Dawn of the Monsters is a kaiju themed side-scrolling beat-‘em-up, taking its cue from the best of these monster films, and wrapping the entire thing up in a comic book aesthetic. In it, players get to control one of four characters instantly recognizable as stereotypes of the genre: Aegis Prime (a human who can grow to huge proportions thanks to a scientific accident); Tempest Galahad (a towering robot piloted by a young lady called Jamila); Ganira (a crustacean type monster), and; Megadon (the obligatory Godzilla type beastie).
The game itself consist of nearly three-dozen, roughly five minute long missions, where players get to beat seven-bells out of invading monsters called the Nephilim. Between bouts, players can follow the seriously-toned story (well, as serious as this genre can be), purchase upgrades and swap augments (more on those later), and even puddle around in the surprisingly detailed database.
When it comes to combat (which, let’s face it, is what anyone who plays these games is here for), each character comes with a mix of light and heavy attack (some of which have basic combos), dodges, blocks and parries, three different types of special abilities, executions (which let you kill enemy Nephilim and regain some health), and an ultimate attack which you’ll get to fire off once (or maybe twice) per mission. Each character handles and feels quite differently. Tempest Galahad, for example, specializes in ranged combat, while Aegis Prime is a fast melee brawler.
While I can’t describe the combat as particularly deep, it is entertaining. There’s something decidedly enjoyable about ripping an entire office building out of the ground, beating one monster over the head with it, before spinning around, and grabbing the head of another, tearing it off its shoulders, before flinging said head at another charging monster. There’s more than enough variety to keep players engaged, especially if they’re aiming to get a coveted S+ rating for a mission.
More than simply a record of how well you did, the ratings unlock various augments for your characters. Along with increasing stats like defense and attack, they also grant abilities like damage reflection on perfectly timed parries, rage-meter recharge (for your special attacks), making executions charge up your ultimate ability and so on. The better you do, the more powerful the augment. With players able to equip up to three augments per character, they also let players customize their character around a particular play-style, whether that’s using your basic attacks, special abilities, or even playing defensively. Also, in a nice touch, players aren’t forced to grind in order to acquire enough augments for everyone – once an augment is unlocked, it can be used on as many characters as the player likes. It also serves as a nice carrot to tempt players to try replay missions they’ve already completed, to see just how much better they can do.
While it’s easy to get the S+ rating early on, this becomes progressively harder, as the game throws more varied enemies and scenarios at you. Some enemies teleport, some have ranged attacks, some explode when near death (which can be used to your advantage). Then there are environmental hazards such as tidal waves and lightening strikes, all of which combine to keep the player who is determined to do well, truly engaged.
All up, Dawn of the Monsters is fun, light-hearted, and thanks to the size of the missions, able to be enjoyed in byte-size chunks (or a dozen, if you get hooked). If you like beat-‘em-ups, and are fond of Godzilla and the likes of Pacific Rim, then Dawn of the Monsters is probably what you’re looking for. ■