Top 1 Xbox 360 Site

Based on the 3D animated picture by DreamWorks Studios, the Monsters vs. Aliens videogame puts the fate of the planet in players’ hands as they lead a dynamic team of five misfit monsters on a mission to save the world … as only they can. The game allows fans to experience the movie’s action and humor while playing as The Missing Link, the macho half-ape, half-fish; the gelatinous, indestructible and always hungry B.O.B.; and Ginormica, the 49-foot-11-inch tall woman and Insectosaurus, the 350-foot tall grub. Players utilize each character’s distinct strengths, sizes and abilities to battle giant alien robots that are wreaking havoc on earth. Friends or family members can join in the excitement at anytime as the world’s most brilliant scientist, Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., in the unique co-op multiplayer mode.

Genre: Action

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Beenox Studios

Online Play:

Local Play: 2 Co-op

April 3, 2009 –
There are all manner of pitfalls that can appear when reviewing a licensed game — so many that I could probably fill the space of a review talking about them. The two biggest are that the game could somehow magically get better as the game goes on (highly unlikely, but it’s happened before) and that it takes a nosedive the longer you play (which is far more common). As a result, being the office whipping boy when it comes to licensed game reviews, I tend to get the brunt of these scenarios all too often.

Surprise, surprise, Monsters vs. Aliens fits rather neatly into the latter category — a game that can be decent provided you have a stomach for passable action game fare, but takes the core concepts from the first hour of play that seem rather enjoyable and runs them into the ground for the next five hours or more. Nearly every mechanic introduced within the first few turns at controlling B.O.B. (an amorphous blob), Ginormica (a 49 foot 11 inch tall girl with super strength) and The Missing Link (a sort of Creature from the Black Lagoon-lookin’ dude) is copied and pasted with a different setting over and over again well past the point of making you sick of ‘em.

Extreeeeeeeme!!It sucks, too; no one part of Monsters vs. Aliens is bad, exactly — and some are downright enjoyable — but they’re recycled so often and for so long that all that fun that is experienced at the start is eventually drained from the experience and you just want it all to be over. That the game is unflinching in how it approaches each of the characters is, ultimately, the game’s downfall, and drags down what could have been a surprisingly solid little licensed game romp.

Ginormica, AKA Susan, was a girl smacked upside the head with a meteor during her wedding, causing her to grow to massive size and imbuing her with super strength, which makes her the perfect “monster” to… uh… run around on skates made out of various vehicles in the game. She can grind walls, duck under laser beams, button-mash (or waggle on the Wii) to open doors or throw off heavy objects and double-jump. So much potential and yet all she does is… skate? Oh, sorry, she also participates in some shoulder rams (which can later be linked together with some QTE events) and a smattering of boss fight-capping QTEs to finish ‘em off.

I’ve often wondered to myself why more games haven’t tried to copy some of the Ratchet