Review by Ezekial Rage

"Not everyone's niche, but it should be."

In one's gaming lifetime (which is about as long as their lifetime minus around 4 years) one may come across some games that are much better than others. These games will raise your standard of gaming. They were few and far between up until the Nintendo 64 hit the market.. and even then, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were the only heavy hitters. Than there was Super Smash Bros. It completely changed gaming.. the combat system itself was revolutionary, the ability to maneuver so much in a fighting game.. The first fighting game where button mashers would find their rightful place. War of the Monsters, though definitely not made by the same people has a few aspects of that game and it's gamecube counterpart (Super Smash Bros. Melee, if you have a gamecube you should HAVE THIS GAME)

This is amazing.. each character moves fluently and most of them look amazing. The environments are usually very large, but they seem to have been done in excruciating detail. The colors are bright, and by the first look (And the title) you might think this is a kids game.. but then you say to yourself 'Hey, these are the guys who made twisted metal 1,2, and black! They need to introduction!' and that tells you it's not solely for the younger ones. The levels aren't as dark and gloomy, and the characters (some) look a little goofy..Agamo for instance is a stone creature with a fiery easter island head of doom. When you're the same size t's laughable but I'd need a fresh pair of shorts if he was stepping over me. Graphics never make a game, but it's the icing on the cake.. and this is a LOT of icing.

SOUND 9/10
The sound is great.. I'm usually too busy fighting 3/4 of the battle against the enemy, and 1/4 against the camera (you DO get used to it after a while) the falling buildings and roars/grunts/squeals of injured, impaled, or even dying monsters sound pretty good. It's not like you'll stand up and say 'Wow. that sound makes me want to stand up and....' you get the picture. It's well administered, and it's not that important (unless there's an annoying sound.. bloody Roar 3 was full of them) It's nothing to make you turn away from the game.

Er... they're ok. When you're in a tight spot, the thought of losing puts a little pressure on you and the only button you seem to find is square.. The combo system is a weird one.. but new things aren;t always bad things. You'll either like it.. hate it.. or be somewhere in between (did I cover everyone?) RI or L1 is strafe in the corresponding direction, and holding them together goes into lock mode.. I don't like that.. but then strafe becomes left and right on the D-pad, since it's as though you're pivoting around the enemy.'s something that draws you deeper into the game, not going to make you hate it.

STORY 8/10 (for nostalgia)
I'm going to describe a scene I know EVERYONE has to have seen at least one.
There's a lab, and some unknown chemical, somehow it spills and some little creature becomes really big and starts reaking havoc. Not here.. a little, but not totally. A few creatures begin like that, but then there's good ol' Robo-47.. who got loeaked on by alien gas and brought to life (?) don't ask me how. These are the B-movies. Movies with giant monsters (Similar to godzilla, but thankfully not as big) Nothing to say.. it's not new.. but it's a little funny to see some giant monkey AGAIN outsmarting the 'superior' species.

Not a usual category, but the huge difference between this and very other fighting game (except for SSB, and SSBM) is the fact that jumping, moving around a LOT anf not totally focusing on the bout are encouraged. You could call this an action-strategy game. The Computer opponents play 'cheap' as some would say, when they're hurt they run Sally Struthers after a 12-pack of doughnuts. Except they look for health instead of fattening pastries. There's a 2 player mode (4 players would be VERY difficult without an I-link considering the way the game is) in which you may have a 4 person free for all (2 human, 2 CPUs) elimination, or a lot of other things, including minigames that must be unlocked in the single player mode. And speaking of that..

The single player is actually a lot more fun that one would expect. The cinematics before each battle really start things up, especially the GREAT boss fights, that consist usually of a VERY long drawn out batlles (very long in a fighting game is about 15 minutes) where you wear down the boss, figure out his attacks then take the best course of action in leveling everything in front of you. Hopefully you'll kill the boss in the process. Sometimes it's hard.. but if you put it down, come back in an hour, eureka!

The Multiplayer on the other hand is missing one thing that I really thought was in the game. I was about to write it in the review, and give this a better score than a 6.. but as far as I can tell, there is no Team battle in Multiplayer. If I do find one, or someone else does, bring this score up to an 8. That would honestly make the MP and replay value almost infinite (like super smash bros )

There are only 2 characters to unlock (unless there is a super secret character) which might be the only thing you're looking for.. but you also must unlock the levels, minigames, and new modes of play. Also, each character has different 'skins' or costumes you can play in, those also need to be unlocked. The unlocking system is as follows:
-After each bout you win 'battle tokens'
-Battle tokens are used to buy unlockables, like money to buy processed cheese
-simple, yet effective
- &lt;-- cheap bulleting.

This is a SONY LICENSED GAME, as well as ATV Offroad Fury 2, and ratchet & clank. Notice anything similar between them? They're all 40$ new! Sony licensed games get a reduced price, so you're getting more than what you pay for with this game. This is EASILY worth 50 bucks (as well as the other 2 games mentioned) If you're still skeptical about the whole concept, give it a rent.. and prepare to fall in love. A word of advice,

Monsters don't like chocolates.

Reviewer's Rating:   4.5 - Outstanding

Originally Posted: 01/18/03, Updated 01/18/03

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