Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

A new Godzilla video game will be out in July, and it sounds awesome!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/godzilla- ... 37630.html


I want one already.

This is one I plan to get on our PS4. Not sure I'll go for it right away at launch, but I want it, no doubt. It'll be nice to finally get a game on PS4 that isn't something-or-other remastered (so far, only PS4 game I've bought that wasn't a freebie is The Last of Us Remastered...which was more than worth it).

I did almost buy an import copy of this game at PAX, but chose not to as I googled it and learned it would get a stateside release.

So this thing is out. It comes as no surprise to me that it hasn't been doing so well critically, generally getting pretty low scores from major critics/outlets. Graphics are getting panned a lot too. It was originally released PS3 only in Japan, before coming to the US with a PS4 version alongside the PS3 version. As far as I understand, the PS3 version is the same as the original Japanese game, while the PS4 version includes online versus mode multiplayer a LOT more playable monsters.

But the thing is with this game, I totally expected a low critic score because I suspect most major critics are not Godzilla fans. After watching some videos and reading player reviews, it's turned out generally how I expect - if you're not a fan, avoid, if you are a fan, you will probably like it. A major complaint is that it's slow and the monsters are slow, but if you're a fan of Godzilla/have seen any of the movies, then you know the monsters move slow. Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat this is not and I would most players get that. Controls also seem slightly awkward at first, but are fine once you get used to them, and apparently the camera control you get is pretty versatile. To me, the graphics do the job well enough. I do kind of wonder if they look a touch bland and flat intentionally...again, calling to mind an actual miniature set. The monsters themselves look amazing and animate quite nicely, and the graphics team was clearly focused on that. And that's what they should've been focusing on.

From watching videos, I will say that it seems this was made for fans, as with how good the monsters look and how it does seem to basically be a Godzilla movie transplanted into a game, cheesiness, dodgy writing/translation, and sub-par voice acting fully intact, that Bandi-Namco had fans of the movies working on this and staying true to the feel of the movies seemed to be their goal. It does seem that the core gameplay isn't very deep and can be repetitive, but again, if you're a fan...yeah. For the PS4 version at least, I think what might keep people coming back (and this might include me, lol) is unlocking and fully upgrading all the monsters. And if nothing else, it seems like it would have a similar kind of catharsis to old school beat-em-up games. I'm still deciding if I want it now or if I want to wait for a price drop or for used copies to start trickling in, though this is a game where I may not want a used copy anyway - if this game is actually decent as a Godzilla game, I'd like to see Godzilla get some more decent video games. I am willing to admit I enjoyed the Atari fighters that were on PS2, Wii, Gamecube and Xbox and still sometimes play them, so I think I would enjoy this, I'm just not quite sure I want to spend $60 on it at this point.

I will say that it's nice to see that the all the in-game preorder bonuses have already gone up on PSN for free.

Edit: We had to go to the mall in Watertown today to get a couple things for the kitchen. There was a Gamestop...and I said "screw it" and picked up a copy. They even still had some of the posters that came with pre-orders, but it seems they gave me two, so I'll have to call the store tomorrow and let them know when I can return one. However, I have not had the chance to play it yet - but I will tomorrow!

I'll be curious of your opinion on this Wolf Bird. I plan on a small game splurge and I'm considering purchasing Godzilla as part of that.

I grappled a bit with posting my thoughts here or in the "what are you currently playing" thread, but I ultimately chose this thread to go more in depth. I posted a much shorter summary there.

WARNING: Wall of text ahead.

I played for a bit (maybe 2 hours?) last night after spending a fair bit of time trying to get our router and PS4 to talk to each other again, as a transformer blew early yesterday and we were without power for much of the morning. Neither the PS4 nor our router took that well. It took a lot longer to download an update file than it should've, as well as get all the free DLC currently available. But once that was done, I could play it.

Basically, it is exactly as I expected - as a Godzilla fan, I find plenty to enjoy about it. It's a far cry from being a great game, it's certainly not something I'd encourage most gamers to play, but if you're a Godzilla fan, it's worth at least a look. It definitely has the approach of a fighting game, with a few different modes and a pretty threadbare campaign mode, at least as far as story goes. Granted, I didn't go in expecting a deep story, and I think that if anyone did expect that, there's something wrong with the player, not the game. It does feel like a story that could've been lifted straight out of a Godzilla movie, so well done there.

I would like to point on that on the back of the box, it says "Movie-like action and gameplay." They definitely deserve credit for that, because it's actually pretty spot-on and quite honest. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to the player. Basically, a fast-paced action game this is not. It is very slow-paced, but if you've seen a Godzilla movie, particularly the original, or any of the movies in the 80s or 90s, you know that. Godzilla moves slowly and ponderously, as he does in those movies (and the default Godzilla model is his 90s/Heisei design). But what I like is that feels like you're actually...you know...a giant monster with weight and impact with every step. Controls are a bit weird at first...you actually have to use R1 and L1 to turn Godzilla instead of the left stick, which moves him forward and back, and strafes, so think tank controls. The right stick controls camera, and what this does is allow some pretty fine camera manipulation without camera angle changing the direction Godzilla is moving in. It takes getting used to, but once you do, it works just fine, and allows great screenshots.

The core gameplay...well, think a Godzilla movie. Enter city, wreck the place and the miltary fighting against you, beat another monster. Wash, rinse, repeat. There are other modes where you're set against different monsters, and online versus, but it's mostly that. Granted, the campaign does allow you to be a monster defending humans, or a monster besides Godzilla. The roster of playable critters is pretty good, going from the number of lines of "????????" I see in each mode when I select a character. The more you destroy the stronger Godzilla gets.

The face buttons all do different attacks, which are the same whether you're beating up a building or a monster, and again, they work alright for either. It's not deep (and it's Godzilla...shouldn't be), but it works. The omission of an actual block has been contentious, but you do have a brief invincibility move and honestly, I can't remember ever seeing the monsters block in the movies. This isn't Street Fighter and its not trying to be. And it feels like guys in rubber suits, but also has the weight, impact and slow speed I was hoping for. It seems that after you fight a monster for the first time, you unlock them for play in all the game's modes, and each monster does indeed have its own skill tree. The monster models themselves, going from what I've seen so far, have been very faithfully recreated with very detailed models, fantastic animations and sound pulled right from their respective film(s). Overall, the game does truly capture a Godzilla movie. It looks and feels the part in my opinion, and for that, I applaud the developers.

Besides that, the game also has a goofy, but fun, diorama mode. As you play, you can unlock different figures (there are also figures that are free DLC) that you can use in different base dioramas to create basically any scenario you want. Or recreate scenes from the movies. It was kind of cool to be able to create the scene in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah where the latter is dragging the former around by his neck with his pincer tail in diorama mode. It doesn't have too much point, but it is fun to mess with, and again, has appeal to fans. The only other mode is basically an entire Godzilla encyclopedia about each monsters, just in case there are things you didn't know about how they created each monster.

There are some things that I think could be better that you can't totally justify by saying "Godzilla movie turned into a game." The biggest one is arena size. They're too small. Now, I understand you couldn't do whole entire cities and idealism had to meet practicality halfway, but I still think they could be bigger. Also, the cities are a touch lifeless - while I do now think that they were trying to go for a more "hey look, actual miniature set" over a real city, I think the textures could be better and environments more lively. If you're striving for 100% destruction, it can be annoying to only be left with your objective and have 99%, and have to find that one thing you missed. Godzilla moving slow in itself is fine, in fact, I rather like it, but that doesn't change the fact that finding that one thing to trample is a tad annoying. That said, I level a similar criticism at the Spyro games, in having to run back and forth through a level to find that one gem I missed.

So after all that...I think this game is alright, but then, admittedly, I'm most definitely the target audience. But as a member of that target audience, there's plenty here for me. The game is fully aware of what it is and is trying to be, and owns it. It's not for everyone, but then not everything has to be. Sure it seems it'll get repetitive, but at some point, all games get repetitive. I will admit I'm not sure the $60 launch price is totally worth it right now, but everyone has a different definition of value. Online multiplayers like Evolve and Titanfall lauched at full price, and Call of Duty games, which has a short campaign but usually centers around online, do as well. Can you not justifiably criticize them as repetitive too?

To be honest, I've played a ton of giant monster games...the Rampage games, King of the Monsters, War of the Monsters and many of the previous Godzilla video games. While most of them were good and fun, what I felt each of them lacked was actually feeling like a giant monster with weight and impact. In all those games you can move pretty quick and for the fighters, they were set up with more traditional fighter control and style. The Rampage games centered around really basic controls and a lot of slapstick comedy. But none of those games quite captured the best of the Godzilla movies. This one does. I can't say this is better than any of those or vice versa, it's just going for a different approach. For me, it works well enough and it's fun. For many others, not so much. I think the whole idea of a giant monster destroying a city seems like it should translate well to a game on paper, but through the years it seems that in practice the idea is just so simplistic you can't make everyone happy.

This game does have four aspects what I've found most other giant monster games to be lacking...slow, ponderous, weight and impact. I like that. I really do. In a game, it works right me as a Godzilla fan. In many ways it is the giant monster game I've been wanting for a long time. In other ways, it definitely falls short as a great game. But I enjoyed it so far, and will continue to do so.

TL, DR: Are you a Godzilla fan? Consider trying this game. If you're not, it's probably not for you, but maybe worth trying once it gets cheap or as a rental.

Pretty much as I was expecting. I wasn't expecting Soulcalibur or anything of that sort; just a fun game with a targeted audience. I think this game would be right up my ally. ^^

So after all that...I think this game is alright, but then, admittedly, I'm most definitely the target audience. But as a member of that target audience, there's plenty here for me. The game is fully aware of what it is and is trying to be, and owns it. It's not for everyone, but then not everything has to be. Sure it seems it'll get repetitive, but at some point, all games get repetitive. I will admit I'm not sure the $60 launch price is totally worth it right now, but everyone has a different definition of value. Online multiplayers like Evolve and Titanfall lauched at full price, and Call of Duty games, which has a short campaign but usually centers around online, do as well. Can you not justifiably criticize them as repetitive too?

Honestly this can't be emphasized enough. What one considers worth a $60 investment will vary from person to person. Plenty of games other would ostracize for that price I have enjoyed and felt well worth the investment.

As with many things it's subjective.

After playing it some more, my thoughts have changed a bit. This wall of text will hopefully not be so long.

The kaiju roster is quite good, with no really glaring omissions. All the major monsters that appear in Godzilla movies that should be there are there. Mechagodzilla (all three versions), Mothra, King Ghidorah, Mecha King Ghidorah, Anguirus, Rodan, and many others appear, as well as a total of 4 different iterations of Godzilla. Some slightly more notable omissions are Orga, Megalon, and Megaguirus. I will admit I don't see why Jet Jaguar needs to be in and why the conditions to make him spawn are so specific, but whatever.

I have been able to start evolving the monsters, particularly Godzilla. You can increase his energy gauge for his special attacks, and the rate at which it recharges. Also, he can learn now attacks. This evening, though, after playing the campaign as Anguirus and going in to level him up, I noticed that with the exceptions of Godzilla and Burning Godzilla, none of the other monsters can learn new moves. Quite disappointing, IMO. I do get that Godzilla is the star, as it were, the focus was on him, and most of the rest of the playable monsters were added to the PS4 version, but it was still a bit of a let-down to see that I will not be able to really change my playstyle for my other favorites like Space Godzilla and Anguirus.

Online versus is alright. Pick arena, pick monsters (leveling up does carry over), and fight either 1 or 2 other players. Nothing notable, though the balance seems waaaaayyy off. Granted, when you consider the movies, if I play as, say,Anguirus I should not be able to wipe the floor with Destoroyah. So the horrible balance may very well be intentional, but it is very broken in practice. I do think the lack of local multiplayer is a huge oversight, to put it gently, but that also seems to be standard in a lot of modern games.

I also tried the King of Kaiju mode, which is just the player against 6 AI controlled monsters in succession. Opponents and arenas are chosen randomly, but it is a good way to earn points for leveling up. This mode works just fine.

In short, it remains a Godzilla game, with good points and bad points. I think a comment on a Let's Play style video from Cinemassacre summed up one of my thoughts very well - making a Godzilla game actually feel like a Godzilla movie is something we need to think really carefully about, because while it seems simple on paper, in practice, we should probably consider our expectations thoughtfully, and what they should really be. It is subject to a highly unfortunate irony - Godzilla, by nature from the movies, is huge, slow and clunky, making for a character who may not be entirely enjoyable or intuitive to control in a game for many players. It's a criticism leveled at this game that I totally understand. But without those things, if you stick to something like the fighters where he and the other monsters are much faster, is it "authentic" to the movies, the source material? You can definitely argue it's not, and get people complaining in that case too.

If you are thinking about this game, I would recommend finding some gameplay videos. I think videos without commentary are probably best in this case.