Playing Godzilla: Unleashed

via ign

Over his half-century-plus of life, Godzilla and his Toho-created crew have destroyed metropolis cities more times than is probably healthy for mankind. But those nuclear beasts continue to wreak havoc across the planet in Japanese flicks. And the fact that giant monsters are too cool for school makes them perfect candidates for videogame designs, since it's pretty much the only time fans can play out their building-destruction fantasies...without stacking up cardboard boxes and couch cushions that is. Godzilla: Unleashed is the third in the Godzilla franchise from the partnership between publisher Atari and developer Pipeworks Software, and in this update the two companies are really pushing the Wii functionalities to give the fighting game a bit more "oomph."

Godzilla: Unleashed is a new design that's based on Pipeworks' previous PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox Godzilla fighters. In this production, gamers play as more than 16 different city-destroying titans of four different factions: earth defenders, aliens, mechas, and mutants. Atari's only ready to talk about four that are in the game: Godzilla 2000, Kiryu, Gaigan, and Megolon. But the company let us in on a little tidbit: the game will have two original Toho-approved characters made specifically for this fighter.

The game is being prepared for a fall 2007 release, but Atari stopped by our offices today to give us a peek at an early build to show off some of the concepts that the development team's working on for this fighter. On the surface, it looks very much like Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee released on the GameCube a few years ago. Visuals have definitely been bumped up in the move to the Wii -- we only had the opportunity to play as either Godzilla 2000 and Kiryu (essentially MechaGodzilla 3) but it was clear that the character models and cityscapes received a bump-up in texture work even in this pre-alpha stage. Atari promises four player battles when the game wraps later this year, but at this admittedly early stage of development the engine struggled to keep up with just two fighters on-screen. The game still has a ways to go in production, though, so what we saw will definitely improve and change by the time it ships.

What surprised us was how well the current Wii controls work with the fighting system. Atari and Pipeworks made it clear that the mechanics will most likely change as the game's tweaked in the next few months, but we can see the potential for Wii motion sensing for this fighter. Movement's handled via the nunchuk analog stick, with attacks mapped on the A or B button on the Wii remote. Combining the remote's buttons with motion will perform different swipes and uppercuts. Holding the crouch button on the nunchuk and shaking the device will send the beast on a charge towards his foe. Letting off a beam attack is handled by a two button system and aimed in 3D by twisting the Wii Remote to mimic the direction of your character's head. If the two monsters' beams cross, they'll play "volleyball" with an energy ball riding the beam where each player must time their return or else take the hit.

As the two characters battle, the cityscape can be destroyed by punching buildings or stomping them down. Some buildings could even be utilized as throwing objects during the fight; simply find a knee high structure, drop and lift the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in a "pick up" motion. Whipping the controller or Nunchuk will toss the building towards the enemy. Though it took a few minutes to adjust, the motion controls admittedly works well because these are huge lumbering beasts, and players make smooth, steady attacks that match their 200-foot, on-screen persona's motions.

Godzilla: Unleashed still has a ways to go -- the company is still ironing out the fighting system and control mechanics, as well as working on Wii-specific features that the companies weren't yet ready to talk about publicly. The early look was just a taste of what's in the works for Godzilla on the Wii -- expect more details to surface as the game continues through its development cycle.