The G-man is back and tinier than ever! Godzilla is stomping his tiny toy feet onto the board with a simple and cute puzzle strategy game in the vein of Into the Breach. Despite being a reasonably flat experience, never fear; this game is more likely to put a smile on your face than not, especially for long-time Goji fans.
Godzilla may be approaching 70 years old and one of cinema’s “largest” stars. Still, he has never made a massive impression in the video game space. To date, the best Godzilla game we’ve gotten was the 2014 PS4 game Godzilla, which I have praised as a great Godzilla game but not a good video game. Godzilla Voxel Wars was released on PC on Oct 31st, marking the first significant release outside Japan in many years.
At its core, Voxel Wars is a reasonably deep puzzle game with some basic gameplay that is challenging to master. The premise is simple and presented as a young kid playing make-believe with their father’s toys, reminiscent of the original Smash Bros. The Fungoids have invaded, and you, with Godzilla’s help, need to stop them. The gameplay consists of turn-based combat, where each kaiju on the board gets one move and one attack per turn. Each level is a board arranged in a grid with various enemies, obstacles, and structures. As the player, you control Godzilla and other hero kaiju to move about the board to clear all enemies in the allotted turns. Every controllable monster has a specific move range and attack skill. Godzilla can only move three squares per turn and attacks directly for two damage with a knockback. Rodan can move five squares since he can fly, but his attack only deals damage if it pushes a foe into an object.
The game consists of six areas, each with 20 levels including a boss fight. There is also a dark side of the board with more challenging versions of the stages for those looking to put their skills to the test. Each level has a point and rating system with a bonus objective to get the best score. On top of that is what’s known as the “Perfect Strategy”, a special reward for clearing the level in the best way possible. Achieving a perfect strategy also rewards you with a G-ticket, which can be redeemed for hints on how to play your next turn. When I say difficult to master, Voxel Wars can push your strategic thinking. On the surface, the game is easy, and you can smash your way through the levels, achieving a minimal score, and then move on to the next stage. You need to be mindful of the enemies as they attack buildings on the stage. If too many buildings are destroyed, or all friendly kaiju are taken out, then it’s game over. It’s hard not to want to get the better score, though, and sometimes you have to think outside the box to do that. When you get to the boss stages, you quickly learn that you NEED to adapt as even the first boss will have you seeing the game over screen if you are not careful.
As you progress through the levels, you unlock more kaiju pales to summon into battle using G-Energy, which you get from smashing contaminated canisters. Most levels will require you to do this so that you can spawn an assist monster to attack then and even collect more energy. This is often quite clever as you can pull off some complex sets of moves and attacks that utilize each monster’s skills to great effect this way. You also unravel more story about “the kid” via journals you collect on various stages. Otherwise, there is only a little of a story besides some contextual clues in the level names. Since this game takes a lot of inspiration from Into the Breach, it has a lot of similar mechanics. Still, thankfully, it’s not as brutally challenging with things like the character permadeath and lose states. No, Godzilla Voxel Wars wants you to succeed and learn the best way to accomplish this, even to the point where you can undo turns infinitely. If you’ve made a series of moves and realize you made a horrible mistake, you can perform an undo to try a different approach. You do this as often as needed, as the game’s aim is to learn how to beat it. It’s a puzzle fan’s dream.
As for it being a Godzilla game, the license and tie-in are paper-thin; yes, you control a small figure that resembles Godzilla and other Toho creatures. And yes, you hear a fantastic rendition of the classic Godzilla theme, but be prepared to listen to that theme a LOT! It is the only music that plays in the entire game, except for the boss stages, which thankfully get their own music. As a die-hard fan, I got incredibly tired of hearing the three-note chorus “duh-nuh-nah, duh-nuh-nah” over and over again and eventually turned the game volume down and listened to music or put on a movie in the background. So don’t expect much in the way of Godzilla fan service or storytelling beyond names, likenesses, and sounds.
It is an enjoyable and solid puzzle experience, even for non-Goji fans. You hardcore puzzlers will find much to enjoy with the game’s Six Over Worlds, containing 20 Levels each and the extra challenging “dark side” of each world. There is also a Build Mode, where you use pieces collected while playing the main game to create your own levels. Here, you can create your own boards which are shared with other players to play and rank. When you play another player’s created stage, you earn a G-ticket, so if you are stuck and need a hint but lack tickets, you make more this way.
Godzilla Voxel Wars is a fun, solid strategy puzzler that will put you through your paces. As a Godzilla experience, it needs to be improved. It warrants little for the avid fan hungry for any game where they can play as their favorite radioactive monster. So, as a puzzle game, it’s excellent, but as a Godzilla game, eh, not so much.
I give Godzilla Voxel Wars a 7 out of 10
Are you starving for more Godzilla action? Maybe we will see a proper Godzilla Video game with all the new kaiju-filled action released lately. What would you like in a Godzilla game? Let us know.
Check Out Voxel Wars Steam Page. Plus Couch Soup is giving away copies. Just Click here to Enter.
