flash-hammer's Full Review: Godzilla: Domination for Game Boy Advance (GBA)
As a Godzilla fan, Iv played my fair share of rubbish games that featured the liscence,I bought this game along with a GBA wondering if this was going to be a case of Deja Vu,I recall getting very excited about getting the old Godzilla game for the original Game Boy, thinking I was going to be in for monster mashing fun, and getting a puzzle game which featured Super Deformed dinosaurs that looked kinda like Godzilla and his pals.
But,Domination did not disapoint in the way of game genre,the game plays and looks very similiar to the old Neo Geo King of the Monsters games, which were Godzilla games in all but name, if you arent familiar with those, Ill try to break it down a bit more.The game is a fighting game ala Streetfighter, two characters(in this case Kung Fu'ers replaced by Kaiju) smack each other until one of them's life bar is empty.However, unlike SF as well as moving backwards and forwards, fighters can also move up and down.The game also allows up to four monster in a battle at once.This can be a free for all, two vs two or a handicap of three against one or two against one.
There are four options after the title screen,story mode, where you face seven battles of varying types before fighting the boss,versus,where up to four players can fight via link up cable(only one cart is required),custom,where the player can pick up to 3 computer controlled opponents and have a one off battle and options.Where you have a little say overa few aspects of the game.
The controls are fairly simple, L is block,R is Jump,A is one type of attack and B is another(A would be Punch and B kick,however this does not apply as not all of the monsters have arms)special moves are accomplished by holding down A or B until your monster flashes white, before letting go.
As well as having an health bar, each monster also has a second, Super move bar below it.This builds up as you perform the previously mentioned special moves and destroy the building in your battlezone.Each monster has three super moves, one activated by pressing L+R,one by A+B and one by pressing A+B mid-jump.
The character lineup is slightly puzzling.A generic rendition of Godzilla, with the expected heavyweights Mothra,Rodan,King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla (93 Edtion) and the shock entry of Megalon.
I find this as a shock, because all of the other monsters appeared in(and their in game renditions resemble their appearances in) the 80s-90s series of Godzilla movies.They also all appeared in some form or another in the earlier G-films, but Megalon has one movie appearance to his name, and that is the lowly regarded early 70s outing Godzilla Vs. Megalon.
The Mecha-King Ghidorah also makes an appearance as the story mode boss.This is horrible.The MKG was made out of the battered remains of KG and Mechagodzilla,yet this creature is actually double the height of those two monsters standing atop one another,he is also disgustingly easy, as literally all that is required to beat him is jumping kicks.
The game controls alright, with no major complaints about the regular walking,jumping,punching etc aspects,but when it comes to the super moves responsiveness isnt always perfect.The sound however is a different story -it doesnt even have good points, muffled music and monster roars that sound like they are coming from an old cassette played underwater, a fact made more embarassing by the fact Super Streetfighter 2 Turbo: Revival on GBA re-creates Anguirus' roar on Fei-Long's stage accurately.
The Graphics are a mixed bag.The monster portraits and backgrounds look superb, but some of the monsters are a bit lacking(eg Godzilla's huge hands and the fact that Megalon has went from being Brown and Yellow to Aquamarine and orange).
Gameplay wise, the game is decent,nothing more,nothing less.The collision detection can occasionally be off, but it is not anything major.
Another slightly annoying thing is the monster's super moves.Godzilla's atomic breath is his trademark, it is to him what the Hadouken is to Ryu from Streetfighter.Yet for some reason, the makers of this game opted to make it one of his super moves,meaning you have to walk around and smash a bunch of buildings before you can even let the famous atomic fire rip,and when you do, you discover that it only travels about half a cm in front of Godzilla.Not impressed.
The story is typical Godzilla videogame fare.Meteor heading to Earth,Magnetic brainwaves affecting the monsters making them rampage, only one monster not affected so he has to stop the others.
Much as the story as really just there to fill in gaps, it makes a few disgusting errors.The magnetic brainwaves only affect monsters right?so why is Mechagodzilla 2,a HUMAN CONTROLLED(this is even acknowledged in the monsters story ending) robot affected? and more to the point, why is the MKG, another Human controlled beast,living in the asteroid?
Godzilla :Domination is by no means a terrible game, its just not all that great.If you are a Godzilla fan, its worth picking up if seen for a low price,because it is the monster king's best handheld outing, but for anyone else Id avoid it.There are no extras to unlock,and once you have completed it with all six characters, there really isnt any purpose to play it again.As I dont have any GBA owning friends, I cant speak for the multiplayer aspect of the game, but I would imagine it would be a bit of a laugh.
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