Back in 2017, developers Motiga releasedGigantic,a unique blend of hero shooters and MOBAs that tried as best as it could to stand out as something special. Unfortunately, it was released during a time when the market was flooded with hero shooters, and the king of them,Overwatch,destroyed any competition that came its way. As such,Giganticsadly died off shortly after its release. But seven years later, the king has now become bloated, incompetent and drunk on their own power, and the market isn’t as flooded, so now seems like like the perfect time for Arc Games and developers Abstraction Games to revive the title in the form ofGigantic: Rampage Edition.But does this revival still have the same charm from years ago?
They Might Be Giants
A five-on-five multiplayer game,Giganticsees you one on the side of one of two gigantic Guardians (hence the name), each belonging to a different House. The goal is to accumulate enough power – one hundred points of it – through various means to allow your Guardian to pin down the other, taking away a chunk of their health and leaving them open to attack for a brief period. Take out the Guardian and you win. Each one of the heroes that you can command during this fight has their own unique story, and varies wildly, ranging from human snipers to bulky bull-like melee fighters and cosmic fortune-telling beings who attack by flinging cards, and pretty much everything in between.
Character design is a key component of any hero shooter or MOBA andGiganticdelivers when it comes to its heroes. The art style gives them all an eye-catching cartoon feel, they all have a great amount of personality, and each of them has a wide variety of fun abilities and attacks to try out, especially when you get around to working with their different builds and customizing or upgrading their abilities during battle.Gigantic: Rampage Editionalso adds two new heroes who were originally planned for the game, those being Roland, a grizzle gun-wielding adventurer, and Kajir, a quick catfolk assassin. They’re a great addition, although you do have to unlock them and several other heroes through Hero Vouchers first.
Bigger, Badder
Thankfully, the vouchers are gained with each level up, gained through experience with each hero, so you can unlock everyone in a few hours or so. This may actually be a good time to discuss one of the big changes toGigantic: Rampage Edition,that being while the original game was free-to-play with optional purchase,Rampage Editioncosts one single fee and every addition – skins, emotes, etc – is free, unlockable through Crowns or leveling up, with Crowns able to be gained via the revamped, challenge-based Fortune system. It’s a nice touch, giving an extra to strive towards, and the tarot theme makes for a nice, subtle visual.
A Gigantic Return; MOBA Cult Classic Gets Revived
You have been sorely missed, along with all the silly puns.
The other big change toGigantic: Rampage Editionis the use of two different modes. There’s the original setup, now named Clash, which centers more around summoning monsters at certain locations and taking out your opponents' monsters, the ability to level up heroes, Guardians having multiple lives, and map layouts that change as time progresses. Then there’s the new Rush mode, which is the default mode at the start, with points that you can capture to gain power, every hero starts at Level 10, and Guardians only have one life. The former has longer matches and is meant to be more strategic, while the latter is a more streamlined approach for newer players, or those who just want a quick match. Both are fun and still nicely share the same flavor while feeling different.
In terms of controls and the basic gameplay, the third-person action still holds up. Every character feels fun to play with, leaping and running around each map is fun, and attacks are easy to pull off, be it with a controller or a mouse and keyboard. The map design is also simple, yet fun to work with, including the two new maps that allow for some nice touches of verticality. Lots of routes abound to allow for a ton of surprises and attacks, which when combined with a large variety of different characters, makes for a ton of potential.
Chaos On a Large Scale
Everything aboutGigantic: Rampage Edition’sgameplay seems like it should add up. And for the most part, it does. And yet there was something about the combat that felt a bit too…chaotic. And not necessarily in the good way. It could just be that some of the other players that I happened to play with were acting rowdy, but something felt off in a few matches. During one in Rush, I was able to grab one single point over and over, with every other player on the other side of the map, seemingly not trying to intervene and support or attack me. And during more than a few moments in Clash, our Guardian got pinned down, and I went to defend them, only for nobody in the opposing team to even try and attack them. It felt like everyone was just trying to win through gaining power via killing opponents.
Basically,Gigantic’scombat just doesn’t seem as fun when it gets treated as more of a straightforward deathmatch, since it means that the gameplay elements that are more focused on strategy feel undermined. It doesn’t help that whenever two teams collide, it kind of turns into an intense flurry of blows that can be hard to make out. Basically, as fun as the game is, it could still stand to benefit from more fine-tuning, if only to help its more unique elements stand out. And maybe cut out a few things like the seemingly-useless grades after each match, especially as it isn’t made clear what results in higher grades. I was getting Es with pretty much every hero in Rush, but every time I would play with Oru, it was a stream of S-pluses, despite being no more skilled with him than any other character.
Overall, though,Gigantic: Rampage Editionis still a blast to play years later, with just being able to play with such a diverse roster of lovable heroes arguably being fun enough on its own. The only other possible issue is that of longevity. So far the only new additions set for the game in the future are a Ranked mode and new skins, both free, but not as exciting as new heroes or maps. Still, there’s always the ability to set local matches with bots, and if nothing else, this is all a nice win for game preservation in general.
Closing Comments:
Nearly seven years later, andGigantic: Rampage Editionis still just as fun to play as it was back in the genre’s heyday. New additions like Rush mode are fun and make for a quicker blast, though hopefully we can find a way to deliver more major content later on. But as is, there’s still a crop of fun heroes on display, all of whom are still a joy to try out, and it’s just a joy to see a unique bit of action like this again, especially withOverwatchstill having soured its reputation. In fact, if this takes off, maybe we can see about revivingBattlebornin a similar way next, if only because it would make for one hilarious scenario…
Gigantic: Rampage Edition
Version Reviewed: PC
