Godzilla (ゴジラ ＧＯＤＺＩＬＬＡ, Gojira GODZILLA?) is a video game developed by Natsume Atari and published by Bandai Namco games for the PlayStation 3 and 4. It was released on December 18, 2014 in Japan, on July 14, 2015 in North America, and on July 17, 2015 in Europe.
The Japanese version of the PlayStation 4 Godzilla is titled Godzilla VS (ゴジラ-GODZILLA-VS, Gojira Buiesu?) and was released on July 16, 2015. Godzilla VS is the exact same game as the PlayStation 4 Godzilla.
"Godzilla, the King of the Monsters, first appeared in 1954. Scientists studied Godzilla and found that they could harness energy from the monster. Called “G-Energy,” this seemingly endless source of power was used to better the lives of all mankind. 60 years later, just when mankind’s memory of the beast faded, Godzilla appeared again. Godzilla destroyed at will, all in search of more G-Energy. Such irony, the same G-Energy which was used to better the people’s lives, also caused Godzilla to awaken. Can the G-Force, mankind’s last hope, stop Godzilla? What fate awaits Godzilla once he has consumed all of the G-Energy, and grown to his full potential?
Bash your way through over 20 stages of mayhem. Explore Mission Mode, Diorama Mode, and King of Monsters Mode! Collect G-Energy in each stage to Power-Up your Godzilla up to 100 Meters tall! Your offensive and defensive prowess will increase with your size."
Plot[]
In 1954, Godzilla attacked Japan. From his attack, mankind found and harnessed G-Energy, an energy source taken from Godzilla. 60 years later, Godzilla appears again to feed on the G-Energy. Godzilla progresses through Japan, fighting off Kaiju that are seemingly attracted to him and destroying G-Generators. Mankind takes information on Godzilla, and it is revealed that since Godzilla's first attack, G-Force has been constructing a Godzilla-like robot. Once all the data on Godzilla is collected, the robot is deployed. This can either be Super Mechagodzilla or Kiryu depending on the player's difficulty. Godzilla defeats the robot, and destroys the last two generators. Godzilla then appears to be returning to the sea. However, the energy he absorbs causes him to enter critical mass, and becomes Burning Godzilla. It is theorized that he will explode and destroy the world. The G-Force Operator suggests freezing him, and freeze tanks are sent out. The Super X3 arrives, but is damaged. Soon after, what appears to be another Godzilla appears, but is also defeated. The Gotengo and Super X3 manage to freeze Godzilla, and Kiryu carries him out to sea. They both sink into the ocean, and humanity begins to rebuild.
Gameplay[]
Controls[]
Details of the controls:
Moving the Left Analog Stick/D-Pad has the monster move in all directions. Rather than having full and fluid Analog movement, the monster strafes/shimmies when the player presses left or right on the Analog Stick/D-pad.
The Right Analog Stick moves the camera. This lets the player get many cinematic angles while they're playing. No matter what angle the player is in, the monster always moves forward when they push up on the D-Pad/Move up on the Left Analog Stick. Pressing the R3 Button (Clicking in the Right Analog Stick) at the right places has the camera move to "Cinematic Mode", where there are 4 available angles per stage. Getting them all is essential to achieving the "True Ending" of the game.
The Square Button is the basic attack button.
The Circle Button has the monster perform a special attack.
The Triangle Button is the strong attack button. Pushing up on the D-Pad and Triangle causes some monsters to perform grab attacks.
The X button has the monster do a quick charging move, which can be combo'd with other buttons for various effects.
L1/R1 are used to turn the monster.
R2 is the emergency dodge button.
L1 + R1 are used to roar.
The Start Button is used to make a selection in the menus and pause the game.
Unlocking monsters[]
The player can unlock different monsters in the game by fighting them and then going to Evolution mode and selecting them. In the PlayStation 3 version, this can only be done with Godzilla 2014 and Burning Godzilla, while the PlayStation 4 version allows the player to unlock all monsters.
Most monsters can be fought at random throughout the campaign, but some require special conditions to appear. Burning Godzilla is unlocked in the PlayStation 3 version by beating the campaign and reaching over 100 meters. The player will then fight Godzilla 2014, and will unlock him if he or she defeats him. In the PlayStation 4 version, Jet Jaguar can be fought on the first stage as Godzilla, by destroying between 50-65% of the area, then quickly destroying the generator. Biollante can only be encountered by taking the hard difficulty route. If the player takes the easy or normal routes, he or she will run into Super Mechagodzilla in Stage 8. If the hard route is taken, Kiryu will appear instead.
Burning Godzilla can be unlocked by reaching over 100 meters in invade mode and defeating him. He can also be encountered if one does not go under 80% destruction rate in defense mode. Destoroyah is unlocked by beating invade mode as Burning Godzilla. He can also be randomly encountered in Stage 7 if the player takes the hard route, and will only spawn in the 100 meter class. Godzilla 2014 is unlocked when the campaign is beaten entirely as Godzilla, or he can be encountered as Burning Godzilla in stage 9. He can also be encountered randomly in defense mode.
God of Destruction mode[]
God of Destruction mode (just called "Destruction Mode" in the Japanese version) consists of the player controlling Godzilla (or other monsters in the PlayStation 4 version) as he attacks certain stages, and is similar to Godzilla Generations. In order to clear the stage, the player must destroy all of the G-Energy Generators in the map, while also being attacked by G-Force and occasionally a boss. Some of these stages are timed and the player must destroy all of the Generators before the timer expires. As Godzilla destroys objects such as buildings, G-Energy Generators, and military vehicles, he will increase in size. Godzilla begins the campaign at 50 meters in height, and can reach an almost limitless size.
Bosses that Godzilla faces will be leveled at the appropriate height based on Godzilla's current size, though occasionally he may encounter 100-meter kaiju regardless of his current height. Destoroyah, for example, will always be 100 meters when encountered, and may appear on the fifth stage if the player chooses the hard path. Defeating these 100-meter kaiju gives the player a greater evolution factor for said kaiju. If the player is defeated by a 100-meter kaiju and restarts the stage, the enemy kaiju will no longer be 100 meters. The player's monster cannot grab kaiju whose height is greater than its own, but it is immune to being grabbed by kaiju who are shorter than it.
In order to complete Destruction Mode as Godzilla and reach the game's true final boss, the player must reach 100% destruction in each of the stages, discover all four special camera angles in every stage, and exceed 100 meters in height by the last stage. If all of these requirements are met, after the credits roll the player will begin the final stage as Burning Godzilla and be attacked by the Super X3 and several modified MBT-92Maser Cannons. After this, the Legendary Godzilla will appear as the game's true final boss and must be defeated before the timer expires and Godzilla reaches meltdown. After Legendary Godzilla is defeated, the game's final cutscene will be triggered. Other kaiju will battle Burning Godzilla on this stage, but if the player controls Godzilla 1964, the final opponent will be two Mothra larvae, and when playing as Burning Godzilla it will be Destoroyah.
In the PlayStation 4 version of the game, the player has the option to play as Super Mechagodzilla, Mothra, Jet Jaguar, Kiryu, and Mecha-King Ghidorah, whose goal in this mode is to protect various cities from attacking kaiju. As long as the player defeats the enemy monster and prevents the city's defense ratio from falling below 50%, the stage will be complete.
King of Kaiju mode[]
King of Kaiju (called "King of the Monsters Mode" in the Japanese version) is a game mode where the player plays through six stages, each with a different monster to fight. The monsters increase in strength the further the player progresses. The weaker monsters will appear in the first two waves, slightly harder monsters in the third and fourth, more powerful monsters in the fifth stage, and the most powerful monsters in the final stage. The PS3 version made the Heisei Godzilla, Burning Godzilla, and the American Godzilla all playable in this mode. In the PlayStation 4 version, all kaiju are playable in this mode.
Monsters who can appear in the first two stages are:
As the player defeats certain enemies and destroys certain structures in Destruction Mode, new abilities will be unlocked and can be applied to Godzilla in this mode. Godzilla can receive new attacks, including the "victory dance" from Invasion of Astro-Monster, as well as atomic breath upgrades, including the ability to use atomic breath to fly as in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, as well as fire Minilla's smoke rings or use a white misty atomic breath based on that used by the original Godzilla in 1954.
Each kaiju drops items known as Evolution Factors ("cells" for organic kaiju and "parts" or "circuit boards" for mechas and cybernetic kaiju) which are used to upgrade the various kaiju. They can also be obtained by completing different modes as specific kaiju. Each kaiju requires "Evolution Energy" to be upgraded, which is obtained by playing as that kaiju.
In the PlayStation 4 version of the game, Evolution mode is used to unlock new monsters after the player has defeated them in Destruction Mode, as well as upgrade their abilities. The upgrades that the player makes to their monster can be used in online multiplayer matches.
Diorama mode[]
Throughout the game, the player will unlock monster models and other objects that can be placed in an environment and viewed from various angles and used to take screenshots, allowing the player to recreate battles from the film or the game, or to create fantasy battles.
The player will also unlock bios for various monsters from the Godzilla series beyond just those featured in the game, which appear here (called "Monster Field Guide" in the Japanese version of the game). These bios include pictures of the monsters from films they appear in, as well as information about the monsters' attributes and film appearances. In the English version, the monsters' bios contain some inaccuracies, such as listing incorrect heights and stating that the Godzilla in the Kiryu Saga is the original Godzilla.
Godzilla was officially revealed in Japan on June 26, 2014 with a trailer uploaded to YouTube by Bandai Namco Japan. However, magazine leaks of it began at at least June 23, 2014.[6] At that time, the game was reported to be 40% complete.[6]
In late-mid-August, Japan's Famitsu magazine revealed the game would be released on December 18, 2014 in Japan,[4] and on August 29, Bandai Namco released a second trailer for the game.[7] On December 5, the game's Japanese demo was released to the Japanese PlayStation Network.
On December 5, 2014, the English release of the game was officially revealed in The Game Awards for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.
On February 9, 2015, a physical release for Godzilla on the PlayStation 3 was cancelled, and instead replaced by the game becoming downloadable digitally.[8]
On April 7, 2015, it was announced that Godzilla would be released on PlayStation 4 in Japan in the summer, but now with an all-new expansion pack called Godzilla VS. (ゴジラ-GODZILLA-VS, Gojira Buiesu?), which adds the new monsters SpaceGodzilla, Mecha-King Ghidorah, Anguirus, Rodan and Battra and makes all of the other monsters in the game fully playable. It will also include competitive online multiplayer, new game modes, and larger maps. This is also the same as the PlayStation 4 version of the game that will be released in the United States and Europe.[9].
Pre-order bonuses[]
In North America, pre-ordering Godzilla earned players instant access to Hollywood Godzilla and Godzilla 1964 as playable monsters, a special game mode called "Showa Mode" which makes the game appear like the 1954 film, and exclusive models for Diorama Mode. However, Bandai Namco ultimately released all of the pre-order bonuses for free on the PlayStation Store. Players who pre-ordered the game from GameStop also got a free Godzilla poster, while those who pre-ordered from the PlayStation Store received custom Godzilla background themes for their PlayStation.
Pre-ordering the PlayStation 4 version of the game in Japan earns players instant access to Godzilla 1964, Showa Mode, exclusive Diorama Mode models, and a special Gacha Coin for access to Godzilla 2014 as a playable monster in Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.
Pre-ordering the game in Europe earns players instant access to Hollywood Godzilla.
Scrapped content[]
King Ghidorah 1998 - According to producer Shunsuke Fujita, the original version of King Ghidorah that was to be included in the game was his incarnation from Rebirth of Mothra III. However, because this incarnation's appearance and powers were too complex, time constraints caused the developers to include the Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah incarnation instead. However, in the game King Ghidorah is stated to be an alien monster like his Rebirth of Mothra III incarnation rather than three mutated Dorats, and his entry in the Monster Field Guide includes a picture of him in Rebirth of Mothra III.
Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah - According to Shunsuke Fujita, Monster X was one of his favorite monsters and he really wanted to include him in the game, but couldn't because of time constraints.
Zone Fighter - Zone Fighter was mentioned in an interview with Shunsuke Fujita, as a character that he greatly liked and considered for the game.
Godzooky - Shunsuke Fujita mentioned in an interview that he would consider adding any available monster to the game, jokingly mentioning even Godzooky. Godzooky was most likely not actually considered for the game.[10]
Godzilla 1962 - In an interview, Shunsuke Fujita stated that he felt it was important to include versions of Godzilla from every era, and he wished he could have added the version of Godzilla from King Kong vs. Godzilla as the game's Showa era Godzilla.[11] Instead, Godzilla 1964 was included in the final game.
King Kong - According to Shunsuke Fujita, he and the developers "definitely wanted" to put King Kong in the game.[11]
Reception[]
In Japan, both the PlayStation 3 and 4 versions of the game received favorable reviews in Famitsu Magazine, a major Japanese gaming magazine. The PS4 version in particular scored a relatively high 30/40, a score the magazine has awarded to other notable high-profile games, while the PS3 version scored a 29/40.[12][13]
Outside of Japan, reception has been considerably more mixed and negative. IGN gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, criticizing the repetitive gameplay and poorly-detailed environments, plus saying that the game's graphics were lackluster.[14] GameInformer gave the game an even lower 3 out of 10, criticizing the unorthodox controls and slow gameplay.[15] WatchMojo.com ranked Godzilla as #6 on its list of the top 10 worst video games of 2015, criticizing it as a "slow-moving fighting game with no blocking" with "outdated graphics and stilted gameplay."[16] GameGrin, on the other hand, gave the game a 7 out of 10, praising the game's attention to detail in designing the monsters and authenticity to the films.[17]
Among the fanbase, reception to the game has been mostly positive. Fans have praised the game's large roster of playable monsters, the many hours of gameplay offered by it, and how closely it recreated the films. However, many fans felt left out by the fact that the game was a PlayStation exclusive, while others were upset that the PlayStation 4 version of the game included so much more exclusive content than the PS3 version.
Trivia[]
Handshake between Godzilla and Jet Jaguar
If the player encounters Jet Jaguar three times in one playthrough, after defeating him the third time the player will obtain a trophy called "Our Jet Jaguar" and a cutscene will be triggered showing Godzilla and Jet Jaguar shaking hands as they did at the end of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
When Gigan is defeated, his head will explode, as it did in Godzilla: Final Wars.
Within the game, advertisements for S.H. MonsterArts can be seen on top of buildings. S.H. MonsterArts figures were used to help develop the character models for the monsters in the game.
There is an unused sound file in the PS3 version of the game of the G-Force operator saying Mecha-King Ghidorah's name, suggesting that he was going to appear in the game but was scrapped. However, Mecha-King Ghidorah was later added to the PlayStation 4 version of the game.
This game was the last project that Koichi Kawakita, special effects director for most of the Heisei era, worked on prior to his death in December 2014. Kawakita was a consultant for the making of this game.
In an interview with Shunsuke Fujita, the game's producer, he mentioned that at first he didn't even intend for Jet Jaguar to appear in the game, but walked into his office and saw him on the screen, and "couldn't say no." [10] In this same spirit, Fujita said that he would consider adding any available monster to the game, including Godzooky.
In the same interview, Fujita stated that the reason he made Godzilla move so slowly in the game was so that it didn't feel like the 1998 film.[10]
Each of the monsters' intros in the PlayStation 4 version of the game reflect scenes from the films they appeared in. For example, Mothra's intro shows her emerging from her cocoon on the Diet Building like in Godzilla vs. Mothra, while Mechagodzilla 2's intro shows him emerging from an underground base like he did in Terror of Mechagodzilla.
In the Kaiju Guide, Anguirus' bio states that he once fought a monster called "Gigantis," who has since been banished from this plane of existence, an inside joke poking fun at the American dub of Godzilla Raids Again, in which Godzilla was called "Gigantis."
To commemorate the release of Godzilla VS in Japan, Bandai Namco created a collaboration event for the game Ace Combat Infinity. In this event, called the Ace Combat Infinity X Godzilla VS Collaboration Event, players take part in an online co-op mission called "Tokyo Martial Law," where (in addition to defending Tokyo from the enemy jets) they must attack Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, King Ghidorah, Biollante, or Mothra larva in order to prevent them from reaching Tokyo. While the monsters can't be killed by the player, they can be delayed long enough from making landfall, allowing the player to pass the game mode. In addition, several rewards such as emblems and nicknames can be acquired by completing challenges or, as mentioned previously, attacking the monsters whenever they appear.
If Mechagodzilla 2 is grabbed with low health, his head will be removed. After his head is removed, Mechagodzilla 2 is still able to fight, and can fire a laser beam from the circular "brain" on his neck, a reference to Terror of Mechagodzilla.
If the player grows to 100 meters in God of Destruction Mode as Burning Godzilla and reaches the final stage, the last opponent will be Destoroyah, a reference to Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
If the player completes God of Destruction Mode as Godzilla 1964 and reaches 100 meters, the final opponent will be two Mothra larvae, a reference to Mothra vs. Godzilla.
In the PS4 version of the game, the Godzilla Head on the Hotel Gracery can be encountered and destroyed in the Shinjuku stage.
If the player shoots the Super X2 with a beam while it has its Fire Shield open at low heath, the Fire Shield will be destroyed, complete with a flame effect.
While playing as Kiryu, one can shoot his missiles in a straight barrage by doing the combo (Square, Square, Square, Up, Circle). After Kiryu spins during the third basic attack, immediately press up and circle together to cause him to shoot a straight missile barrage at his foe. Make sure you have a bar filled up before attempting this.
