It's
been a while since we've seen a game wholeheartedly embrace the cheesy
delicious world of 50s monster movies. The last game to delve into this
world of
corny conflict in any sort of concerted manner was King of Monsters on
the Neo Geo and its aptly named sequel, King of Fighters II. Now diving
into a niche of Hollywood history dominated by the likes of Ed Wood, the
dynamic duo of Lars Norpchen and Sparky over at Octopus Motors have a
new entry into the land of latex lizard things, gigantic robots that
simply have to kill-kill-kill, and UFOs complete with anular
probulationary devices with They Came From Hollywood for the PC.
They Came From Hollywood is billed as a strategy/action. The action
comes in laying waste to the different cities while destroying whatever
the military throws at you to put an end to your beastly mayhem.
The strategy comes in how to balance the destruction with feeding your
monster's feeding habits all while fending off the army and all of
their tanks, planes, and such. Players will have their choice of 10
different monsters to level cities with, each from a film by B-movie
director Harold Haxton whose cheesy monster flicks spanned a 20
year
period from the late 40s to the late 60s. Among these beasts are
Newtrino: The Atomic Newt from Newtrino vs. Etcetera (1969), The Tin
Behemoth from Attack of the Tin Behemoth (1953), Thorax: The Giant
Mantis from Mantis from Atlantis (1959), and the Martian Mothership from
Mars Needs Chicken! (1953) and Mars Needs Gravy! (1954), with several
more equally off-kilter creatures rounding out the line up. If you
aren't happy with the current state of your monster you'll be able to
customize it, adding new, destructive appendages, or hooking up a new
weapon of some sort, whatever tickles your fancy.
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Once you pick your beast it's off to stomp, blast, and smash your way
through a half dozen different US cities, San Francisco, New York,
Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. All of this
devastation will be displayed from a 2D isometric view with the monsters
being sprite-based, but the buildings, military vehicles, and such all
being fully modeled 3D. It looks a bit like the maps in the King of
Monsters series, but from a far better vantage point.
The
military forces out to put a stop to your rampaging will come from a
number of different eras. First up we have the roaring 20s where
biplanes, zeppelins, and
artillery are out to get you, then we head into the era of the Axis and
the Allies where the likes of prop fighters, tanks, and napalm are among
the obstacles in players paths. After this we head into the atomic age
with early jets, SWAT teams, and attack helicopters working their way
onto the scene, with the modern age taking up the rear sending cruise
missiles, neutron bombs, and nukes your way. Dealing with all of this
won't be performed through twitch gaming either. Further retaining the
strategy aspects of the game, players will have to click on the
appropriate icon on the screen, be it the command to eat someone or
smash a building, then click on the intended target.
It's not all that often we see a game not take things too seriously in
this day and age with all these developers pumping out games centering
on spec ops units, building
the perfect football team, or beating us over the head with realistic
car physics. They Came From Hollywood looks like it could have a very
refreshing nonchalant air to it, making for a welcome change of pace.
