The one recent glimpse we did get was on Sony's latest demo disc - a rolling video, which made the gameplay look like completely random carnage. While the carnage is still evident in the final version, it's not quite as random as this demo video makes out – more on this later.

Gameplay consists of up to four monsters fighting against each other in various environments, ranging from crowded cities to air-force bases. These environments are enclosed areas with a force field hemming the combatants in. They are large enough to be interesting, but not so large as to easily get lost.

A thin story explains the emergence of these larger-than-life creatures and strange force-fields – alien invaders, force-fields to keep them out, alien radiation causing normal animals to mutate and grow – yadda yadda yadda. The reality is that this is a fun fighting game with fully destructible environments, but there is no messy plot or story to have to contend with.

There are several single-player game modes - adventure, free-for-all and endurance. Adventure is the 'story' game, with standard levels to complete and 'boss' levels thrown in here and there. This mode gets steadily harder, and each of the boss characters you encounter has specific weaknesses that you must figure out. The bosses themselves are particularly hard – right when you think you're onto a winning formula, they move the goalposts and you have to find a new tack.

Free-for-All, as the name would suggest, is simply a one off fight in any of the unlocked environments (there are several to be unlocked). These can be of a 'sudden death' style, first to two wins, or unlimited play. With Endurance, you fight against monster after monster, the aim being to survive as long as possible.

There are eight monsters initially available, with two to be unlocked. They are generic copies of the classics, with names such as Congar – a large gorilla, Togera – a lizard-like creature, and Preytor – based on the Preying Mantis. Each has their own special attack weapon for both close range, and long distance attacks. They can also employ heavy or light attacks, shoot at enemies from a distance, or hoist enemies into the air, give 'em a good thumping, and then throw them into the nearest skyscraper. There is even a taunt button so that you can goad your opponents into taking you on!

The modeling of each of the creatures is pretty damn cool. They look the part, move fluidly, and their special attacks are appropriately spectacular. The environments are nicely rendered, detailed, and look awesome – especially as you're bashing the living crap out of them. Buildings can be climbed for the added advantage of height, but be careful that it's not smashed out from under you!

You can use any of the objects in each environment as a weapon - cars, buses, aircraft, antenna, bits of steel from the building you've just demolished – anything. Bear in mind though that each object you pick up will react differently depending on what it is. Pick up a petrol tanker for instance and it'll cause a huge explosion on impact, whereas a car just doesn't pack nearly as much punch.

Opponents can also be impaled on longer objects like a radio antenna for instance. Getting impaled yourself puts your monster into a daze, and you have to 'button-mash' to pull out the impaling object. However, you can then use the object to clobber someone close by, or hurl it back where it came from.

Generally, the graphics are big, loud, colourful, and very appropriate to a game of this nature.