Fortnite’s Godzilla Collab absolutely gets the feel of giant monsters

At this point, it is probably more realistic to determine which franchises and brands Fortnite he did not cross with. Epic’s Battle Royale shooter is a melting pot of licensed absurditywhere Luke Skywalker and Hatsune Miku and perform a series of memetic dances on the virtual corpses of everyone from Goku to Ariana Grande. The homogenized ur-brand of everything makes it difficult for the latest in a long line of announced crossovers to stand out at this point, but his latest with the world of Legendary’s “Monsterverse” is definitely a cut above the rest… and not only. because it involves taller monsters than most things on the Fortnite island map.

Late last week Epic and Legendary kicked off a big new collaboration as part of Fortnite’s latest season, bringing skins inspired by Godzilla vs. Kong and The New Empire to the shooter. But besides that Godzilla (himself a bit of a crossover queenas of late) now has a physical presence Fortnitethe map of. Coincidentally at some point in a game, a massive portal may pop up somewhere on the island, and the first player to pass through is transformed into Godzilla to destroy his enemies. If you are not Godzilla, you can ping bullet after bullet at the kaiju to try and deplete his health bar, getting rewarded if you end up doing the most damage. If you i am Godzilla, you can spend as much time as you have slowly but surely stomping, heat, and skree-oning your way across the map, leaving a trail of destroyed buildings and dead players in your wake.

What’s really impressive about it all is that being at either end of this apocalyptic scenario is fun as hell. Godzilla is bulky and slow, but in a way that emphasizes the strength and scale with which you play, and the sheer carnage he can unleash by tearing up the scenery or melting players with the breath of his walking a fine line between feeling powerful enough to be threatening, but not so overwhelming as to be impossible to fight against. But it’s when you’re on the ground that it’s the most fun, no doubt: whether you’re miles away from Godzilla or dangerously close to his wide stomping feet, Fortnite it absolutely nailed the sense of scale you want from such an encounter. The look is on point (well, in terms of replicating Legendary’s version of Big G), the sound design is on point, but it’s definitely the size and purpose, almost unlike anything else. Fortnite has done in years, which makes Godzilla feel so special.

You can see it almost across the map, as tall as some of the highest mountains on the island. Your screen vibrates as it approaches, or when a jolt of neon-pink energy screeches in front of you. Regardless of which version of FortniteThe battle royale you are in, there is a certain level of destruction that is part of the dynamics of the game, and Godzilla changes everything, able to bring down entire buildings worth of cover in one explosion. And again, as chaotic as it can be, it feels like a fairness to everything: the rays are powerful, but slow enough that you can dramatically try to throw the way they burn to the ground. Getting stomped by Godzilla is less about squelching immediately and more about the displacement of it, sending you and someone else nearby to return, the better to bask in the scale of it. You don’t feel it unfair to go up against Godzilla, but even he doesn’t feel like a pushover as people fight to do the most damage to him, weaving between their guns and Godzilla’s irradiated rockets in equal measure.

FortniteGodzilla has a sense of weight to it that jars with a lot of the breezy movement that otherwise defines the shooter (especially this season, which has reimplemented a lot more movement mechanics to make players feel faster and able to traverse more smooth). It is disruptive in the best sense: it could only be for a few minutes in a match, if he has the chance to appear, but regardless of where you are, when he. it does show up, he commands attention. And what else should the King of All Monsters do, but demand that by his mere presence?

Want more io9 news? Check when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Warsand Star Trek free, what is next for the DC Universe in film and TVand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.