Title: Gigantic
Available on: PC, Xbox One
Version Tested: PC
Developer: Motiga
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Genre: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, Strategy
Official Site: https://www.gogigantic.com/en/
Release Date: July 20, 2017
Where to Buy it: Steam, Microsoft Store
Gigantic has been a game haunted by issues ever since Microsoft dropped out in its duties in publishing the title. Perfect World Entertainment took over the mantle, doing well to finish it after a number of delays. But that wasn’t the real issue. Motiga, the developer behind Gigantic, was acquired by Perfect World Entertainment in 2016 and then completely shut down in November, five months after the game’s initial release. Motiga’s final product, though, had a lot of potential that was ultimately lost in the mess that has surrounded it ever since it began development.
I’m going to start off the nitty-gritty section of my review by saying that Gigantic is–through all the flaws that’ll I’ll go into more detail–a unique game that separates itself nicely from other MOBA titles, like League of Legends or Dota 2. Not just because of the way the camera is set: a third person, over the shoulder look comparable to Paragon, but, also, the objective is different than anything I’ve ever seen in a MOBA game before.
By summoning creatures in controlled points spread throughout the various maps, you gain power for your Guardian, a… well… gigantic beast where the fight for power centers around. The more heroes your team kills, creatures they kill, creatures they summon, and power orbs they collect, the more you grant your beast the essential resources (100 is the exact number) to overpower their nemesis. You and your team shouldn’t wait around, as this offensive opens up a weakness on the enemy Guardian for you to attack; you just have to get through the enemy team first. Once you deplete the three of the Guardian’s hearts, you win the match. There’s something familiar about it all, yet completely unique.
It’s a fun and addicting battle of strategy, that is when you actually find a match. One of the biggest problems with Gigantic has to do with its community, or the lack of it. Not a lot of people play the game, so sometimes you’ll be waiting in queue to play against other humans for over 10 minutes before finding a match. It doesn’t happen too often, and sometimes you’ll get into a match within 2 minutes. That’s not too bad. Yet, I don’t know whether the game was marketed well enough upon its release, so the fact that barely anyone plays Gigantic makes it a tough title to immerse yourself into.
With superb and cartoon-like graphics similar to those seen in Cel Damage, Gigantic takes full advantage of the Unreal Engine. Unfortunately, there’s a bug that plagues the experience, making it difficult to immerse yourself into the action. For some strange reason, I was unable to put my game into full screen or even change to a 1920×1080 resolution, my computer’s natural state. Instead, I was stuck playing in a window at 1360×768 resolution. What a bummer. Since Motiga isn’t around anymore, and considering there’s no workable solution at the moment for this issue, I’m looking to Perfect World Entertainment to provide suffering players with one.
As each match progresses, you’re required to upgrade your hero’s abilities, which are given to you all at once after you spawn in the map. You can either upgrade depending on what the game thinks is best for your hero, or you can look at each upgrade and choose depending on the situation you’re in. My issue: there’s simply not enough time to personally upgrade each ability, and so you feel forced to have the game do it for you, even if what they choose for you isn’t what you necessarily need. This problem could be remedied by allowing players to view the upgrades available for their hero’s abilities before they start the match, but this feature doesn’t exist. To get a glimpse at the skill upgrades without playing with or against other players, you have to go to the practice arena, which can be a tiresome venture after awhile.
Through most of my matches, I felt like I was rushing around the map like an untrained puppy with no control as to how my hero performed. I had no time to upgrade my abilities personally. Every kill matters, so enemies hunting you or your creatures down, and vice versa, takes up most of your time. But none of the major issues, like the full-screen bug, have been fixed, and there hasn’t been a lot of marketing to increase the amount of players taking part in the action. Simply put, Gigantic is a game full of potential, but I think that Perfect World Entertainment has left it out in the rain like an unwanted stray animal (sad, I know, but this is honestly the best simile for this situation).
Verdict: Although an interesting title that boasts a unique objective and a variety of cool heroes to master, Gigantic is plagued by a number of issues that take away from the immersive experience that the game should be. A bug forces some players to play in a window with a lower resolution, while finding a match against other players–and not bots–can be just as frustrating as the process of upgrading your hero’s abilities. Full of potential, Perfect World Entertainment needs to throw some more time into Gigantic, and then I think it’ll take off as it was meant to.
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