The Cold War was a very difficult era to live in. The Commies and beatniks were threatening our democracy, everyone’s dad was really square, and our great cities were used almost daily as wrestling rings for demented monster mayhem. War of the Monsters is a precious record of this troubled time…possibly. It’s impossible to overlook similarities between War and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. Both titles are arena battlers with extensive multiplayer options, both let you destroy buildings and throw tanks at enemies, and both will kick your arse until you master the finer points of monster warfare. The controls are a bit simpler here—two buttons cover all of your basic attacks—and the ability to climb buildings adds more strategy to the battles. War’s graphics are the game’s biggest asset and its greatest downfall. The environments and animation easily equal and occasionally better those in Godzilla: Giant lizards are thrown into buildings, cities are overrun by mutant ant swarms, and that paranoid 1950s B-movie vibe is so palpable you can touch it. The downfall is multiplayer mode as Incog took out four-player support to keep everything running smoothly: Only two humans can play War at once and fight up to two CPU opponents. This is a distressing flaw—especially considering how repetitive the single-player adventure mode gets after a while. If you can get over the two-player only matches, you’ll find War of the Monsters to be fun, challenging, and the sort of game that rewards you as you put more time into it. Neither this game nor Godzilla are perfect…but they’re close.
