Editorials
A Worthy Alternative: Incognito’s ‘War of the Monsters’ Stomped to Godzilla’s Beat
As noted in our list of some of the best Godzilla games ever made, with Destroy All Monsters Melee being one of the best that captured the whole experience of battling other kaiju while stomping around a city. Longtime gamers know that there have been plenty of other titles that captured the similar spirit, and without the use of any Toho licenses. You can talk about Rampage (which was good for its time), or King of the Monsters (SNK knows its fighters), but for myself (and many others), the one that got it right the most was Incognito Entertainment’s 2003 effort, War of the Monsters.
The story for the game is pure cheesy 50s B-movie nonsense, where aliens have invaded Earth. Scientists respond by creating weapons that when activated, send out shockwaves that crash the UFOs. Unfortunately, the radioactive goo that powered the UFOs leaks out and mutates animals, plants, humans, robots and even the earth itself. From there, you pick one monster from the roster, defeat the other monsters and the remaining aliens, and declare yourself king.
Built on the theme of vintage monster B-movies, with tons of building destruction and even more tons of monster-on-monster action, War of the Monsters skirted around having to shell out licenses for Godzilla, King Kong et al by going the parody route. But hey, looking at monsters like Congar, Togera, Preytor and Ultra V, you could easily tell what Incognito was referencing. Incognito didn’t stop there, as they also had references to Mars Attacks!, Them!, War of the Worlds and other films that were all part of that 50s era of drive-in films. But with all that going on, was the game fun?
In two words? Hell yes! War of the Monsters used a relatively straightforward control scheme that allowed for some variation. Admittedly, it’s inadequate when compared to more deep fighters then and now, but once you got used to how to move around (and handle the camera), you were in for a lot of fun. For an arena brawler such as this, the control’s a bit more complex than what you’d get in Destroy All Monsters Melee or Super Smash Brothers, but Incognito still managed to keep it simple for you to get into the game. After that, it allowed you to expand upon the basics while having a ton of fun in the variety of things you could pull off.
Controls are just one part of what makes War of the Monsters fun. The whole idea of the game is you’re a giant monster, right? War of the Monsters absolutely caters to the idea of just what you’d expect. Picking up vehicles to hurl at your opponents is one thing, but picking up your opponent and hurling them into a building to see it come crumbling down on them (or yourself, if you’re not careful) is oh-so-satisfying.
Using towers and girders like baseball bats or javelins (or a sword as a, well, sword) is also in here to complete the fantasy, alongside stepping on the innocent people running for their lives. Incognito also sought to add a bit more dimension to fights by tossing in a few powerups that are found throughout the stages.
Then there’s the art. Incognito obviously put in a lot when it came to creating look and feel. Not just with the monsters, which perfectly capture that 50s aesthetic while maintaining a vague resemblance to their licenced counterparts. The added costumes are also great, with a great variety of looks (including a hidden Sweet Tooth costume for Agamo). The devs also used the colour palettes and lighting from the posters to light and colour each stage, which I’m sure there are some fans who didn’t even realize it.
And speaking of the stages, there are also those level-loading screens for each of the battles, which parody those same 1950s posters in their style. Again, Togera’s poster doesn’t exactly match with Godzilla‘s 1954 onesheet, but you get the idea. Plus, you have to appreciate artist Owen Richardson’s effort in capturing that 1950s feel in them.
Of course, you can’t forget the booming orchestral soundtrack by Big Idea Music Productions, aided in part by the legendary Tommy Tallarico. The soundtrack echoes the bombastic horn-filled nature of 50s monster movies scores (sadly, not enough theremin), which only enhances the onscreen carnage. Likewise, the sound effects have enough explosions, monster roars and laser blasts to bring satisfaction for those sticklers for detail.
Another no-brainer was the multiplayer. In fact, it would be downright criminal if the game never included it. Yes, while only having a max of two human players is a shame, it still results in glorious mashfests. You and a friend can go at it in glorious splitscreen that merges into two when you’re close enough, with the camera set up to mimic the epic standoffs you see in practically every Godzilla. Those aforementioned powerups took the gameplay to a whole other level during these matchups.
And if beating your friend up isn’t to your liking, there are also some minigames available, including a city destruction mode where you and your friend wreak havoc on a city to determine who causes the most damage.
Truth be told, there are some issues with the game. The camera can be overly sensitive when rotating, and the splitscreen during two-player battles can be a bit finicky, causing it to merge at inconsistent times, resulting in a bit of disorientation. The AI also doesn’t have much variation in its playstyle, and will turn to being extremely flighty when its health is low. And outside of beating the crap out of your friend, the other minigames don’t quite match up in the fun.
But probably the most glaring omission is a four-player option! Destroy All Monsters Melee had a leg up in that department, and seeing as the PS2 version was cancelled, Incognito could’ve taken advantage of this.
Though not selling enough copies to become part of the PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits line, War of the Monsters, like the B-movies it sought to emulate (and largely succeeded in doing so) is an obvious cult classic for gamers. Despite missing that four-player action, the game is still a blast to play with a friend (or friends, if you guys like taking turns). The sheer attention to the aesthetic and style can’t be ignored, and the game is simple enough to pick up and play, with enough variation in characters and attacks to allow you some depth.
It’s not Godzilla, but the fact that it’s a loving tribute that succeeds in replicating what it’d be like to stomp around a city, and beating the crap out of other monsters while you do it, is still good enough for many people. War of the Monsters is available digitally on the PlayStation Store, and for those who want a physical copy, the game is still easy to find.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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