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duckyfruitbat · 5 months ago

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Retro Review: War of the Monsters

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday from me

Ducky you feeling good, you're kinda singing to yourself? Please don't cry again.

That's right friends and lovers, my birthday is coming up! Instead of just eating a whole cake by myself, I decided to do a review of a game from my childhood, while eating said cake by myself. Now what to play what to play? Well if you read the title you'd know I'm looking at a brawler released for the PS2 by Incognito Entertainment back in 2003, War of the Monsters.

You see one day my dad got a PS2 demo disc with said game on it. It had one map and two playable characters, but my brother and I constantly played that game until the disc broke. We loved seeing the monsters, the destruction physics, and just the atmosphere of an old monster movie. Obviously our parents swiped up the full game when they saw a copy in the store. It was the first game I ever completed, and I played it constantly. With the preamble out of the way, it's time to actually play the damn thing.

Everything about this game, from the intro video, the box art, to even the instruction manual is just one big loving homage to the old giant monster movies of the fifties and sixties. The box art is very reminiscent of the hand painted movie posters, and the manual is presented as a news magazine with the same name as the in game newspaper that is shown in the intro video.

The story is that in the fifties Earth is being invaded by an alien race known as the Zorgulons. Things are looking grim until the top scientist of the world develop a series EMP devices referred to as the secret weapons. They are placed all throughout the world and when they are activated the invading fleet is crippled and saucers are crashing down all around the globe. Victory is nearly declared when there is an unexpected side effect to the saucers leaking fuel tanks. The fuel has a mutagen effect turning all sorts of animals, people, and even stone into giant rampaging monsters. That's all established in the intro video, it's full of old movie tropes too.

Heading into the main menu, it's in a drive in movie theater with most things displayed on a screen. I have to say, this old movie thing really does give it a nice charm. There's even black and white footage of gameplay on the screen. Now time to select a character for the story campaign.

There are ten playable monsters, two are unlockable and each one has four alternate skins, with number four usually being the most out there design. Here's a list of said monsters.

(Fake name (Real Name))

Walmart brand Godzilla (Togera)

Beeg bug (Preytor)

Royalty free King Kong (Congar)

Liberty Prime (Robo-47)

Murder Tiki (Agamo)

Voltron (Ultra V)

Four Arms but Lava (Magmo)

Zappy Bitch (Kineticlops)

Dragon (Raptros)

Yip-yip With a Gun (Zorgulon)

I decided to go with Kineticlops because it was one of the two monsters available on the demo, so why not relive that? Also I had this image of one guy in a studio wearing a mo-cap suit with an eye painted on his chest while surrounded by people in rubber monster suits, and that made me giggle.

First level is against Congar in Mid-Town Park. I think it's based on New York, a bit hard to tell. Any way, the opening shot gives you an idea of the monsters story being a massive territorial dispute against each other along with their constant encounters with the military trying to either capture or kill each monster. Here we begin the battles!

Congar was the easiest one, and here I noticed that there are little health pick-ups across the map. You can pick them up at any point, but so can the other monsters. I also noticed that instead of an invisible wall, or weirdly indestructible buildings, the boundaries are marked by the secret weapon emitting a force field around the map. Nice little touch, and is used in all but one level. Now fighting Congar was just laying into him until he kicks the bucket. As we're battling the destruction physics come into play as buildings get caught up in the mayhem. As they crumble, all sorts of debris falls to the ground and becomes a usable item to either throw or use as a club, same for any vehicles around. I also found a truck that explodes on impact, so I threw that at Harambe in order to curse humanity for another hundred years as he burns alive. First level done!

Second level is Gambler Gulch, a legally distinct Vegas. Here I have to fight Togera, after he handles some military vehicles. I just start laying into him like before, but here is when I notice that these monsters have a self preservation instinct. If they get low enough health they start making a b-line towards any health nearby. Lucky for me there was some rubble that I could throw at him and I managed to take him out that way. This is where the military starts inserting itself into the players campaign. Once Togera is defeated, a Platoon of tanks and attack helicopters come through the map barrier and are followed by Robo-47. Yeah the robots are all military meant to defend humanity against the monsters and the aliens as seen later on. This one was a bit harder to get through because of the military taking shots at me, but I managed and the warranty won't be covering this.

The third level also has the first boss in Rosdale Canyon. An obvious homage to Roswell and area 51. First thing to get through is a barrage of mutant ants which are actually one of the alternate skins of Preytor. Their health is lower than other monsters, so the only real challenge is their numbers. With the ants out of the way we see the first boss landing atop the military base, Goliath Prime.

He starts the fight by lobbing bombs at you from behind a forcefield, the coward! The way to bring him down is to throw those bombs back at him. Eventually he falls off his pedestal and you must fight him in hand to hand combat. This is where you realize that he hits Hard. He has two pistols that he fires at you but he also has a charge attack and a spinning attack that knocked me across the map. This bot really spanked me, but I eventually came out on top as the dom I am.

Fourth level is in Metro City, the other New York level. This one is against Preytor and a resurrected Congar. The military has rebuilt him and are now having him do their bidding. This is where the difficulty starts climbing. Whenever going against two or more monsters they will team up against you, and often one will keep you busy while the other tries to get you. In these cases I had to start focusing on one and ignore the other. This also left me vulnerable to attack. Managed to defeat them and became the ruler of Metrocity!

Fifth level is Century Airfield where two Raptros are terrorizing the planes trying to leave. They are a pain to deal with, the previous issue with teams applies, but with the added issue of them flying around me. Managed to get them with one life left.

Level six is Atomic Island, a nuclear power plant that looks like it can power half the country. This one starts as another barrage of Kineticlops. I am now forced to fight my own kin. Here is where the environment starts giving options beyond throwing rubble and cars. There's a button I was able to ground bound that released hot, radio active liquid into the lower area. As I sat there watching my brothers melt into the sludge I wonder to myself how it came to this. I looked over the pile of corpses in mo-cap suits rotting away in the radioactive lake and hang on what's with that alarm? My thoughts were cut short as a meltdown happened and the environment changed to the next boss arena in a crater.

The boss is a three headed carnivorous plant named Vegon. This one is pretty simple, it will spit venom at you followed by trying to eat you. As its jaws are gearing up for a good bite you have to use the debris around you and throw it down its throat. As you do each head will retract back into the bulb until the final one falls dead. I like this boss, plant monsters have my favorite designs, but this one was pretty easy.

Level seven was Baytown, which was just San Francisco. Here we see a couple Robo-47's fighting off some UFO's before turning their attention towards my mocap suit. Ah yes, the thing that kicked off the plot. This team kept giving me the slip, I'd wail on one, the other would tag in letting his friend find all the health pick-ups. Cheeky little shits. Don't worry, I disciplined them thoroughly and moved on to the next level.

Level eight is Club Caldera, which is just Hawaii. Here we see Magmo and Agamo duking it out before they locked eyes with my singular eye painted on my mo-cap chest and decide that I was begging for a wedgie. Just like junior high. They both hit real hard, and I had to be the one who slinked away to get some health pick-ups. The whole time the UFO's start asserting their presence more, taking shots at me as I run around screaming with my underwear over my head. I somehow won against the two jocks of the roster and was able to move on.

Level nine is Tsunopolis, or just Tokyo. Here two Ultra V's backflip into the camera and challenge me to a Gundam fight, just like high school. Unfortunately I remembered the environmental trigger that causes a tsunami that will wash them away. Threw a car at a giant UFO and it created the tsunami and then I picked them off with a couple of lightning chains. With the mechs down I was abducted by the UFO and taken into space.

For level ten the UFO takes me to the Zorgulon mother ship. A citadel and base of operations orbiting between the Earth and the Moon. Here I am faced with a council of three Zorgulon, all appalled by my mo-cap suit. I tried to explain to them that my character design was impossible with practical effects and it can be fixed in post, but they weren't having it and they attacked, just like college.

There weren't many environmental hazards beyond a couple mounted turrets. Despite being in space, this level is one of the more boring ones. At least the canyon had a giant rock to throw around. Anyway, I decided the councils fate with my fists and the mother ship was evacuated. I was warped back into the saucer and as it was flying away it was hit by the ensuing explosion leading to the saucer crash landing on Earth. Thus setting up the final boss fight.

The final level is called capital. I read somewhere that it's supposed to be D.C, but it looks more like the Vatican to me. Anyway, the scene is set when the dome of the recently crashed saucer opens up revealing a brain in a four legged saucer mech. It jet boots its way out of the saucer and destroys the Washington monument before setting up a force field and beginning the battle. This is Cerebulon, the leader of the Zorgulon's and this thing can absolutely wreck my run. I remember having to start this battle over many times as a kid. There are three phases to this monster.

The saucer mech is the first one and it is invulnerable until after it does its main attack, being a laser that eats at your health like me at a sushi bar. You have to hide behind the obelisks around the pool Cerebulon is staying put in. After the laser is done Cerebulon needs to take a moment to recharge and the shield goes down. I took this opportunity to use the lighting chain to zap the brain jar. After I did that enough times the mech explodes into giant pieces and Cerebulon emerges from the wreckage in its second form, being an obvious homage to the tri-pods from war of the worlds. Also the brain can apparently twitch, which was just weird.

Anyway, this form still has a laser but will also use its tentacles to attack. The way to beat this form is to take the giant pieces of the mech suit and just yeet them at the glass brain jar in order to shatter it. After the off brand tri-pod collapses, Cerebulon decides to burst out of the dome in a scene that might be a homage to Alien. It howls and gurgles as it stands up on its tentacles and points towards me with its scythe hands to challenge me head on. Oh now the flashbacks are starting.

This is the most devastating monster in the campaign. It has a ten hit combo move that just deletes health. It does not take a break for health either, in order to heal up you have to make a run for it. If you stop moving it will just spank you over and over again until you beg for more, just like a Saturday night. I decided to just pick off its health with my light ranged attack and my beloved lightning chain. Yeah I took the cowards option here, cut me some slack! The naked dalek was after my lack of buns!

In its death throws Cerebulon's head exploded all over the square, and a smaller version emerged from that completing the Alien homage. Kineticlops declares victory, and the scene fades to black. Before the credits roll I am treated to the origin story of my chosen monster.

That was War of the Monsters. My god this thing just oozes with absolute love for the old monster movies. It is just so charming, from the music, the sound effects, all those posters above are the loading screens. The campaign itself is only a couple hours long and perfectly serviceable. The monsters having a sense of self preservation was a pleasant surprise and helped balance out the battles. The environmental hazards added some strategy to the stages when they were there. I only had issues with the camera, which was the style at the time. I absolutely recommend taking a look at this game, it's available on the PlayStation Store for the PS4. Hasn't been made available for the PS5 yet, but as I've said before the PS5 doesn't exist. If you like a good arcade brawler, and you're a fan of monsters like Godzilla, this is your game.

#duckyfruitbat #gaming #retro gaming #review #war of the monsters #ps2

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