Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Futuristic Fighting

Number of Players: 1 - 2

From Incog, the developers of the Twisted Metal series, comes this new fighting game, which is set to take over where old sci-fi movies left off.  Have you ever wanted to smash an entire city while applying various wrestling techniques on a 100 foot cyber-monkey?  This is a game for you.

Aliens surround the earth with flying saucers, which are then shot down by a network of tesla coil type devices.  The spaceships crash to earth and leak an alien goo that awakens or mutates various objects and animals into the combatants that inhabit War of the Monsters.  That's the story.  It's appropriately short, and presented in a style that brings to mind movies like "Day of the Triffids" or "It Came from the Desert."

Choose from ten different behemoths, including the standard giant gorilla, an anime robot, a Godzilla type sea monster, an electric cyclops, a walking stone idol, a lava creature, a giant preying mantis,  and a military style robot.  Also included are two unlockable characters, one of which has a "mecha sweet-tooth" outfit if you have a memory card with a Twisted Metal Black save game on it.

Battle takes place in one of 13 areas that can be completely leveled.  A free-for-all match has the option to rebuild the level when resumed just for this reason.  One of the really beautiful things about this game is the fact that pretty much any piece of rubble is a potential weapon.  From water-towers to beams to giant chunks of stone, it's all for beating people. 

You can choose to swing or throw whatever you pick up; and any sharp objects have the capability to impale opponents, who must mash buttons to free themselves.  Gas tankers explode in appropriate fiery fashion, electric items shock and stun, and steel beams can actually be used to bat projectiles back at their owners.  This was obviously designed to really mix up the options for attack, and it works well.

Without a piece of wreckage,  you can always rely on your monster's innate abilities.  Each has a unique projectile attack, ranging from laser blasts to lava bombs, as well as a special attack that varies from a sonic roar to a flying tentacle thing that latches onto your opponents head.  Now that's classic!

When it comes to melee, each monster has a light or heavy attack option, and each can be pressed to yield standard three-hit combos.  Additionally,  pressing in any of the four directions while attacking gives a different type of attack,  from dashes to tail-whips.  This ensures that flailing with both thumbs will give some variety to the smack-down.

To sum it up gameplay, it is probably best likened to a marriage between Twisted Metal: Black and King of the Monsters from the old Neo Geo system.  In fact, it could have been aptly titled "Twisted Monsters".

The graphics are very well done, with a steady frame-rate and great special effects.  One excellent feature that will jump right out at you is the fact that split-screens merge into one whenever you close in on your opponent.  While it has been done before, it has probably never been so flawlessly executed.  With all the technical goodness, it's surprising that there is no four-player capability,  but if it would have sacrificed gameplay or frame-rate, it's not that sorely missed.

Finally, this game begs you to have a friend over and eat a bunch of sugary food while destroying things and each other.  Screenshots and descriptions don't do enough to convey that this game is all about wild and crazy multiplayer mayhem.  Sure,  it's fun to play alone, but like any good fighting game, you need a friend.  My advice is: start making some, and get this game.

-scott-