Kaiju Wars in the test – retro look and giant monsters, what could go wrong?
Turn-based strategy always works, doesn’t it? For me at least. If the game is even halfway good, I always have fun with turn-based strategy games. Kaiju Wars also makes for fun by not letting you fight turn-based battles against numerous different enemies. Rather, you get to deal with individual monsters that, analogous to the title of the game – the Japanese word kaiju can be translated as giant monster – could appear in any good action or disaster movie. Do you have what it takes to protect the world from them?
At least you can get used to the fact that a battalion of tanks, rocket launchers or a squadron of fighter planes alone won’t do much against such huge opponents. In other words: Your units get a good beating here and do little damage, which, conversely, also seems realistic. And don’t forget that your opponent will quickly turn them into scrap metal. Doesn’t sound like fun, does it?
You have to take a lot here
But don’t worry, it’s definitely fun. Your primary goal is not to defeat the giant monsters, which you learn relatively quickly. Rather, it’s about slowing it down until your scientists can push it back into the ocean or wherever. Slowing down is the key to success, so prioritize ground units in the way of roaming enemies and planes to block the path of flying enemies. Everything for the success of science!
While you can deal enough damage to cause the giant lizard or giant ape to temporarily retreat, that only gives you a little breathing space until it returns. It is important to make the best of what the individual maps offer you. And that’s not very much in most cases. You get money from civilian buildings and science points from laboratories, and the money goes towards building new bases and units.
Ultimately, the gameplay loop is largely identical. A monster appears, you have to stop it. If your scientists discover it in the lab, you flee with them to the next lab, and then it continues like this. The ultimate goal is to collect enough science points to push the monster back. Which sounds simple, but due to the limited resources, you have to look carefully at how you stand in the way of enemies and with what. Each opponent has its own peculiarities, which you should pay attention to, for example, one of the monsters also lashes out with its tail and can destroy one of your units with it.
Cards as a random element
After a while, another element is added: maps. You can build a deck of cards that have different effects. But the same is also true for the organization that controls the giant monsters. The effects apply to one mission and give you more money per round, for example. Or have the opponent make two moves per turn, which can hurt. So, to a certain extent, subtle specializations are possible, depending on what suits you best. You can try to flood your opponent with cheaply produced units. Alternatively, you can use more expensive but more effective weapons. In each round you have the choice between three randomly rolled cards.
Depending on the mission, not every tactic helps to the same extent. It’s worth experimenting until you’ve found the optimal way through an order. And unfortunately there is usually only one really optimal way of proceeding. The element of randomness in the maps is sometimes to your advantage, but sometimes also to your disadvantage when your opponent is at the height of the battle the plays a crucial card. Luckily, the individual missions aren’t too long, which doesn’t make it too frustrating to repeat if the worst comes to the worst. It’s also made more difficult by optional goals that you don’t have to meet, but you can. Maybe try it later if you feel like it
On the one hand, what makes Kaiju Wars stand out is its retro look. This not only applies to the graphics, the audio also sounds like the game could come from the past millennium. But definitely in a good way! Overall, everything seems coherent, at the same time Kaiju Wars doesn’t take itself that seriously in its presentation and sees itself as a homage to monster films or movie monsters. Take all this with a wink and have fun.
Unfortunately, what the recently released console versions are missing are features that were added later on the PC, including a local versus mode or a level editor. Hopefully that will come later. In any case, Kaiju Wars is not a long game, for the main story (without optional goals) you can plan around ten hours. The controls on the consoles are not quite perfect either. The developers tried to emulate mouse control with the cursor. You use your stick to move the cursor across the screen, the speed of which can be easily increased, but I would have preferred cursorless controls. Alternatively, you can use the touch screen on the Nintendo Switch.
Kaiju Wars – Conclusion
If you can get into the retro look of Kaiju Wars, you get a competent turn-based strategy game in which you are more on the defensive than on the offensive. That’s how it feels right, too, because the giant monsters smash everything that stands in their way. The desperation is palpable, and it can be quite nerve-wracking if you manage to push a kaiju back for now at the very last moment. Ultimately, Kaiju Wars successfully combines turn-based strategy with a homage to classic movie monsters. Not only a good choice for everyone who is looking for a small turn-based strategy game for in between, it is also worth at least a look for all fans of the genre.
Kaiju Wars Rating: 8/10
Kaiju Wars – Pros and Cons
Per:
- Beautiful retro graphics with matching sound
- Exciting round strategy with tactical depth
- Fast missions that are also good for in between
- Great tribute to movie monsters
Cons:
- Controller control is not perfect
- The console versions are missing some features of the PC version at launch
Developer: Foolish Mortals Games, Michael Long – Publishers: Klabater – Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch (both tested), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC – release: 12/20/2022 – Genre: strategy, RPG Price (RRP): €19.99
Reference-www.eurogamer.de