Giants: Citizen Kabuto

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Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Windows version box cover art
Developer(s)	Planet Moon Studios (Windows) The Omni Group (Mac OS X) Digital Mayhem (Playstation 2)
Publisher(s)	Interplay Entertainment (Windows and PS2) MacPlay (OS X)
Designer(s)	Nick Bruty, Bob Stevenson, Tim Williams
Engine	Amityville
Version	1.4 (June 29, 2001) (Windows) 1.07b (February 07, 2002) (OS X)
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 2
Release date	December 07, 2000 (Windows) October 25, 2001 (OS X) December 21, 2001 (PS2)
Genre(s)	Third-person with real-time strategy elements
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (Windows and OS X only)
Rating(s)	ESRB: M, USK: 16+, ELSPA: 15+ (Windows) ERSB: M, ELSPA: 3+ (OS X) ERSB: T, USK: 16+ (PS2)
Media	CD-ROM (2) (Windows and OS X) DVD (1) (PS2)
Input methods	Keyboard, mouse DualShock 2 (PS2)

Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter video game with real-time strategy elements for Microsoft Windows. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios comprising former Shiny Entertainment employees who had worked on the game MDK. The game went through four years of development before Interplay Entertainment published it on December 06, 2000, and followed up with a PlayStation 2 port in 2001. MacPlay published the Mac OS X port earlier in the same year.

The subtitle "Citizen Kabuto" refers to the thundering behemoth who is one of the playable characters in the game. Players can also take on the roles of jet pack-equipped and heavily armed Meccaryns, and amphibious spellcasting Sea Reapers; and challenge each other in multiplayer games. The single-player mode is framed as a sequential story, and puts the player through missions, several of which test the player's reflexes in action game-like puzzles, to teach the abilities of each playable race.

Game critics praised the game for its state of the art graphics, humorous story, and success in blending in one genre with another. Criticisms of the game centered on crippling software bugs and lack of an in-game save feature. The critics also rated its console version as technically inferior to its computer versions. The game sold poorly for both Windows and PlayStation 2, although it enjoyed a successful launch for its small Mac OS X market.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot and settings 2.1 Characters 2.2 Story 3 Development 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

In Giants: Citizen Kabuto (hereafter called Giants), players take on the roles of three humanoid races: gun-toting Meccaryns, magic-wielding Sea Reapers, and the gigantic Kabuto. The game assigns direct control of a single character to each player. Planet Moon Studios made this design to encourage players to focus on the action without the burden of micromanagement.^[1] Players can customize the controls, which are largely the same for each race, with slight differences for abilities.^[2]

The single-player mode consists of a sequence of missions set as an overarching story. Each mission assigns the player a named character, and requires the completion of certain objectives to progress to the next mission. The objectives are usually the elimination of enemies or a certain structure, but several of them test the player's eye–hand coordination or require the player to rescue and protect certain units.^[3] Players control their characters from a default third person perspective, with an optional first person view. Each race has its own offensive style, and a special fast mode of movement. When players kill a creature, a power-up is released which heals or awards weapons to them.^[4]

The real-time strategy elements of Giants consist of base building and resource gathering. Little humanoids called Smarties make up the worker units, and cattle-like creatures called Vimps serve as food. Meccaryn and Reaper players gather Smarties to build bases, and produce weapons or spells.^[5] As there are a limited number of Smarties in a mission, players have to rush to gather them, or kidnap them from each other to gain an advantage.^[1] They need to provide their Smarties with food for them to work; Meccaryn players hunt Vimps for meat, and Reaper players hunt them for their souls. Base building options are limited; players can neither choose the locations of structures nor micromanage their workforce.^[6] In contrast, the character Kabuto does not build bases, as he is designed as one.^[7] The Kabuto consumes Smarties to grow in size and power; when he is at maximum size, he can produce smaller Tyrannosaurus rex-like units as troops. He consumes Vimps and other units to restore his health.^[8]

Multiplayer mode limits the number of players in a game to a maximum of five Meccaryn, three Sea Reaper, and one Kabuto player(s).^[9] Due to the lack of a game server browser, players connect through online services Mplayer or GameSpy Arcade for the Windows version,^[2] and GameRanger for the Mac OS X version.^[10] Besides the standard "destroy all enemy bases and units" missions, the multiplayer mode includes deathmatches and "Capture the Smartie (flag)"-type games.^[11] Players have the options to start everyone off with a full base or to build one from scratch.^[12]

[edit] Plot and settings

The game world of Giants is set on the fictional Island, a piece of rock hurtling through outer space.^[13] The surface of the rock comprises islands with a variety of environments such as grasslands, deserts, and forests, surrounded by azure seas.^[8][4] Players have an unobstructed view of the game world up to its horizon with distant objects slightly blurred to convey a sense of realism.^[14] Planet Moon tailored each single-player mission's terrain to the character played in it. As such, missions for Meccaryns provide lots of cover to hide behind and shoot from, large spaces of water for Reapers to swim in, and plenty of creatures for Kabuto to eat.^[14]

[edit] Characters

Planet Moon Studios intended for the player characters to provide a diverse gameplay experience.^[1] They laid down requirements to make their characters distinct with unique advantages and disadvantages instead of cosmetic differences.^[14]

• Meccaryns are a race using high levels of technology, and attacks together as a pack led by the player.^[15] Meccaryn players get to play with a variety of guns, explosives, and backpacks providing special abilities;^[4] jet packs allow players to fly over obstacles and outmaneuver opponents,^[16] and the "Bush"-pack camouflages the character model as a bush.^[17] In single-player mode, players assume the role of Baz, leader of a group of Meccaryns comprising Gordon, Bennett, Tel and Reg. Several scenarios intended to drum up the humor in the game involve setting up the responsible Baz; the laid-back natures of Gordon and Bennett frustrates him as much as the troubles gotten into by the inquisitive characters Tel and Reg.^[18]

• Sea Reapers are the fastest swimmers which grants greater strategic options for their players.^[1] Planet Moon gave them the ability to regain health in the water, and made them immune to drowning and piranha attacks.^[2] For fast land travel, players can "turbo boost" (super jump) their Reapers to targeted land areas. Their offensive options include swords, bows, and spells, such as summoning firestorms or tornadoes.^[19] The team initially conceived the Sea Reaper single-player character, Delphi, as evil but changed her to be a rebel with a conscience.^[18] They also made her topless which their publisher, Interplay enjoyed.^[20]

• Kabuto is the titular creature of the game, and is the only one of his race left.^[21] In his back-story, the Reapers magically created him as their guardian but he turned against and drove them away. Creative Director, Tim Williams gave the "Citizen" title to Kabuto for its multi-meanings and allusion to the character's longing for a sense of belonging to the Island.^[13] The team modeled Kabuto's attacks after those of giant monsters in classic monster movies,^[22] allowing him to sprint, and use a bunch of professional wrestling attacks and aerial techniques such as elbow drops, foot stomps, and the "like the body slam, but with less dignity" butt flops.^[4] They implemented a weak point at his belly to balance out his raw power; players hitting this spot from short range inflict heavy damage on the Kabuto character.^[8] Players playing Kabuto can switch to a perspective looking through his mouth to target prey.^[20]

For non-playable races, the team designed Smarties with oversized heads, bulging eyes, and idiotic personalities for comedic effects.^[4][3] They set up the Smarties' work ethics as part of a visual reward system; players labor for the Smarties while witnessing their hedonistic indulgences. The payoff, however, is a "giant gun".^[18] Standard enemies include Reaper Guards who are male Reapers with no magical ability serving as common soldiers, and fauna such as insectoid Rippers, beasts of burden Sonaks, and bat-like Verms.^[13]

[edit] Story

The original single-player mode featured the races in their own stand-alone stories. Planet Moon discarded this in favor of a single sequential story to make the creative process simpler.^[18] The story starts players off as Baz, and they must complete a sequence of missions before they can take on the role of Delphi in the next sequence of missions. On completion of Delphi's story, players assume the role of a Kabuto character.^[23] Williams used cut scenes for the introduction and conclusion of each mission, and focused on humor to make them original and interesting rewards for players completing these missions.^[24]

As Baz, the player is on the Island looking for the missing Meccaryns, Reg and Tel. Timmy, a Smartie rescued in the first mission, functions as a guide for the player; he also serves as a plot device to move the story forward, such as introducing other Smartie characters, and providing exposition on the back story. The story portrays the Smarties as suffering under the reign of the Sea Reaper villains and their Queen Sappho. Alluding to the film, The Magnificent Seven, Baz gathers the separated Meccaryns, and takes on a quest to solve the Smarties' predicaments.^[18][7] In a climatic cut scene, Sappho sacrifices Timmy to Kabuto,^[19] and Timmy's grandfather, Borjoyzee, takes over as the guide for the player. Baz leads an escape from the area, and sets up a base to lead a counterattack. The ending of the Meccaryn's story sets the back story for the player to assume the role of the Sea Reaper princess, Delphi.^[25] Yan, the Samurai Smartie serves as the guide for this story segment; giving instructions on Delphi's abilities. After completing the training missions under Yan, Delphi proceeds on missions attacking Sappho's base and the Reapers, eventually confronting Sappho in a boss fight. Sappho's defeat triggers a cut scene; she summons Kabuto to destroy the Smarties, but in a plot twist, Kabuto eats her instead.^[26]

Setting up the final stretch of the story, the character Delphi has transformed herself into a Kabuto-like creature to challenge the original. The player wanders around the islands as the Delphi-Kabuto character, searching for prey to increase her size.^[27] After Delphi-Kabuto achieves her maximum size, she proceeds to a boss fight with the original Kabuto. Despite her victory, Kabuto revives in a triggered cut scene and defeats her, turning her back into a Reaper. The player takes over the role of Baz for the final boss fight against the revived Kabuto.^[28] After he has defeated Kabuto, the final cut scene shows the Meccaryns flying off to Planet Majorca with Delphi and Borjoyzee.^[29]

[edit] Development

When five members of Shiny Entertainment's MDK development team broke off to set up Planet Moon Studios in 1997 with software engineer, Scott Guest,^[18] they decided to make their first project fun and original, a game with graphics and gameplay unseen at that time.^[30][13][1] Nicky Bruty, Bob Stevenson, and Tim Williams initially conceived the idea of pitting players as spacemen, pirates, and giants against each other.^[20][7] Their main goal was to make an action game players would find fun to play.^[1][7] Initially projected to release in late 1999,^[1] the development of the game suffered delays largely due to the illness of their chief programmer, Andy Astor; he had suffered stage IV mantle cell lymphoma in late 1999. The team realized they needed more resources and by 2000, they had hired two more programmers and an artist.^[7] As their goal was to produce a next-generation game, they had to keep up with the wealth of new information during 1998–2000's rapid advancement of technology which resulted in further delays. The team upsized the graphic textures as they changed the graphical software to support NVIDIA graphics cards.^[7] Within a year after development started in 1999, the initial minimum graphics specification climbed from requiring Voodoo 1 graphics cards to that of GeForce-series cards.^[1][7] Planet Moon deemed game engines available during development too restrictive and inappropriate for their requirements, and built their own.^[1] They called it Amityville and it could support Glide, OpenGL, and Direct3D. The team used it to create the required "lush and vibrant" outdoor environments, and terrain deformation effects.^[31]

Planet Moon designed the structure of the single-player mode to be a gradual learning process for the players; the game would introduce new command sets to the players as they progress, and encourage them to repeat using the new commands for that mission.^[18] From the start of the project, the team intended the controls to be simple, and mapped commonly used commands to a few keys. Focus groups consisting more than 25 testers went through this design to verify its ease.^[1] Planet Moon intended a complex artificial intelligence (AI); computer-controlled characters would evade shots and take cover.^[1] They programmed the enemy AI to plot its actions according to long-term goals.^[14] They also consulted Mark Frohnmayer, lead programmer of the multiplayer game Tribes 2, for advice on implementing the multiplayer portion.^[7] The team also balanced the game by giving high weightage to factors other than brute force.^[14] Faced with a tight schedule, Planet Moon abandoned several features initially in the game. Early designs allowed players to change the landscape; they could gorge out water channels and isolate segments of the land by playing as Reapers.^[14] The Kabuto character initially could bake mud into "mud shepherd" units and use them to defend its herd of food.^[31]

Interplay Entertainment released the Windows version of the game on December 07, 2000.^[32] Planet Moon later created a special version of the game optimized for the GeForce 3 graphics card to display water reflections, soft edged shadows, and weather effects.^[33] This version was not a commercial product but a part of certain GeForce 3 graphic card package deals.^[34][35] MacPlay announced on November 01, 2000 it was publishing the Mac OS X version of the game.^[36] Meanwhile, Interplay's division, Digital Mayhem, had started porting the game to the PlayStation 2 (PS2) on January 22, 2001,^[37] and posted updates of their progress on IGN.^[38] The Omni Group was responsible for the porting to the Mac OS X; they rewrote the code of the game to take advantage of the symmetric multi-processing capability of Mac OS X.^[13] MacPlay released the Mac OS X version on October 25, 2001.^[39] The Omni Group had disabled multiplayer mode in the retail release but re-inserted it in a later patch.^[13] Digital Mayhem's greatest challenge for the PS2 port was converting and storing special effects of the Windows version onto the lesser storage space of the PS2.^[40] They used Lightwave 3D to convert the graphic resources;^[41] and although they had to reduce the image resolution, they increased the number of polygons comprising the player character models to make them smoother and more detailed in shape.^[42] Due to the limited capabilities of the PS2 compared with the Windows platform and the addition of a save feature, the team focused on enhancing the action gameplay; streamlining the interfaces; and tweaking the Reaper ski races, level designs, and game balance.^[43] They streamlined the controls to suit the PS2's controller,^[43] and implemented a feature to help the player's aim as they found the analog sticks less easy to aim with than a mouse.^[44] Digital Mayhem originally intended to retain the multiplayer mode,^[40] but discarded it when they found the PS2 environment could not generate the same multiplayer atmosphere as the Windows platform.^[43] Interplay finally released the PS2 port on December 21, 2001.^[45] They also announced plans for an Xbox port but nothing resulted from this.^[46]

Near the release of the United States (US) Windows version of the game, Planet Moon failed to obtain a "Teen" rating from the ESRB despite changing the original red blood to green and covering Delphi's toplessness with a bikini top. They had made the changes to broaden retail opportunities as many large retailers in the US refuse to sell "Mature"-rated games; Wal-Mart reiterated in October 2002 they would never stock software containing vulgarity or nudity on their shelves. Planet Moon Studios later released a patch reverting the blood to red color,^[47] and computer gamers discovered they can restore Delphi's toplessness by deleting a file.^[48][16]

Interplay offered a bonus disc containing extra multiplayer levels to those who pre-ordered the Windows version of the game.^[49] On October 05, 2003, they offered the soundtrack of the game to those who purchase the game from their online store.^[50] Composers Mark Snow (noted for his The X-Files musical scores), Mark Morgan, and Jeremy Soule (both noted for the music of several video games) had been involved in the music for Giants. Interplay hired Morgan to compose the scores for Giants, although reports showed they initially hired Snow for the task.^[15] Morgan, however, could not fully concentrate on the task due to personal reasons and handed it over to Soule. Closing credits of the game listed only Morgan and Soule,^[51] and Soule compiled their works onto the original soundtrack of the game.^[52] Soule originally offered to autograph the soundtrack on its release in the US. He, however, stopped his offer when email feedback revealed many were intending to pirate his work through the peer-to-peer file sharing software Napster instead of buying it.^[53]

[edit] Reception

Reviewers appreciated Planet Moon Studios' attempt at blending two game generes in Giants. Game Revolution and GameSpot found the simplified real-time strategy task of resource gathering in Giants made the game more interesting than tedious.^[54][4] Troy Dunniway, Microsoft's Head of Game Design in 2002, agreed with this view; commenting the real-time strategy elements of the game enhanced its shooter aspect rather than making it a hybrid of two genres.^[64] Sci Fi Weekly was impressed both styles of play never interfered with each other, as well as with the unique gameplay of each race.^[65] The Entertainment Depot, however, complained several missions make the base building tedious by repeatedly forcing the player to leave the base defenceless and coming back to rebuild it after enemy has destroyed several structures.^[6]

A few reviewers found they needed to prompt the allied non-player characters to perform actions on several occasions, although the allied AI performs pretty well most of the time.^[11][16] FiringSquad disagreed by calling their computer controlled teammates worthless and enjoyed leaving them to their deaths.^[2] IGN and FiringSquad thought the enemy AI was terrible; enemies were unaware of the deaths of nearby teammates, or kept running into obstacles.^[11][2] ActionTrip, however, disagreed and stated the enemy AI did well enough to take cover or flee when hurt, and constantly attack the player's base.^[48]

Reviewers commented the imaginative character designs and use of advanced graphics technology, such as hardware transform and lighting, and bump mapping, made the graphics of the game unrivaled in its time;^[4][11] ActionTrip claimed the graphics impressed them into thinking their graphics card was supporting the complex hardware environmental bump mapping it was incapable of.^[48] The animation of Kabuto's antics such as elbow dropping onto tiny enemies, and tossing up and catching food with his mouth, also won the praises of reviewers.^[2][6] Many reviewers, however, were disappointed the recommended systems for the computer versions were not powerful enough to run them smoothly at full details.^{[11][19][6][16][66]}

Many reviewers called the bawdy humor of Giants the best part of the game, and "bizarre and funny without ever letting the silliness distract or annoy the player".^{[67][4][16][39]} FiringSquad claimed it kept them plowing through the game regardless of the issues they encountered, and were disappointed when the game steadily lost this approach in the later stages.^[2] Mac Guild and Macworld UK, however, found the humor crude on a child-like level and its delivery forced.^[56][55] In spite of the humor, many reviewers found themselves bored by certain segments which lacked variety,^[2][6][68] or were slow in pace;^[54][67] ActionTrip said Giants lacked a unique quality to capture their attention compared with contemporaries like American McGee's Alice, MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, and Sea Dogs.^[48]

The frequent crashes of the retail Windows versions infuriated many reviewers;^{[69][6][2][11]} Game Revolution asked why had Interplay focused on censoring the game for marketing purposes instead of testing for and fixing the bugs before release.^[54] Several reviewers could not connect to multiplayer games due to failed connections or bugs.^[54][2] The reviewers, who managed to play online, commented the games were fun with occasional stability issues.^[4][11] GamesFirst however lamented the lack of dedicated, and low ping servers.^[67] Several reviewers declared the computer versions of the game was flawed in not implementing an in-game save feature.^{[54][4][11][16]}

Reviewers appreciated the PS2 version for including the asked-for in-game save feature, but complained it retained the AI and level design issues associated with the Windows version.^[3][23] IGN remarked it looked less impressive than the computer versions; the lower resolution, flat textures, washed out colors, and sparser environments made the game average looking.^[3] It also exhibited clipping issues; character models and projectiles would go through objects on occasion.^[3][23] They, however, praised the console version for presenting a smooth animation, rarely dropping frames.^[3] Other reviewers, however, stated the frame rate dropped when there is a heavy load on the graphics engine.^[5][23] A common complaint was the lack of replay value for the console version once the player has completed the single player mode.^[5][23][70]

The compiler sites Metacritic and Gamerankings calculated scores of 85 and 86.7% from their selected reviews for Giants as of 2007. Although most critics had awarded high scores to the game, GamesRadar and GSoundtracks reported the Windows version sold poorly.^[52][71] In contrast, the Mac OS X version had sold out within months of its release,^[72] in spite of its smaller market base.^[73] According to the quarterly sales reports by NPDFunWorld, the PS2 version sold 11,272 copies in the US for the six months since its release. This is a poor sales figure compared to the 51,726 copies of Shadow Hearts and 753,251 copies of Max Payne sold in the same period on the PS2.^[74] Despite the poor overall sales, reviewers have nominated Giants as a game deserving a sequel,^[75][76] and have kept it on PC Gamer UK's Top 100 as of 2007.^[77]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Planet Moon Studios (developer's site)
• Giants: Citizen Kabuto at MobyGames
• Giants: Citizen Kabuto at the Internet Movie Database
• Giants World Domination – graphical comparison of game referencing GeForce 3 cards, and soundtrack listing