it a go!