Big (Monster) Love
Yesterday Privateer Press of Warmachine fame announced that they are entering the much maligned collectible miniature game (CMG) market with Monsterpocalypse. The responses I witnessed to the news were interesting to say the least. If you thought gamers would embrace the idea of another CMG from a company known for its high quality then you don’t know gamers using the Internet.
While I can understand the distaste for a CMG (and I share it, though not quite enough to spit on my monitor in anger like I pictured many of the gamers reacting) in this case the theme is so good who cares? Hello, it’s giant monsters stomping the crap out of things!
What I find particular cool is the fact that they’re also making destructable urban terrain. While we haven’t seen what this will look like I can already imagine the possibilities that it brings to other games. Urban Classic Battletech anyone?
So yeah, the CMG part of Monsterpocalypse sucks, but giant monsters have such potential it’s worth giving Privateer Press a pass. Makes me wonder why we don’t see more giant monster games.
Growing up one computer game I played until the tape started showing wear was Crush, Crumble, and Chomp. On the board game front there was SPI’s Creature That Ate Sheboygan, which was quite similar to Crush, Crumble, and Chomp. Or maybe it’s the other way around, not sure which came first. And then there was a whole lot of nothing.
Oh sure, there were silly arcade games like Rampage, and clones of it on various consoles have showed up over the years, but the giant monster genre has been woefully underrepresented in the gaming world. In the world of cardboard you have Monsters Ravage America (not good), and then there’s the miniature game Monster Island (quite good). There are a couple of other indie PDFs floating around similar to Monster Island but I haven’t tried them.
In the computer world there’s been nothing since Crush, Crumble, and Chomp that I can think of. And yeah, I’m aware of the perpetually delayed They Came From Hollywood. Doesn’t count since it’s not out. Who doesn’t—especially gaming geeks—enjoy the sight of a giant mutant lizard turning Japanese SDF units into wasabi paste? How many of us grew up with giant monster movies airing at least twice a week on our local stations? So why no big love for the kaiju?
Imagine a first person shooter with the player taking on the role of a giant monster. Heck, imagine Crush, Crumble, and Chomp as a first person shooter with today’s technology. Deformable terrain, physics, dynamic AI…man, that would kill. Instead we get shooter after shooter featuring Nazis, aliens, Nazi aliens, and once in a while third world troops. Whee…ZZZzzzzz
Anyone else out there bummed that the kaiju have avoided the digital world?