Tiny Destruction with Giant Monsters: A Godzilla: Voxel Wars Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

I'm a huge fan of Toho's Godzilla series, so I was shocked to learn that a new Godzilla game had somehow snuck past my G-Radar. Not only that, but this new title is a strategy game?! How did I miss this game getting announced? Was it even announced? I have no idea, but needless to say I had to pick it up. Enter Godzilla: Voxel Wars, out now exclusively on Steam at the time of this review. This is (I think) the first new Godzilla game since the hard-to-find 2014 game that came out on the PS4. It's a completely stand-alone release and not tied-in to any of the new Godzilla media. If anything it's more a love letter to the classic series, complete with an impressive roster of Kaiju, and a plot that is reminiscent of movies like Destroy All Monsters. I'm getting ahead of myself though, so it's time to check out the game and see if it continues to surprise me, or if it's actually something best left in the past like Godzilla's son Minya. Either way, let's dive into the game and find out!

Godzilla: Voxel Wars does have something of a story, but I'm not sure how much of it is meant to be one that takes place in "real" world. First off, there are several cutscenes that seem to be... well, missing the actual "scene" part. Half the story is told through grainy footage that is just bottom text ran on a projector that seems to be set to subtitles only. The other half of the story is told through single page investigation notes that you can pick up in certain levels. Eventually it comes to be revealed that a mushroom-like alien species, The Fungoids, have begun an invasion of Earth following a research expedition to Mars. Buildings are starting to become eaten inside out from the Fungoid's spores, many of the world's kaiju are being controlled by them, and several Fungoid monsters are destroying everything else still standing. Only Godzilla is both strong enough to fight back, and seemingly unaffected by the spores that have taken out all his friends. You play as a nameless child whose parents are involved with researching these events, and it is through him that you control Godzilla and his allies. Now I mentioned that the Fungoid aliens have taken control of the other kaiju in the world, and it's Godzilla's task to free them from this mind control. He does this by beating them senseless in the level he first finds them in, but after that they choose to join up with him to take out the rest of the invaders. Together you set out to wipe out the aliens and their spores, and you'll be doing all this within a world made up of toys on a small playing field in the aforementioned child's playroom.

A sample game board.

How much of the story is delivered.

I'm not sure how to describe the core gameplay of Godzilla: Voxel Wars. It looks almost like a small-scale tactics game if you're just seeing screenshots, and there are elements of that genre here, but it's probably best to compare it to a puzzle game that has a few other surprises mixed in. You start out being able to only control Godzilla, and you have a set number of turns to defeat every enemy on the map. You also must destroy any buildings that are infected by spores. Godzilla can take three hits before he is defeated, which means a Game Over. Just as important as Godzilla's three hits is the on-screen indicator that only three non-infected buildings can be destroyed before it's also a Game Over. Houses are special buildings that rarely appear in levels, but if one of these is destroyed, it counts as a loss too. Since the game takes place in separate turns, first the player than the enemy, you're able to stop much of the destruction before it even happens. Enemies can be pushed to a different position, trapped in an area where their attacks have no effect, knocked into lava or against mountains, or even just destroyed outright with attacks. Once you start unlocking the ability to control other monsters you can summon them by using "G Power" which you get from destroying buildings that are infected with a color of spore that corresponds with the kaiju you want to use. If you're having trouble with a level you can use a "G Ticket" to get a hint. These basically play the game for you up to a point in the most optimized way. If you manage to defeat all the enemies without dying, or having too many buildings be destroyed, the stage ends and you are given stars according to how well you did. If you manage to beat the level in the most optimized way, with or without using G Tickets, you not only get full stars, but you also get a G Ticket for you to use later.

The King has arrived!

Keep attack range and reactions in mind.

Each of the kaiju have their own strengths and weaknesses that are important to learn if you want to finish the harder levels without having to resort to hints. Godzilla has a breath attack that does 2 damage and can knock enemies back a space. Mecha Godzilla has a missile attack that can go across the screen, knock enemies back, and knock himself back too. Rodan can only blow an enemy across the screen, but if they hit something along the way they are damaged. Also, this ability can be used to quickly move friendly units further than their movement would normally allow. Biollante can't attack at all, but can draw an enemy forward, sometimes placing them in harm's way or simply lining them up for another attack. All the other kaiju have unique abilities that you have to memorize, master, and always have in mind since there will be times when you'll have to use off-the-wall tactics to win. Don't be surprised when you realize that winning can come at all costs, even if it means sacrificing a unit. It's not uncommon to use attacks that send Anguirus to his death so he can take out an enemy from afar, to Mecha Godzilla between enemies so both his missile attack and his recoil hit them both, or even to use Rodan more as means of movement than as an attacking unit. Strategies like this are necessary as the game's difficulty ramps up, and you'll find that while there are several ways to meet the game's challenges, there's only one right way.

Now even though I immediately loved the game, I have to admit that the difficulty is a bit all over the place. Godzilla: Voxel Wars handles difficulty in an odd way. Rather than slowly ramp up as the game goes on, it ramps up fast, slows down, then repeats. For example, the game might get more difficult as you move towards the level that ultimately unlocks Mothra, but then the one that immediately follows it will be the easiest thing ever. This wave like pattern of difficulty spans across the entire game, and some of the levels are even easier as they are often simply meant to be tutorials. When you eventually start encountering stage hazards like magma, exploding gas canisters, and shipping containers that can be used as weapons, you'll find that the levels they're introduced in are basically handheld affairs that walk you through the best solutions. There is something for those that are simply looking for challenge right off the bat though. Each of the game's boards has an "Underside" that you can unlock that features harder levels, and more investigation reports. Besides the Underside, the main Story Mode is separated into five boards that each have 20 levels. The Underside to each board also has 20 levels too, so this means you have about 200 levels total to play with. Also, the end of each area comes with a boss fight. These aren't against the core Toho kaiju (those are unlocked earlier in each board), but are against more dangerous versions of the regular Fungoid enemies. These bosses do feature a large life bar and their own special attacks though. Each time you beat a boss you see a new cutscene that moves the story along, but more importantly it moves you along to unlock new level types, monster, and even game modes.

I love the zoom in at the end of levels.

Be sure to pay attention to these.

One of the coolest aspects of Godzilla: Voxel Wars is the fact that it has a fully featured level builder. You unlock Build Mode after you beat the first board, and you can create new levels using anything you've encountered in the main Story Mode. This means that the more you play, the more you have to work with creation-wise. Now I'm not really the creative type, especially when it comes to creating levels that require a high level of strategy, but there is a lot to mess around with once you've worked your way through the game. You can also upload your creations once finished (if you have any worth sharing), and it's here that I must say that the Build Mode really shine. You can play dozens of user-created levels within Build Mode, and you also have a lot of ways to narrow down which ones are worth playing. You can check out levels ranked by popularity, number of times they've been beat, how new they are, or if they're simply your favorite. There are also ways to look for specific levels if you're so inclined, so be sure to hit up those message boards. If you win one of these levels you get a G Ticket. This is cool as if you're a true perfectionist and are having trouble with the Story Mode, these help with getting those perfect strategies as most levels require three G Tickets if you want to just see the full solution right off the bat. You can also save your favorite levels so you can play them whenever you want, or just tear them apart a bit to see how others put their levels together. Build Mode is honestly a lot of fun and adds an insane amount of replayability that just can't be understated.

There are lots of different Fungoid enemies.

Make the boss destroy things too.

Now I've been raving about the game a bit, and I'll be raving about it more soon, but not everyone seems to agree with me. Since this game is on Steam, and I've been a sucker for user-created levels, I stumbled upon a lot of reviews and was surprised to find mixed reactions within them. Many of them talk about the state of the game having a "budget" feel to it. Now I must admit that this kind of is the case, and I'll be talking about how it also affects the presentation in a bit, but I still don't understand why this is a negative to some people. This is a small game, both in scope and in price, and for what it is it's close to perfect. You're not going to get a 3D fight fest like Destroy All Monsters, or even something like the mixed bag that the NES game was here, but you're going to get one of the best games I've played in a while, that is also a unique take on the genre itself. Considering that many Godzilla games of the past have been very hit or miss, Godzilla: Voxel Wars is basically what gamers have always wanted. A game that features the charm of Godzilla, without the wonkiness that sometimes comes from creating a game too big that can fall victim to the licensed game curse.

The custom Stage Rankings.

This is actually a custom level.

I'm not sure what a voxel is, but I can say that I love the graphics here. Everything has a blocky feel that is very reminiscent of those Lego knockoffs that feature tiny single bricks. The level of detail you get from these simple graphics is amazing all things considered. Characters like Biollante, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Godzilla himself look impressive. The enemies themselves do have a bit of a sameness to them, but I guess that's to be expected since they are meant to be numerous and not as unique as the main kaiju force. That isn’t to say that they don’t work within the game, as they definitely do. Even the setting is surprisingly impressive for a game of this size. Everything exists within a game board that's on a three-quarter tilt, but you can rotate everything until the view is just right for you. That old game board is a bit more impressive once you begin to notice that it's basically a toy set in a playroom. The setting isn't utilized too much, but it's pretty charming nonetheless with all the stray toys and such viewable on the sidelines. You get the vibe that there's a kid who is directly controlling everything, and developing new rules as he goes. I could go on more about this, as even the way the monsters and buildings are destroyed is cool. Basically they shatter into hundreds of tiny blocks, sometimes even falling off the edge of the board. I'll just close this section by saying that nothing beats the zoom in when you defeat the final enemy, especially when it's at the end of a tough level.

Ganging up on the helpless is fun.

The more you play, the more you can use.

I'm not sure why, but I assumed that the game wouldn't be able to use the music from the actual Godzilla series. Maybe it was the general budget-feel to the release itself, but I was surprised to find several classic tracks here. This is almost definitely due to the fact that Toho themselves were involved in this release, but I'm not going to think too much into it. Thanks to the inclusion of these much-loved Godzilla tracks, including the "Godzilla March" in particular, the soundtrack is one of my favorite parts of the game. Not all the music comes from the movies though, but even the original stuff is good too. I have no real complaints about the music, but that's not totally the case with the rest of the sound design. There's no voice acting, but then again there isn't really what you'd call dialogue here so that's not really important. What is a bit lacking is the sound effects, especially those pertaining to the kaiju themselves. I get that these are essentially in-universe toys, but I was hoping to hear more of the monster sounds within the game. You only ever hear Godzilla's roar, and that's unfortunate. I'm not sure if there is a licensing reason for this, but that didn't seem to be the case for the music. Anyhow, the sounds that are here are well-done and fitting, but the monster's iconic roars would've been much appreciated.

At the time of writing Godzilla: Voxel Wars is priced at $14.99 and this is a steal for the amount of content you get. It's nowhere near a AAA release, so don't expect that here. What you get is a really great game that is more than worth its asking price. If anything the low price gives off the vibe that there is a lack of content here, and that couldn't be further from the truth. There's about 100 levels in the main Story Mode, another 100 in the Underside, and potentially infinite levels to play within the Build Mode. There's hours and hours of content here, and the gameplay keeps evolving to the point where I honestly don't think you'll ever get bored. If you feel particularly creative you can also create your own levels, though I'm afraid I'm not so inclined personally. But it's an option that's there, and it can add an infinite number of gameplay hours to your experience. Simply put, replayability here is through the roof, and I guess my only big note is that I wish this also had a release on consoles. It would feel right at home on the Switch and maybe we can hope for that to actually happen later on down the road.

Tricky levels require special tactics.

A boss with a lot of life can be difficult.

I honestly can't recommend this game enough. Even if this game stays as is, it's very much worth the price of admission. If it gets DLC of some sort, or a console release with cross play, I think it would be perfect. Even if not, the game has more than enough to recommend it on its own merits. It's a strategy game, it's a puzzle game, it's a level creator, and it's Godzilla. The difficulty may fluctuate a bit here and there, but it's very accessible for players of all skill levels. It's rare that I feel that a game can really be for just about anyone, even for those that might not necessarily be fans of the genre, but Godzilla: Voxel Wars is definitely one of them. I'll definitely be playing this on and off for quite a while, and I'll even try my hand at creating levels again at some point. In the meantime, pick it up, play it, and send me drop your level codes in the comments below!

Check Out Godzilla Voxel Wars on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2439780/Godzilla_Voxel_Wars/

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Story: B
Gameplay: A
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: A
Value: A+

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A surprisingly deep strategy game with puzzle elements. Oh, and it has Godzilla!
+ There's an incredible amount of levels in both normal and harder varieties.
+ The Stage Builder is very robust and the user-created content adds a whole new layer to the experience.
+ Features an amazing soundtrack of original tracks and a "Greatest Hits" of themes from the movie series.
+ Just about every major monster from the Godzilla series is here, with all of them being unique to each other.

+/- The almost Lego-style of graphics might take some getting used to.

Cons:
- The game's difficulty can be all over the place from level to level.
- The story scenes and research files feel like afterthoughts most of the time.
- Gameplay is mostly linear and can become rather repetitive.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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