Giants: Citizen Kabuto

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Description

On a far away planet, three races fight for control of the few landmasses available: the marooned Meccs, who specialize in firearms and other things that go boom, the mystical and cold-blooded Reapers, who were the original inhabitants of the planet, but were forced to live in the sea by Kabuto, the third character; a truly gigantic monster with a ravenous appetite and a fondness for performing wrestling maneuvers on those the size of his hand.

You can control any of these races (although in the single player mode, you have to progress through the storylines of the Meccs and Reapers first) in their bid to be the dominant species. Each species varies in the way they play the game and have vastly different types of attacks available to them.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto is an action/real-time-strategy game that emphasizes action. While there is base-building and resource management for most of the races, it is done through a simple to control interface and one or two keystrokes. The majority of the game is spent in a third person view (first person mode is available) jet-packing/warping/leaping about the 3D landscape. Single player sessions consist of missions with specific goals, such as rescuing Smarties or recovering lost items. Multiplayer options include standard deathmatch, capture the Smartie (flag), the above with basebuilding as an option.

Other creatures also inhabit the islands. From the meek Smarties (who are employed to build your bases or eaten as a primary source of protein, depending on your species), to the cow-like vimps to the deadly rippers, the fauna of the planet will either try to kill you or avoid being killed/eaten/captured. While not so energetic, the flora of the islands can be crushed, knocked over, or burned in careless combat (or by Kabuto not paying attention).

Game controls are similar to Shiny's MDK and can best be described as a simplified shooter interface. You can run, jump, turn, shoot, and strafe. Beyond that, a half-dozen keystrokes are all you need to play (and some, like Kabuto's howls, are for fun and show).

The alien world in the game is bright and presented with vibrant colors. In addition, the game tries to maintain a humorous streak. The single player game has goofy dialogue and a few jokes spread along its story line and even the multiplayer is lighthearted, with Smarties cheering you on as you carry them on your back, among other little sounds and nuances.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "巨獸島" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "巨人：公民Kabuto" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Giants: Obywatel Kabuto" -- Polish title

Part of the Following Groups

• Console Generation Exclusives: PlayStation 2
• Covermount: Fullgames
• Gameplay feature: Jetpack
• Theme: Giant monsters
• White Label releases

User Reviews

the most original game in years!

Windows

bram de clerck (3)

Critic Reviews

IGN	Windows	Dec 15, 2000	9.2 out of 10	92
GameSpot	Windows	Dec 13, 2000	9 out of 10	90
PC Player (Germany)	Windows	Jan, 2001	86 out of 100	86
ActionTrip	Windows	Dec 27, 2000	85 out of 100	85
GameSpy	PlayStation 2	Dec 21, 2001	84 out of 100	84
Mac Addict	Macintosh	Feb, 2002		80
GamePro (US)	PlayStation 2	Nov 01, 2001	4 out of 5	80
Adrenaline Vault, The (AVault)	Windows	Jan 05, 2001		80
Game industry News (GiN)	Macintosh	2002		70
Game Revolution	Windows	Dec 01, 2000	B-	67

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Giants: Citizen Kabuto appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

Giants: Citizen Kabuto was developed over many years by Planet Moon, one of Interplay's "studios". However, it took so long to make that it became Planet Moon's first and last product for Interplay. Programmer Andy Astor passed away from cancer during the production of the game.

Extras

From the readme.txt:

If you pre ordered Giants from one of the participating stores like, "http://www.interplay-store.com" you will also receive the additional Lost World multiplayer maps. Only players with this bonus CD will be able to host multiplayer games with the bonus maps. You can still join Lost World map games without this CD.

However, some copies sold direct from retail stores shortly after release also contained the bonus CD.

OEM version

Creative Labs' Audigy Gamer sound card shipped with a copy of Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

Title

"Kabuto" is Japanese for helmet, often describing the great war helmets of the samurai, which sometimes had decorative antlers and spikes.

US version

Due to concerns about the game's ratings, the topless Sea Ravens got a bra. It can be removed by deleting a file from the HD. However, the game was rated "M" anyway.

The bra was also added for all PlayStation 2 releases.

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Kasey Chang, Scott Monster and SDfish.

Related Web Sites

• Editorial: Giants: Citizen Kabuto (a retrospective on Good Old Games with the development team (29th October 2008))
• Wikipedia: Giants: Citizen Kabuto (Information about Giants: Citizen Kabuto at Wikipedia)