YMMV / War of the Monsters

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Is the player monster a good guy? It isn't seen doing any real damage during cutscenes, and throughout the story mode manages to destroy all other monsters, who either posed an obvious threat, or attacked it first. The Origin Videos do shed some light on the playable characters (all of them changed in some way by radiation from UFO ships), but not that much in terms of character motivations. To run through each one individually:
    • Congar: Originally shown to have been a chimpanzee launched in a space pod, Congar is blasted out of his pod by a UFO crashing into it, and plummeting into Earth's atmosphere - if it wasn't for the radiation transforming him, he would've likely been killed! When he smashes into the ground hard enough to crater it, Congar looks at his changed body before giving a Mighty Roar - is he reveling in his power to run amok, or is he looking for payback on those who caused his transformation (and if so, is he gunning for the aliens who smashed their UFO into his space pod, or the American government/humanity in general for sending him up into space in the first place?)
    • Togera: As a UFO splashes into the sea, and sinks next to a sleeping Togera, the radiation entering its nostrils, causing it to wake up with its eyes glowing from the radiation. When a ship comes by (presumably to find the wrecked UFO), Togera bursts from the water, roaring, belching fire, and slamming its hand on the ship's deck. Considering Togera's source material, the possibilities for Togera's motivations (and whether he/she/it is a hero and villain) are completely up in the air.
    • Preytor: As a scientist feeds a mantis a few drops of the radioactive goop, Preytor suddenly turns into a giant, and devours the scientist who transformed her. Is Preytor simply a man-eating beast, or is she taking her vengeance on a Mad Scientist who tried to use her for his own nefarious ends?
    • Robo-47 As a UFO crashed next to a hanger of "Decommissioned Hardware", and when the radiation enters the hanger, Robo-47 reactivates, before bursting out of his hangar, and launching a missile at the camera. Is the radiation messing with Robo-47's programming, or is it reacting to the presence of alien radiation by seeking out and destroying every trace of it on Earth?
    • Agamo: As a shaman pours radioactive goop into the fire pit on a statue's head, Agamo awakens, sending the shaman tumbling off his head, before unceremoniously stomping him underfoot. Is Agamo a God of Good, trying to protect Earth from threats, or a God of Evil setting out to bring about The End of the World as We Know It?
    • Magmo: After a UFO smashes into an active volcano, Magmo emerges from the radiation-infused lava. Is it just a mutated creature, or a manifestation of a volcano god?
    • Ultra-V: Created by a Japanese laboratory, Ultra-V activates when it is charged up with a damaged UFO's radioactive energy, only to start smashing the laboratory apart as the scientist scream at how out of control it is. Is Ultra-V's programming simply haywire, or does it know what it's doing? And if it does know, is it trying to save the world, or destroy it?
    • Kineticlops: The only monster who is explicitly a transformed human, Kineticlops used to be a security guard who investigated an electrical transformer that was smashed by a UFO. After he gets fried with a bolt of radiation-tainted electricity, he becomes a giant electrical pulse with the only visible body part left being a giant eye. Does Kineticlops remember his previous life in law enforcement, and is stopping the out-of-control monsters from harming innocent lives? Or was his Loss of Identity too great to bear, and is he blindly lashing out in pain and rage?
  • Is Goliath Prime specifically built to destroy you, or is it just another out of control metal beast?
  • Were the invaders really a massive armada, or was it just Cerebulon and the three Zorgulons with a lot of remote control ships?
  • Is Cerebulon the leader of the aliens, or simply their ultimate weapon?
• Awesome Art: The In-Universe film posters were obviously made with as much love for giant monster films as the rest of the game.
• Awesome Music: While you often can't hear it due to the explosions and buildings collapsing, it is there. Most of it plays through the credits.
  • Midtown Park: The game's iconic battle theme.
  • Metro City: No other song in the game captures the pure terror shaking humanity as this one.
  • Bay Town: Autobots, rock out.
  • Mini Bay Town: Your imminent doom is at hand. Panic now, puny earthlings!
  • Capitol: Awesome music for a last stand against a stronger enemy.
• Breather Boss: Between the frustrating battles with Goliath Prime and Cerebulon we have Vegon, who may be the largest monster in the whole game, but isn't really much trouble so long as the player keeps moving.
• Cult Classic: Didn't sell well enough to turn into a franchise for Sony, but has a dedicated fanbase among Kaiju fans who enjoy it for being a loving homage to the genre in the style of a fighting game.
• Demonic Spiders: Military vehicles and flying saucers in story mode. Both are tedious to destroy, and will chip away at your health while you try to fight your opponent.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The plot is extremely minimal, leaving a lot of gaps to be filled in by fans.
  • Beating the game with Raptros or Zorgulon unlocks a Making Of Video, rather than an Origin Movie. Some fans have had great fun speculating their origins.
• Funny Moments:
  • Some of the monsters' Victory Poses are pretty hilarious like Robo-47 doing the Robot dance or Kineticlops playing basketball with his eyeball.
  • Agamo's origin story has some dark humor. After being accidentally awakened by a shaman, Agamo walks away, stepping on the poor human in the process.
• Goddamned Bats: The constantly-respawning Kineticlopses in Atomic Island, as well as the military's helicopters.
• That One Boss:
  • Goliath Prime, the first boss. The fact that he's big enough that other Kaiju consider him a boss should tell you something. The first third of the battle is a mild Guide Dang It! moment (you have to catch the bombs he throws at you), and the rest of the fight alternates between him pummeling you, trampling you, or blasting you with cannons.
  • Also Cerebulon, the Final Boss. In his first form he fires a beam cannon that drains half your health, and about the only way you can avoid taking damage from it is to hide behind and object and let it take some of the hit. In his second form he invokes "Instant Death" Radius with a red lightning attack that drains half your health (to say nothing of how hard it is to actually damage this form since it can only be damaged by throwing the pieces of it's first form at it). In his last form he uses a 12-hit combo that stunlocks you and, you guessed it, drains half your health.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The ability to summon a giant Tsunami in Tsunopolis (heavily based on Tokyo, Japan) seems a bit less fun after the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.
  • The depiction of crumbling buildings in this game turned out to be one for Sony, as while the game was almost complete in 2001, the 9/11 attacks made them worried such imagery would be insensitive, so its release was delayed until early 2003.
    • The game's early development period even had a map more closely resembling New York City. It featured destructible famous landmarks, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
• Moment of Awesome: For whatever monster you completed adventure mode with. After taking on (presumably) every other monster in the world, you fight the alien leader, and beat the daylights outta him too!
• That One Level:
  • The Airfield. To summarize: a two-against-one battle. Small area with virtually no cover, but plenty of explosive objects to be thrown at you. Health pickups aren't more than 5 seconds away, no matter where you are, which means the enemy will eagerly grab them the second they start taking damage. And they think nothing of throwing explosives and spearing weapons non-stop. The enemies, by the way, can both fly.
  • Metro City has the opposite problem during story mode. The level is home to Preytor, who will fly off to the other side of the map, or to the top of the tallest building if you don't defeat them as soon as possible. The fact that you also have to contend with Mecha-Congar doesn't help.
• Values Dissonance: Naming the No Communities Were Harmed version of Tokyo "Tsunopolis" would most likely face backlash today.

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