Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

Microsoft Xbox

2003

G:DAMM finally makes its way to Microsoft's X-Box platform. And what an impressive translation it is too! Godzilla and his monstrous foes have never looked so good in a video game!

The game plays identical to the Nintendo Game Cube version with all of the game play modes from that edition. However, many of these modes have been enhanced for the X-Box. You can now use the Melee mode in single player mode, battling it out with up to three computer-controlled adversaries. Team Battle mode likewise now supports single player games, allowing you to team with a computer controlled monster against a team of adversaries. Of course, the other game modes are here as well, Adventure, Versus and Survival.

In addition, there have been significant improvements to the look of the game. The texture-mapping on the kaiju is vastly improved from that on the Game Cube, displaying the scaly hides of King Ghidorah and Gigan and the shining armour of Mechagodzilla to great effect. The detail is much greater on the levels themselves as well, which appear to be slightly larger. The fixed cannons on Monster Island and the Vortakk Mothership actually move and track your monster, the lights in buildings struck at night flicker, news helicopters fly around in some of the cities. Monsters even cast reflections in water and glass now. The game plays a lot smoother as well due to the X-Box version's more powerful processor. As an added bonus, you can import your own custom soundtracks courtesy of the X-Box's built-in harddrive, which means now you can whip reptilian space monster ass with your favorite Ifukube scores booming in the background.

As in the Game Cube version, you have to unlock monsters and arenas by playing through the Adventure mode with each kaiju. It is not necessary to play the game on any setting more strenuous than the lowest one, however, except to unlock the final monster. The initial roster of kaiju now includes Gigan as well as Godzilla 90's, Megalon and Anguirus. To unlock the new monster, you have to beat the Adventure mode on either medium or hard difficulty with Orga, which then makes Mechagodzilla 3, the Kiryu design, available as a playable monster. Playing through adventure mode again with Kiryu unlocks a new arena, the volcanic crater in which the Vortakk's home city is located.

Another improvement is the promise of downloadable content via the X-Box Live feature, which makes the possibility of new arenas and monsters a very exciting prospect. In fact, the only down side to this decided improvement on the Game Cube version would be the shifting camera angles, which are somehow more intrusive on the X-Box than they were on the Game Cube.

One final enhancement is a new arena that can only be accessed by employing a cheat code. The 'Boxing Ring' can only be unlocked by entering the code 440499 on the main selection screen.