Giants: Citizen Kabuto

The Rippers are nasty little monsters – at least the offspring are. Sort of like crabs, with a number of sharp, pointy claws that shred efficiently. Zoom in, target and let the handgun do the damage. The life meter evaporates quickly, erupting the claw machine into a green splat, body parts fluttering to the ground. Your Mecc character, Baz, moves on, trampling the remainder up through the village.

The mission is to rescue the helpless Smartie lad, who will give you a jet pack in return for your trouble. You’ll need it to rescue more Smarties and advance.

Giants Citizen Kabuto – from Digital Mayhem (a clue right there about the game) Planet Moon Studios and Interplay – is a pummeling slag-fest masquerading as a role-playing first-person shooter. There is a little thought that must be put into the game; you have to figure out how to solve each task put before you. After that, you just blast away at the wild variety of fauna put in front of you. In other games you have to think about what you are doing. In this program, you just blast away aimlessly to preserve your life.  After all, if you are firing indiscriminately, surely the enemy can’t tag you. Well, at least that is the proposition this game puts forth.

Let’s begin with the premise of the game: There are three dominant species on the island world – the Meccarys (decidedly British – even with Baz is drop-landed, blown out of a planetary shuttle without a parachute – the first thing he does is plant a British flag, which is promptly stolen), the Sea Reapers (blue fashion models in skimpy outfits) and Kabuto (a behemoth who chomps first and asks questions never). The Meccs are party boys who crashed on this world and are trying to repair their ship so they can continue with some R&R. The Reapers created Kabuto, but he is beyond their control and seeks to dominate the world himself.

Three factions, three goals, and you get to control them all. Of course, you have to earn that right. You begin with scenario one, as a four-fingered Mecc, trying to find a compatriot. You will battle the baby Rippers, then encounter the bigger version, which tunnels underground, pops up and pounds you with red and blue missiles. Defeat the beastie and it leaves behind – for a limited time – a floating version of its assault. Run through it and pick up health points.

Complete the Mecc missions and you advance to play as the Sea Reapers and Kabuto. The developers of this program highly suggest that you play through the early rounds of the single player game before trying your hand online. The early verdict is in – there are a lot of players out there who are learning this game at a frenetic pace, and you had better know what you are doing if you hope to compete online.

Graphically this game is not bad. The terrain graphics are lush, the game sports a three-dimensional look, though the monsters are sometimes too two-dimensional, and the movement elements are well done. However, if you are looking for a recent FPS (first-person shooter), you might want to stick with Rune from Gathering of Developers. It doesn’t try to inundate the script with flat witticisms and purpose where no purpose exists. Rune knows what it is, and makes no pretenses otherwise. And it is graphically better than Giants Citizen Kabuto.

But GCK does have endearing qualities. Camera elements are nicely done. Character movement is terrific, and there is a nice interplay between characters within the game. The action is perhaps too arcade, and the puzzles a little too simplistic, but the game still manages to entertain.

The audio track belies the British influence. Not a bad thing, rather it gives the game character. The evolving storyline, with control over different characters as the game progresses, makes each scenario unique and enjoyable.

Controls in the game are limited to keyboard and mouse controls. It doesn’t take long to get a feeling for the game, and you can be into it quickly.

The game does support multiplayer games, though they are of the deathmatch, capture the Smartie (aka flag) and base-building variety. As far as difficulty levels are concerned, forget it. You want to get better, play the scenario until you win. However, if you employ a little brain power, along with reflexive capabilities, you should be able to move along at a nice pace.

This program is rated for Mature players due to animated violence and animated blood.

As a FPS, Giants Citizen Kabuto lacks the audio sarcasm of a Duke Nukem, the detailed graphical elements of a Rune, and the intrigue of a Deux Ex. As a game, judged on its own merits, it is an entertaining program with sufficient eye candy to keep players in the game. The three-tribe characteristics are very nice, and the array of enemies will keep gamers firing away throughout the vast array of game boards.

Install: Medium
This is a two-disk install that will eat 850 megs at the minimum installation level and 1,250 megs for a full install.

Gameplay: 8
Once into a scenario, you can pause, but you can’t save. The only save happens when you complete the level – which comes with finite conditions for success. The transitions are handled by nice cutscenes, which are totally within the scope of the game.

Graphics: 7.5
While the islands, and prominent characters are wonderfully rendered, the fauna of the planet lacks three-dimensional depth that would make this a stunning program. And, for example, in scene two of the initial campaign, no matter how many Smarties are falling, or rescued, there still seems to be a few hanging from the cliffs – even after it appears they have, or should have, fallen.

Sound: 8
Well done – from the subdued musical soundtrack, to the bleeping of profanity – even when the situation might warrant it – this program features an audio track that lifts up the graphical display.

Difficulty: 8
Run through a scenario once, and you can figure out a way to beat it. With a lack of difficulty levels, this program was constructed to let players succeed without have to configure the options in a manner to allow them to do so.

Concept: 8.5
Three unique races, working through a single game player, in a variety of scenarios, make this a wonderful conceptual game. The controls are formatted to replicate other games in this genre, making the learning curve to game navigation short.

Multiplayer: 7
The multiplayer capabilities of this game are not bad. But hey, Diablo II toughens up the monsters and let players partner to win the game. This merely takes pages out of numerous other books and presents the same old, tired multiplayer format.

Overall: 8
Giants Citizen Kabuto has great central characters, choice camera angles, and a nice shooter perspective. But while the terrain elements are wonderful, the enemy (and enemy AI) is simplistic. If you read the mission statements carefully, you will see that by following them to the letter, you can forge ahead quickly in the game. And each skill you learn at one level will definitely aid you in the next. It is possible to outthink this game, to read into it things that simply are not there. If you keep it basic, you will enjoy this program. It features nice graphics and terrific audio in an evolving storyline.