Well, this is a weird thing that just showed up from out of nowhere. I wasn’t even aware that Toho, the legendary Japanese studio, had a branch dedicated to publishing games (then again, if Shueisha does, I guess it’s fair to assume the other big Japanese media conglomerates do). I also had no idea they were making a brand new Godzilla game, the first one to be published since that weird PS4 exclusive almost meant to be a tie-in to the Bryan Cranston film. Finally, who would have thought that such game, named Godzilla Voxel Wars, would a PC-exclusive, turn-based strategy/puzzle hybrid, featuring Lego-esque miniatures of Godzilla and other monsters? That is one hell of a bizarre take, almost to the point of making me appreciate their boldness.

So here we are, with Godzilla Voxel Wars. In this game you play as a kid having fun with some Godzilla miniatures in a small, diorama-like board. Your objective is simple: destroy all enemy monsters and fungi-infected buildings in the board in as few turns as possible, whilst paying attention to a few things: your monster’s health, the amount of friendly buildings you need to protect, your units’ movement limitations and attack range, and using colorful icons acquired from infected building debris to summon allies to your team.

The kicker is that each monster has a specific means of attack, be it in terms of movement, distance, or recoil damage. For instance, Rodan’s wind attack doesn’t do damage per se, but it can push an enemy towards a mountain or another building, and that collision deals damage. Likewise, Mothra’s larval form throws explosive eggs from a distance, but it cannot attack adjacent enemies. It’s all about planning your moves properly and completing each stage/puzzle as quickly as possible. If you exceed the turn limit, or if the enemies destroy too many buildings on the board, it’s a game over.

The gameplay loop becomes increasingly more interesting the more monsters you acquire. These puzzles, when you are given a lot of opportunities to acquire colored icons in the first turn to create your army, are the most interesting of the bunch. The “underworld” puzzles, which are basically harder levels unlocked with the stars you receive upon completing a level, are also slightly more interesting than the game’s main progression, but there’s no denying that the novelty wears off quickly.

The main issue with Godzilla Voxel Wars is that it is very repetitive, in pretty much all regards. Its gameplay loop is fine, but it gets tiresome after a while. This would have been a much better experience had it been released on the Nintendo Switch, given how its level structure is better suited for quicker and shorter sessions. Playing this for too long gets stale, and not even having access to a (neat, admittedly) level creator solves things.

There’s also the issue regarding its presentation. Sure, voxel-based Godzilla miniatures are adorable, but environments and backgrounds are really repetitive, not to mention an overall sensation that the game was made quickly and on a very cheap budget. Its sound department wasn’t very impressive, either, with just a handful of (repetitive) songs comprising its setlist, and just one Godzilla roar being used as a sound effect. No one else has their staple sound effects, and Godzilla has a very short and compressed one at that.

Godzilla Voxel Wars is a novel little thing, but it’s also a game that overstays its welcome quite quickly. As unique as its concept and gameplay loop can be, there’s not a lot of variety in its stage design, presentation, and puzzles. Sure, there are hundreds of them in this package, but they aren’t exactly that unique or different from one another. This one is just recommended towards the most die-hard of tokusatsu fans, though I’d kindly recommend waiting out for a possible Switch port, as its structure is best suited for portable play.

 

Graphics: 6.0 A bit cheap looking, but I can’t deny the fact that these Lego-esque kaiju miniatrues are absolutely adorable.	Gameplay: 7.0 A simple, though somewhat shallow gameplay loop backed by a decent tutorial system. I like the turn limitation, pressuring the player into beating each puzzle as quickly as possible.
Sound: 5.0 The soundtrack is comprised of just a handful of passable, but repetitive tunes. There is just a single Godzilla roar in the entire game, whilst other monsters don’t even feature sound effects of their own.	Fun Factor: 6.0 The idea of a turn-based, voxel-like Godzilla game is interesting at first, but the novelty and gameplay loop wear off after a while.
Final Verdict: 6.0

Godzilla Voxel Wars is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Godzilla Voxel Wars was provided by the publisher.