Available for quite some time on Japanese download sites, Gigantic Army reached worldwide shores thanks to Steam and Nyu Media.
The game has been refined in weapon ad stage balance, but the core is still he same: Cybernator/Leynos-style game with lots of robots and explosions.
While the game is good, it's far less complicated than its predecessors or GunHound EX, the most recent "new" game of this genre (note: GunHound started as a doujin game just like Gigantic Army, but then G.Rev made an enhaced port on the PSP).
First, you can only carry one weapon type out of three, plus one special weapon, again out of three. Shots available for the special weapons depend on which normal weapon yu equip: the assault rifle is the weakest weapon but grants more special uses, the grenade launcher is the strongest normal weapon but limits special uses; the middle ground is a spread shot.
There's no separate button for punching, that is done automatically when enemies are close enough. There's still a shield, which can be oriented, but no firing angle lock button: the firing angle is locked when using the normal/special weapons, and can only be rotated by moving the robot around and not firing. It might not sound as a big deal (or even a sound decision), but for those coming from Cybernator and GunHound, ithis creates instances where you stop firing to reorient weapons with enemies swarming you or continusly firing to avoid aiming weapons somewhere you don't want to. Normal weapons do not have clips and can fire indefinitely, and between stages you can't chose different equipment; also, health is not completely replenished, though there are health pickups, along time extensions and power ups. Time limits are just there as a post-level bonus in points, power ups do their work but it's unclear how they exactly work, as you can pick a power up to get points (maximum upgrade level, I guess), and then an other that will get you a weapon improvement; probably you get a power down when hit, or there's a limit in each level, it's not entirely clear.
The game is fun, but very short and easy. Completing the game with one credit in Normal difficulty is something doable at the first try, level design isn't particularly enticing, and the biggest enemies follow two/three patterns that are easily predictable; the right weapon combination can also make short work of all bosses.
There are four difficulty levels, with Hard and Insane unlocked by completing the game in Normal and Hard respectively, but the limited weapon variety and plain level design kinda detract from the idea of multiple replays.
Not a bad game, but definitely not on par of its predecessors.
The game has been refined in weapon ad stage balance, but the core is still he same: Cybernator/Leynos-style game with lots of robots and explosions.
While the game is good, it's far less complicated than its predecessors or GunHound EX, the most recent "new" game of this genre (note: GunHound started as a doujin game just like Gigantic Army, but then G.Rev made an enhaced port on the PSP).
First, you can only carry one weapon type out of three, plus one special weapon, again out of three. Shots available for the special weapons depend on which normal weapon yu equip: the assault rifle is the weakest weapon but grants more special uses, the grenade launcher is the strongest normal weapon but limits special uses; the middle ground is a spread shot.
There's no separate button for punching, that is done automatically when enemies are close enough. There's still a shield, which can be oriented, but no firing angle lock button: the firing angle is locked when using the normal/special weapons, and can only be rotated by moving the robot around and not firing. It might not sound as a big deal (or even a sound decision), but for those coming from Cybernator and GunHound, ithis creates instances where you stop firing to reorient weapons with enemies swarming you or continusly firing to avoid aiming weapons somewhere you don't want to. Normal weapons do not have clips and can fire indefinitely, and between stages you can't chose different equipment; also, health is not completely replenished, though there are health pickups, along time extensions and power ups. Time limits are just there as a post-level bonus in points, power ups do their work but it's unclear how they exactly work, as you can pick a power up to get points (maximum upgrade level, I guess), and then an other that will get you a weapon improvement; probably you get a power down when hit, or there's a limit in each level, it's not entirely clear.
The game is fun, but very short and easy. Completing the game with one credit in Normal difficulty is something doable at the first try, level design isn't particularly enticing, and the biggest enemies follow two/three patterns that are easily predictable; the right weapon combination can also make short work of all bosses.
There are four difficulty levels, with Hard and Insane unlocked by completing the game in Normal and Hard respectively, but the limited weapon variety and plain level design kinda detract from the idea of multiple replays.
Not a bad game, but definitely not on par of its predecessors.
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