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.
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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