Back when kids had action figures and similar toys for entertainment, they'd probably use them to fight each other to the death. Sure, most of what happens were only possible in their imagination, but that's what made it fun in the first place.
With the advent of video games, however, kids can see their imaginary fights happen in front of them, and more. Their action figures can fly, use abilities, and even grapple each other down.
Many Kaiju games, like Bandai Namco's Godzilla, tried to capture the same effect but failed to do so. Thankfully there was one game that did, and it didn't take a video game console like the PlayStation 3 and 4 to run it.
That game is War of the Monsters.
War Of The Monsters History, Gameplay
A picture of King Kong-rip off Congar about to smash a car on Japanese robot Ultra-V.
War of the Monsters is an action fighting game developed by Incognito Entertainment and published by Sony in 2003, per the War of the Monsters Wiki.
The game is set in a fictional 1950s version of Earth the aftermath of an alien invasion that helped mutate many of the planet's inhabitants and turned them into kaiju like Godzilla. These include creatures, humans, and even robots.
War of the Monsters comes with its own story and single-player mode that lets players try out all the monsters or kaiju available in the game. Players would be surprised by the selection they could choose from: robots from both Japanese and US militaries, homages to King Kong, Godzilla, and the monsters from the movie "Them!," and even dragons and humans.
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Much like other fighting games like Tekken, Street Fighter, and King of Fighters, War of the Monsters focuses on its fighting element, and if IGN's review showed anything, it's that the game's fighting mechanics are fun.
The publication mentioned that the game's fighting mechanics are easy to learn and difficult to master, with players needing to master their blocks, light and heavy attacks, and shoot their chosen kaiju's projectiles, all while moving, flying, and jumping over obstacles.
The game's combo system is worth learning despite being found wanting.
Critical Reception And Re-release
Critics and gamers alike found War of the Monsters enjoyable and the better kaiju fighting game among its contemporaries. Metacritic gave the game a Metascore of 80 for its ability to let players live out their kaiju dream while also giving the game a user score of 8.7/10 based on 84 ratings for the same reason, along with its fighting mechanics.
Not everything about the game was well-received, though. Gamespot reports that some of its maps were smaller than they appeared and that the game could inspire someone to button mash due to a lack of combos.
Regardless of the game's flaws, it stood the test of time - Sony is offering the game through the PlayStation Store under "PS3 Classics," with this version coming with HD graphics, trophy support, and even online play through Sony's Shareplay feature.
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