default header

Submissions

[PC] Gigantic Army

Moderator: JC Denton

[PC] Gigantic Army

Unread postby Alsagoz » 27 Dec 2010 03:02

This is my first review here. My first language is not English so it should contain some errors. Feel free to bash me with criticisms anyway...

Rating: *****

The rare breed in shooter-platformer. The rare beast among Assault Suits Valken-inspired games.

Gigantic Army was developed by doujin circle Astro Port. It came out pretty impressive. Graphics are well done. Musics are quite good but not very attractive.

I would say that you will not get the full glimpse of this game by just playing the trial version because some important aspects of the game are there.

First, the special weapons of this game are deceptively unbalanced. The first two levels are just the demonstration of how powerful your special weapons are. At first play, they makes them look like the cheap weapons that can clear the screen at ease and perhaps the fastest boss killing weapons in video game history (namely Beam Cannon). It makes the job of memorizing boss pattern become almost nothing. But it's not really the bad thing to blame. More on that later.

Next, the level design is basically the obstacle course with an assortment of enemies. In the full version, it contain practically every tasks of clumsy maneuvers such as hovering over (and under) the nasty minefield, navigate through the cluster of platforms, dodging stuffs, etc. It is where the control scheme of Valken comes to the full use and it is the charm in itself favored with the different challenges which are nicely done and not too taxing. Using shock trooper aiming style is the wise move. It totally eliminated the needs of 'hold' button and with the melee attack in the shot button, they make the actions not to become too clumsy. The stages are linear and they have no exciting area to be explored. It sounds a bit plain but it's also not the bad thing to blame.

The scoring system is what push the game into the "Arcade" territory in a strange way. It boiled down to "Be fast, Don't get hit." and the game indirectly tells you to seriously do that if you really want to get the High Score. Why? Let me stress the scoring aspect of this game.

The game give you ridiculous amount of points from picking items while your HP is full and/or your power is in the maximum level otherwise, you get none rather than fixing your problems. Those points even become higher in higher difficulty. Getting hurt degrade your power and is considerably harmful to your bonus score which is 'Base Score (depended on the difficulty)' x remaining time x percentage of your 'HP' Enemies only give small points which is just a small bonus. I would rather say that picking point items and bonus score at the end of each stage are the primary way to get the High Score. It is the improvement when compare to the original game which score is not so important.

By this scoring mechanic, the game advises you to "Abuse" your special weapon as much as possible not just because it gives you no score by preserving it. By using Beam Cannon, you concentrate all of your extra firepower to the boss only but it also means you give up your firepower on some groups of enemies (or even sub-boss) which come to waste your precious time (or even kill you). By using cluster bombs, you can quickly plow your way through the weaklings and blow some strong ones to the oblivion while Missile Pod is a compromise between the two. You will eventually in needs of memorizing the attack pattern of some bosses if you are going by this path. Different main weapons give a small help in weighing the extra firepower with the primary one which is unlimited. Then again, getting hit indirectly harms your progress since your firepower is lower not to mention the delay from the damage. Pilebunker (melee attack) become the really cool weapon which can pound your way faster than main weapon but put yourself in the risk of being shot on your face. From this aspect, it's quite hard to claim that the weapons in this game are imbalanced.

Also, the game is generous enough to give you the almighty shield that can block practically "Everything" from falling objects through the gigantic laser beam. It has a durability but it doesn't effect your score rather than being delayed by using the shield but it's still better than getting hit. The way you can move your shield up is another nice thing to add. It makes the shield more usable. It also more reasonable than Assault Suit Valken's shield which magically blocking every bullets from all direction and sorry... there is no midair blocking like in Assault Suit Leynos 2.

Looking back at the level design again, it becomes more interesting. The game demands you to go on every spots to find the items which really give you a big margin of score. Some spots need the manipulation of the flying gear with no mistake in order to get the margin. You will find yourself dashing all the way while pounding the Pilebunker on the closest enemy and firing the ranged weapons to clear your path in advance to the victory. You will find yourself taking more risk struggling through the mines faster and faster. You will even see that hovering yourself before touching the ground could improve your performance. The game might become punishing at this level but it could be another great gaming experience in the clumsy way since Assault Suit Valken.

Overall, it's really the great gem but not without its flaws. The game design comes at a price. Enemies become not so memorable (except many sub-bosses and the lamp-shaded 'surprise' in the higher difficulty). Each of them has their own unique feature but some of them are just the power-up version of the latter. The way of getting High Score also put many enemies into the steamroller victims which have a little impact on the score. However, it doesn't mean that the fun is taken away because of this flaw.

It's the high recommendation not for only Valken's fans but for everyone who like to play shooter-platformer in general. It may not be frantic like many games on the market but it's the nice little game to experience the challenging maneuver of robot and the cheapest way to kill the boss.
User avatar
Alsagoz
 
Joined: 26 Dec 2010 14:30

Return to Submissions

cron