War of the Monsters (PS2)

I first played War of the Monsters not long after its release; probably 2004; with my friend Sam. That became our routine; I'd spend a weekend at his house, and the entire time, we would do nothing but drink soda, listen to Linkin Park, and play War of the Monsters. When I finally caught up with humanity and got a PS2, I searched tirelessly through every GameStop from Boone (far west North Carolina) to Washington (far east North Carolina) to find this game because of the wonderful memories I had of it. When I finally found it, I couldn't wait to play it. I saw the two locked characters that I needed to earn battle tokens in the single player to unlock, and I was like "Oh, no biggie!" And so I started the single player..... ....and quickly realized why Sam and I never played it; it's just awful. The controls in general are just awkward, but the multiplayer is amazing (I'll elaborate more later), so you get used to it and don't notice after a few minutes. The single player is alright on the first few stages, but once you get to bosses, you're like "Wow...." The first boss, for example, throws bombs at you; you need to pick them up, jump (while dodging more bombs) and hit him DIRECTLY about ten times before he'll fight you hand to hand. If you land the bombs on his platform RIGHT behind him, the explosion does nothing to him. I realize that I'm being way too nitpicky; the single player isn't terrible, I just hate it. I could get over the substandard controls with I'm playing with friends, but when it's just I, they bug me. The hidden characters are each 200,000 battle tokens, and you get like maybe 5,000 per stage. The only thing that is actually complaint-worthy about the single player aside from the controls is that the "adventure" mode is the same for every character. Now, the multiplayer...It lacks 4 player support, but this game is out-freaking-standing with its multiplayer. I don't know what it is that makes the multiplayer so amazing, but it's SO easy to play for hours if you have a friend over. You can pick up just about anything to throw at your opponents. It's all the same, but boy, is it fun.

Presentation: 6 - There isn't a whole lot that screams "EPIC" about this game, but there's nothing that really screams "LAME" either.

Graphics: 7.5 - The graphics aren't bad. They aren't astounding, but for 2003, the're not terrible.

Sound: 7 - Blah. Not blech, but just blah. The sound isn't anything remarkable, but it's not bad.

Gameplay: 8 - Kind of like with The Conduit, this is an average; I'd give the multiplayer a 9 and the single player a 7.

Lasting Appeal: 8 - As with many things, the good parts about this game will stick out in your memory while the bad parts vanish into obscurity.

Overall Score: 8