Godzilla Vs. No One
To the many fans of the Godzilla Franchise, a game of this type seems like a genius idea. Kaiju duking it with gameplay reminiscent of the strategy flash game age of war. Beyond the game’s great IP, this title unfortunately has nothing else going for it. The question is, where does TOHO games Godzilla Battle Line go wrong?
Dead as a Doornail
Upon opening the game, you are pushed straight into the tutorial. You start on one side of the field and your opponent at another, sending units to attack the opposing kaiju. Each unit uses a specific number of replenishing stamina during the fight. Victory is achieved once your opponent’s health is depleted or when time runs out, in which case the win then going to the kaiju with more health. Beyond the tutorial, that’s where the game’s primary mode of play officially comes to a stop. The games main issue comes from the empty matchmaking for ranked play, making the game feel unplayable. In my time with the game, I played a single match, and overall, I had a great time defeating my opponent. The rest of my attempts came with errors, no players or an opponent canceling the match upon getting paired with me. Beyond Ranked play, the only thing you can do is level up your kaiju and units.
Kick of Nostalgia
The most significant point of interest in this game would be the IP itself. Godzilla Battle Line has cute 3d models of Godzilla and many of the other well-known kaiju from the films. If you’re a fan of the movies, you will feel some nostalgia in the stats screens for each unit. Each will show a few clips from the films, which serves as a great little aesthetic add-on. In these menus, you can also upgrade your units by using tokens and collected unit duplicates. Beyond the nostalgic film clips and the cute character models, that is as good as the game gets. The game’s city battle arena is good but doesn’t stand out no matter what variation your given in combat.
Cost of Kaiju Expeditions
Even though the game has its monetization options, ranging from G-stones to battle passes which offer extra items and units, the dead matchmaking will keep you away from them. G Stones come into play with Expeditions. A single player mode geared towards obtaining units and some tokens. You can use G-stones to instantly complete expeditions or wait a certain amount of time for them to complete. The game also offers packs that can be purchased with money for characters and items. If the game was more populated, I could see some issues with pay to win being a factor since expeditions offer new and reoccurring units to level up.
Overall, Godzilla Battle Line is a game you can avoid, at least for now, due to the dead servers. If there were more players, I could see this being a fun little strategy game to play during your downtime. Instead, I would recommend watching the classic Godzilla films. The Godzilla franchise may not stand strong in gaming, but the film’s silly kaiju fights and lighthearted stories are worth watching.
Is It Hardcore?
Could be.
Godzilla Battle Line could be a fun strategy game, but the current lack of players spoils the fun. Although the game has cute characters and nostalgic clips from the films, the main game mode is player dead. If you are lucky to get in a match, you will have a fun time, but the likeliness of that happening is slim. Instead of playing this, go and enjoy the great films.
