For the last three years, I have been trying to track down a copy of War of the Monsters. Released for the Playstation 2, it received rave reviews though it did not fare too well on the sales chart. Being a fan of the giant monster genre, I drooled as I heard about the city-wide mass destruction left in your wake as you fought other titans of terror.

Last weekend, I found a copy for rent at a local Superclub Videotron. This gave me a great chance to test drive the game before I make the final decision to purchase. I’ve played a couple of days so far, and find myself … with very mixed emotions.

The character design is absolutely brilliantly. All of the monsters are wonderful homages to the great names in the genre: Togera for Godzilla, Conga for King Kong, you have a Mazinger Z/Grandizer clone, and many others. Each has their own benefits.

Likewise, the levels are large, well designed, and feature great interactivity. There is nothing like slugging it out on top of a building before your blows bring the whole thing crumbling down. Nearly everything (including other monsters.. and yourself!) can be picked up and hurled across this landscape. Beautiful!

The control scheme feels right … but when I started using it, my problems begin. Response was sluggish, and did not always result in the expected action. For example, I am by a building and press and hold the climb button to scale it. But because I am not perfectly aligned to it, my character merely walks forward uselessly.

Or even worse, I have been blocking a series of attacks by my opponent, and when a break from the onslaught occurs, I stop the block and make with my own flurry … except this ends up being a single counteract move that should only occur when I am still holding the block! It’s slow, and I can’t do any other move until it completes, giving my opponent time to respond!

Related to the game controls is the targeting mechanism. Holding the aim button locks on to the nearest monster closest to the onscreen target. Cool … except it’s not only the monsters that can attack you! Tanks, gun-ships, UFOs … there is a whole mob of other opponents after you. And boy, do they gang up on you. It would have been nice if the controls had the easy, intuitive targeting of the Zelda or EA’s great Lord of the Rings games.

Speaking of ganging up, that was the fundamental joy killer in the game. The first level is fun; you and Conga duke it out. The second level also is fun as you take on Togera, but immediately after the dust clears, your character is assaulted by a giant robot and his accompanying army. Fun … except you can’t target the army units, who actually cause more damage then the robot!!!

The third level reveals the flaw. You face off against an army, a reborn Congo, and a giant, flying praying mantis … AND THEY ALL COME AFTER YOU AT THE SAME TIME!!! Story-wise all these factions are suppose to be at each others throats, but in actual game-play they pile it on. The AI is ruthless, and too precise! The moment any monster loses 25% of its health, it’s off to the nearest health power-up to regenerate. Which makes sense, but ridiculously unfair when they know PRECISELY where to go, while you have to careen around wildly looking some boosts of your own, and by the time you found them, your “friends” are back to wail on you.

I beat the game, but only because there is an infinite amount of continues, which tells me the game designers knew of the difficulty level. And all this was on the EASY setting!

Still, I keep thinking about the game. Like an abused lover, I keep going back for more. In any case, the multiplayer game is suppose to be where the fun is. I am having the “boys” over tomorrow/tonight to try it out. If its fun, I may still buy it, if only to have a fun party game.