Atari’s Godzilla Unleashed Goes Gold

Atari's video game Godzilla Unleashed has gone gold, and should land at retailers in time to wreak havoc this holiday season on the Wii, PS2, and Nintendo DS.

Video game publisher Atari has announced that Godzilla Unleashed has gone gold and should arrive at retailers in time to breath fire, tail-slap, and roar its way into fans’ holiday season gift lists. Based on the world-famous Toho film franchise, the game pits the radioactive lizard Godzilla against at least 20 of his most renowned foes as he attempts to save an ungrateful earth from total mayhem and destruction. Although, of course, Godzilla’s methods for saving the earth usually involve knocking down a few buildings, setting a number of fires, and making the populations of entire cities run for their lives screaming.

Godzilla Unleashed will be available for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2; a separate title, Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash wil ship for the Nintendo DS handheld system. The game is different on each platform: both the Wii and PS2 versions include a non-linear story mode and a flexible multiplayer mode that supports up to four players, along with big destructible buildings and epic, alien-infused cityscapes, but the Wii version offers robust motion control, while the PS2 version includes a slightly different rogues gallery of monsters. The Nintendo DS version supports cooperative play with side-scrolling action.

"We are excited to bring Godzilla Unleashed, the next installment of a beloved franchise, to so many great platforms," said Atari producer Keehwan Her, in a statement.

Godzilla Unleashed has been rated E10+ by the ESRB. Atari hasn’t offered availability dates, but the Wii version should be priced around $50, the PS2 version around $40, and the DS version around $30.