The 1998 version made a terrible strategic mistake, by having Godzilla sneak and slither around. Godzilla just stands up and stomps everything. Could not stand him sneaking around.
My recollection is pretty different, I remember him going on rampage and causing massive destruction for most of the '98 movie rather than "sneak and slither around".
Still, I'd rather have him "sneak and slither around" than not show up at all, which was the case for over half of the 2014 movie. Godzilla had a minor cameo role in his own movie. If they wanted to make a movie that revolved around giant monsters called MUTOs, they should have called it that. The MUTOs in the 2014 movie were cooler creatures than Godzilla anyway.
In any case the Japanese Godzilla movies are better than either American movie. I don't expect that pattern to change. Hollywood doesn't get Godzilla.