Humongous, crazy, mutated monsters. A cheesy save-the-earth-from-the-invading-aliens plot. Problems with audio synchronization. Yep, Godzilla Unleashed has all the elements of its celluloid brethren. The story centers on the appearance of alien crystals all around the earth that are causing destruction and seemingly affecting the monsters in unpredictable ways. Of course, there's a nefarious alien race behind the crystals, and they want to use the monsters to take over the world. There are four main factions: the Aliens, the Global Defense Force (the military and the mechanized monsters they control), the Earth Defenders, which are the monsters that defend the earth instinctively (Godzilla, Fire Rodan, etc.), and the Mutants, which are monsters that are mutating in reaction to the crystals and wreaking havoc. Too add to the drama, there's a rogue general among the GDF who only wants to destroy all monsters, balanced by members of the GDF that believe Godzilla and his gang are actually protecting the earth, even though they do collateral damage in the process. Given the aforementioned information, I'm sure you could complete the story in its entirety on your own.

However, you probably aren't going to purchase a Godzilla game, or watch a Godzilla movie, for a complex, inspirational, moving, thought-provoking storyline. You're going to buy it for some big-ass monster against monster fighting action! In reality, the fighting is the only redeeming quality of this title, because it is fun to see the various attacks and defenses employed by the different beasts in combat. Unfortunately, you have to play through the oh-so-short Story mode several times to earn enough points to unlock a majority of the monsters and locales in which to fight outside of Story mode (Brawl mode). What makes it even more frustrating is that in the Story mode, your objectives for each mission really aren't always clear (do you destroy the crystals, or defeat a monster?), and sometimes it's difficult to know which monster you should be fighting. There really is no sense of accomplishment associated with each segment. Regardless of what you achieved (or didn’t achieve) in the segment, the story moves on, win or lose, and you earn points just the same.

After completing the Story mode using the Earth Defenders (the only faction available at the beginning of the game), you should have enough points to unlock a different faction, and play the Story mode using that faction's monsters (which is pretty much the only difference). What makes it more aggravating is that even though you've unlocked a faction, you still have to earn several thousand additional points to unlock the various monsters associated with that faction for Brawl mode. There are six additional environments locked as well, including Tokyo. Ultimately, the most fun from this game will be staging fights in Brawl mode with up to four players, but you have to trudge through the story mode several times to unlock the best of the beasties and environments. There are no other game play modes outside of Story mode and Brawl mode, and online play is not available.

To compound the problem, the graphics are disappointing. The details are muddy and bland, and some environments are so dark that it's hard to tell which moving blob on the screen is yours. The monsters also lack that awesome sense of their size in comparison to the rest of the world. The scale is appropriate, but they just don't seem gigantic; it just feels like your playing a game with animated, miniature scale models. The animations are well done, however, and it is a pleasure to use the different attacks and special moves of the various monsters to destroy your combatants and the surroundings. The audio isn't remarkable, either, although the ambient sounds from the monsters, military, and aliens are consistent with the movies, as are the character voices (for better or worse).

The controls are adequate, although the game is basically a button-masher. You can block, and string together combos, but it's difficult to tell who has the initiative in the attack, and ultimately that monster gets to execute. At times, you'll be wailing away on the buttons, but only able to watch because the AI monster got off first, according to some indeterminate variable. Also, when using the monster’s ranged attack, the manual aim doesn’t work well at all, as it feels like you can only aim in four directions. The auto aim is okay, but it doesn’t do well when buildings or other obstacles are near by. Learning the various monsters and their basic and special moves keeps it fun for a while, though. The mysterious crystals have a variety of effects on the monsters, too, and these power-ups add to the action.

Godzilla Unleashed lacks the vibrant, larger-than-life, destructive mayhem of other Godzilla titles, and there really aren't enough redeeming qualities otherwise to warrant a purchase…or even a rental.