Revisiting the Pipeworks Trilogy

[DinoMaster]

I've been working at it a bit, and this is what I've tweaked from all three games. It'd be more fun, and have a better replay quality.

The Pipeworks plot reworking

DAMM: You would keep this the same for the most part, but there would be a little trailer at the end of the game. Monsters that weren't in the game but in STE could be shown awakening, and it ends with a large crystalline meteor headed towards the Earth

STE: This one remains practically the same as well, but with some edits. At the end, instead of fighting Orga for most of the monsters at the end, it's a Crystal Fortress with SpaceGodzilla. You fight him and defeat him, and the game just suddenly ends. If you have been playing as Godzilla, you go into meltdown to beat him, which is the tie in for the last game.

GU: Now this is where it changes dramatically. The ferocity of the duel from the last game creates a large explosion, shattering the fortress and sending the pieces into the atmosphere. They come barreling downwards, hitting the earth in various locations. Due to the energy given off by the dueling combatants, they grow into the towering monstrosities that you see in the current game. The kaiju that had just been contained after being captured in the last game escape, and the lures of power bring others to awake.

The smaller towers seem to have an unknown side effect when kaiju attack them, allowing them to temporarily access the strength of Godzilla's burning. This would allow certain foes to be stronger coding wise, and let players have a chance to have more accurate fights, and have the ability to win the more impossible ones as well.

By the end (the length depending on how much power is taken or sought for), the monsters are drawn to New York City, where the crystals have grown into an abomination of the fortress from STE. From the center of the mass, where the map was roughly in game, Crystalakk emerges. The design would be different, as he would have a basis of different origin. It would be based from the crystals, with SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla DNA giving it the more organic parts. It would have some of the abilities of SpaceGodzilla, with strength of Godzilla and the speed neither had. You would have to get the burning ability to beat him, as without it would be almost impossible. Once defeated, a various amount of endings depending on the monster would arise.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

I've been working at it a bit, and this is what I've tweaked from all three games. It'd be more fun, and have a better replay quality.

The Pipeworks plot reworking

DAMM: You would keep this the same for the most part, but there would be a little trailer at the end of the game. Monsters that weren't in the game but in STE could be shown awakening, and it ends with a large crystalline meteor headed towards the Earth

STE: This one remains practically the same as well, but with some edits. At the end, instead of fighting Orga for most of the monsters at the end, it's a Crystal Fortress with SpaceGodzilla. You fight him and defeat him, and the game just suddenly ends. If you have been playing as Godzilla, you go into meltdown to beat him, which is the tie in for the last game.

GU: Now this is where it changes dramatically. The ferocity of the duel from the last game creates a large explosion, shattering the fortress and sending the pieces into the atmosphere. They come barreling downwards, hitting the earth in various locations. Due to the energy given off by the dueling combatants, they grow into the towering monstrosities that you see in the current game. The kaiju that had just been contained after being captured in the last game escape, and the lures of power bring others to awake.

The smaller towers seem to have an unknown side effect when kaiju attack them, allowing them to temporarily access the strength of Godzilla's burning. This would allow certain foes to be stronger coding wise, and let players have a chance to have more accurate fights, and have the ability to win the more impossible ones as well.

By the end (the length depending on how much power is taken or sought for), the monsters are drawn to New York City, where the crystals have grown into an abomination of the fortress from STE. From the center of the mass, where the map was roughly in game, Crystalakk emerges. The design would be different, as he would have a basis of different origin. It would be based from the crystals, with SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla DNA giving it the more organic parts. It would have some of the abilities of SpaceGodzilla, with strength of Godzilla and the speed neither had. You would have to get the burning ability to beat him, as without it would be almost impossible. Once defeated, a various amount of endings depending on the monster would arise.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I've seen others speak against using SpaceGodzilla as the primary antagonist for any story; personally, I don't have a problem with it.

[20th Century Boy]

Honestly, I like Godzilla Unleashed better than the other games. I can understand why people complain about it but it holds a place in my heart.

I played GU all the time back in the day. My older cousin would constantly try to convince me it sucked, however, I defended the game. Now, in retrospect, I see that he was right. GU is a rushed and buggy mess.

I played the hell out of DAMM when I first discovered it at a Blockbuster and rented it. When STE was announced, I eagerly awaited it and got a Playstation 2 for my 10th birthday just to play the game. I actually had the game instead of merely renting it, so I played the hell out of STE even more. Even as I unlocked everything with cheat codes, I continued to play it throughout my childhood because it was so damn fun.

When GU was announced, it was my most anticipated game ever. I followed its progress through Toho Kingdom and the official website and I even collected every gaming magazine that mentioned it. Then I actually got it and played it and... I stopped playing after one or two weeks. It was such a glitchy, confusing, and uncontrollable mess of a game. I immediately went back to STE and barely touched GU since. I have the gameplay styles of every monster in STE and DAMM etched into my head, but I barely know how Varan, Biollante, or Mechagodzilla 74 play because I never played more than two games with them. Ugh, it was the biggest gaming disappointment of my life, right next to Metroid: Other M.

[Mr. Strange]

Honestly, I like Godzilla Unleashed better than the other games. I can understand why people complain about it but it holds a place in my heart.

When GU was announced, it was my most anticipated game ever. I followed its progress through Toho Kingdom and the official website and I even collected every gaming magazine that mentioned it. Then I actually got it and played it and... I stopped playing after one or two weeks. It was such a glitchy, confusing, and uncontrollable mess of a game. I immediately went back to STE and barely touched GU since. I have the gameplay styles of every monster in STE and DAMM etched into my head, but I barely know how Varan, Biollante, or Mechagodzilla 74 play because I never played more than two games with them. Ugh, it was the biggest gaming disappointment of my life, right next to Metroid: Other M.

I totally understand why you would feel that way - G:U is a very different game. G:DAMM and G:StE were very similar in terms of controls, goals, and mechanics - but G:U was a departure.

Problem-Solving, of the sort needed to learn a new game, is all about building a mental model of how your actions map to the in-game responses. People who came into G:U hoping that their existing mappings would let them jump in quickly were very disappointed. As you experienced.

It was (unfortunately?) a deliberate choice on our part an on Atari's part to break with the old expectations. The feeling was that the Wii gave us a chance to really push NEW expectations - appeal to new types of players, etc. And although it wasn't perfect, I think we really did a good job for the most part. I wouldn't say that G:U had more bug/glitches than G:DAMM, for example. But for folks already hating on it, it was easy to suggest that whatever bugs were present were somehow responsible for the disconnect.

All of which is to say - I understand why many G:StE fans hate G:U. And there were certainly problems with G:U. But I don't think G:U was empirically any worse than G:DAMM, and in many ways it was clearly better than either of the previous games. So it's a complex assessment.

[Gojira tai Mosura]

Honestly, I like Godzilla Unleashed better than the other games. I can understand why people complain about it but it holds a place in my heart.

When GU was announced, it was my most anticipated game ever. I followed its progress through Toho Kingdom and the official website and I even collected every gaming magazine that mentioned it. Then I actually got it and played it and... I stopped playing after one or two weeks. It was such a glitchy, confusing, and uncontrollable mess of a game. I immediately went back to STE and barely touched GU since. I have the gameplay styles of every monster in STE and DAMM etched into my head, but I barely know how Varan, Biollante, or Mechagodzilla 74 play because I never played more than two games with them. Ugh, it was the biggest gaming disappointment of my life, right next to Metroid: Other M.

I totally understand why you would feel that way - G:U is a very different game. G:DAMM and G:StE were very similar in terms of controls, goals, and mechanics - but G:U was a departure.

Problem-Solving, of the sort needed to learn a new game, is all about building a mental model of how your actions map to the in-game responses. People who came into G:U hoping that their existing mappings would let them jump in quickly were very disappointed. As you experienced.

It was (unfortunately?) a deliberate choice on our part an on Atari's part to break with the old expectations. The feeling was that the Wii gave us a chance to really push NEW expectations - appeal to new types of players, etc. And although it wasn't perfect, I think we really did a good job for the most part. I wouldn't say that G:U had more bug/glitches than G:DAMM, for example. But for folks already hating on it, it was easy to suggest that whatever bugs were present were somehow responsible for the disconnect.

All of which is to say - I understand why many G:StE fans hate G:U. And there were certainly problems with G:U. But I don't think G:U was empirically any worse than G:DAMM, and in many ways it was clearly better than either of the previous games. So it's a complex assessment.

Great post, Simon. But I'd hate to break it to you, but I got Godzilla Unleashed first and I still believe it's the weakest in the franchise. Like you said, the game was supposed to be different and wanted to try new things..
but that's one of the biggest flaws with the game. It might have large, expansive maps and it might have an actual story mode... but...
gameplay is what makes the game. Godzilla Unleashed's gameplay has a lot of ideas... that just don't work.
I'm going to go into depth as to why I think this.

The Control
Godzilla Unleashed decided to use the Wii Remotes to control the game in an entirely different way. While I have no problems with that concept, it just wasn't executed well. At all. Using Left & Right to attack with the Wii Remote was fine, but it's when you actually have to swing it Up & Down when things become a problem. Mysteriously enough, the game decides to just quit when you try to use any control involving Up or Down. Most of the time, you end up doing a Left or Right attack. I just find myself swinging the Wii Remote all over the place when I'm trying to use the attack that I want the game to use.
The worst part is trying to Grab/Throw a monster. You have to shake both the Wii Remote and the Nunchaku at the same time. But, because Jump is also linked to shaking the Nunchaku, you end up jumping like an idiot. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! The monsters in this game float like bloody Balloons when jumping, giving them absurd mobility. Because of this, when you do jump like an idiot, you have to wait for the Balloon Kaiju to land before you can try again. It is incredibly tedious.

The Missions
The missions are beyond repetitive. You end up fighting the same monsters (for some reason) over and over again or setting them free from crystals. Repeat three million times before the game ends.
Seriously, the game has a HUGE roster. Why not use all of them instead of just spamming Titanosaurus?
Don't even get me started on the Crystal Tower of Sydney. The name "Frozen Terror" could not be more appropriate for this boss.

The Combat Mechanics
This is something that killed Godzilla Unleashed for me. Rather than doing crazy combos in the other two, Godzilla Unleashed removes ALL OF THOSE for ridiculous mechanics. First, instead of normal HP, you have this regenerating "Health Chip" crap, and you can only remove a Health Chip by lowering the Health Chip's... I don't know "Blue Lemonade" down to 1, once the Blue Lemonade is down to 1, you use a Heavy Attack/Throw to knock the monster down and remove the chip. The second part is the energy meter. Now instead of a normal energy bar, you have this Yellow-Lemonade container, and for every energy attack, it consumes 1 or 4. You charge it up by holding down the C button (unless you're Baragon). Instead of charging up your beams, you can now walk around while shooting them. To top it all off? Instead of normal punches and kicks (which are now replaced with useless slapping/punts) you gotta use these Heavy Attacks to do anything. These three ideas are the worst thing ever, because they turn the game into a mindless button masher that has no fun-factor. Because you have to use a Heavy Attack to remove a Health Chip, you will always be holding down either the A or the B button and swinging the Wii Remote around like an idiot, hoping to get hits in. The whole manually charging your beams thing is actually welcome, but because Beam Attacks cannot be charged and are dictated by how many chips you have Beam Attacks end up being just as useful as not using a Heavy Attack. Honestly, it ends up basically being Wii Sports Boxing but instead of being satisfying and having a functional dodging system, it's just swinging the Wii Remote around.

The AI
The AI in this game is absolutely terrible. Why? Because they never do anything! They just linger around and occasionally attack you. But for the most part, they just block. That's all they do. They just stare at you menacingly and block. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Because blocking completely nullifies most Heavy Attacks, you have to throw them. BUT WAIT, THERE'S EVEN MORE! Because the throwing controls are crap, it's a long time before you can grab them, and by then, they have recovered some health back!
What's even worse is the way the AI reacts to beams. Rather than in the last games, where the AI would duck and look for cover, these guys IMMEDIATELY counter-attack with their own beams EVEN IF THEY'RE ON YOUR TEAM! It makes beams literally useless unless you're Kiryu with the Absolute Zero Cannon!

Balancing & Critical Mass
This game has zero balancing. All the characters feel the exact same because of the crap control/AI. However, other characters like Destoroyah are so unbelievably overpowered that the game immediately becomes a joke when you use them. Destoroyah's Laser Horn deals a truckload of damage and knocks monsters down too. Oh yeah, it can't be blocked either (from what I've seen). It basically means that you can just swing the Wii Remote around as Destoroyah and actually win. The other thing wrong with him is the Oxygen Destroyer. Just charge up your Yellow-Lemonade enough and you can use the devastating Oxygen Destroyer attack. It immediately gets rid of one health chip from a random monster. This means you don't even have to use your laser horn. You can just hide behind the scenes and spam the Oxygen Destroyer, and you'll win.
The other thing is Critical Mass. Given how hard it is to get Critical Mass (hunt down Crystals and beat the crap out of them), it isn't worth it in any way. All it does it make you bigger, which causes it to be even harder to deal damage to opponents, and let you grab opponents without too much trouble.
It doesn't let you use your Rage attack, it doesn't let you do any of that. It just makes you bigger and charred. Why did it get so much hype then?

Epilogue
Godzilla Unleashed is a mess. I can understand where you're coming from, Simon. But if the gameplay sucks, the game sucks. Destroy All Monsters Melee does get boring because of it's short roster and lack of variety in battles, but in the end it has better gameplay AND control overall making it the better and more entertaining game. And Godzilla: Save The Earth is even better than Destroy All Monsters Melee. It makes Unleashed look pathetic.
I appreciate all the effort you and your team put into Godzilla: Unleashed, and the game does manage to be fun sometimes. But the whole "trying new ideas" thing is what ultimately killed the game.
Thank you for reading, and have a good day.
P.S: I'm looking forward to Colossal Kaiju Combat. I know you won't let me down again!

[Jiragozira14]

*snip*

Really, I'd blame Atari for pushing the game out for the holiday season. Simon and the group at Pipeworks had barely more than a year to work on the game; considering that Sonic '06 had about the same development time (being revealed in 2005 and released in 2006), and knowing how horrendous that game turned out....I'd say Simon and his team did really well with the time they had; one year is almost nothing in game development time.

Atari's rushing of the game for the holiday season is what crippled the game; had it been delayed into 2007, the game may have turned out differently.

[kamilleblu]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but Rodan can remain in flight the entire match. Although this was possible in DAMM, it isn't nearly as effective as it is here. In GU, you can completely avoid combat. Same thing applies to Megalon and Baragon's ability to hide underground.

[Gojira tai Mosura]

*snip*

Really, I'd blame Atari for pushing the game out for the holiday season. Simon and the group at Pipeworks had barely more than a year to work on the game; considering that Sonic '06 had about the same development time (being revealed in 2005 and released in 2006), and knowing how horrendous that game turned out....I'd say Simon and his team did really well with the time they had; one year is almost nothing in game development time.

Atari's rushing of the game for the holiday season is what crippled the game; had it been delayed into 2007, the game may have turned out differently.

Seriously. I feel that the game just has so much in it that isn't used. Just look at the gallery animations for the game. They look more complete than what we got.
Atari rushing the game out for the holiday season is easily what killed the game. Had it not been rushed, I'd probably end up saying that it's even better than Save the Earth.
This is going to be a little different from what I have normally been saying, but I think the Classic Controller would have worked extremely well with Godzilla Unleashed. It's a nice, compact controller with enough buttons to get the job done.
It just sucks that Simon and his crew weren't able to complete the game in time. Given how good Save the Earth was, just imagine if they got the time to put the same heart into Unleashed?
Just imagine that...

[Jiragozira14]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but Rodan can remain in flight the entire match. Although this was possible in DAMM, it isn't nearly as effective as it is here. In GU, you can completely avoid combat. Same thing applies to Megalon and Baragon's ability to hide underground.

Well, unless you're fighting someone playing Varan, in which case that tactic becomes useless against his high speed, excellent mobility and easilly-chainable attacks. :p

Seriously, Varan almost feels like the Meta Knight of the game, he's just so good that anybody who can play him decently will probably be a hard player to defeat.

Unless it's a Varan-Varan mirror match, in which case it's up to who's the better Varan.

[Mr. Strange]

Hey Simon, did your team ever look over to War of The Monsters when it released?
As for comparisons to G:StE?

War of the Monsters was actually a contemporary to G:DAMM more than G:StE.

I played it and very much enjoyed it. But it's really nothing like our G-brawlers.

WotM has great style, and uses the smaller monsters to focus more on destroying one building at a time - as opposed to G:StE where you could level 6-8 buildings with a single attack! And WotM was a great single-player game, but the multiplayer mechanics were... not very fun. Chasing an opponent around as they farm health powerups got old really, really fast.

WotM was a single-player game (sweet boss fights!) that also included multiplayer.

G:DAMM / G:StE were fighting games that supported 4-player matches.