Giants: Citizen Kabuto - Gameplay

Gameplay

In Giants: Citizen Kabuto, players take on the roles of three humanoid races: gun-toting Meccaryns, magic-wielding Sea Reapers, and the gigantic Kabuto. Each player is assigned direct control of a single character. The game's developers, Planet Moon Studios, created this design to encourage players to focus on the action and not to be burdened with micromanagement. Players can customize the controls, which are largely the same for each race, with slight differences for abilities.

The single-player mode consists of a sequence of missions set as an overarching story. Each mission 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. Players control their characters from a default third person perspective; a first person view is optional. Each race has its own offensive style, and a special mode of fast movement. Killing a creature releases a power-up, which heals or awards weapons to its collector.

The real-time strategy elements of Giants consist of base building and resource gathering. Players have to gather little humanoids called Smarties to build bases, and produce weapons or spells. There are a limited number of Smarties in a mission, and players have to rush to gather them, or kidnap them from each other to gain an advantage. Players also have to gather sustenance for the Smarties to make them work; Meccaryn and Reaper players hunt the cattle-like Vimps for meat and souls respectively. The options in building a base are limited; players can neither choose the locations for the structures nor manage their workforce in detail. In contrast, players in control of Kabuto need not build a base; the gigantic creature gains strength and produces troops through hunting for food. Kabuto consumes Smarties to grow in size and power; at maximum size, he can produce smaller Tyrannosaurus rex-like units to function as troops. To restore his health, Kabuto eats Vimps and other units (player- and computer-controlled).

Multiplayer mode allows a maximum of five Meccaryn, three Sea Reaper, and one Kabuto player(s) to play in each session. Due to the lack of a game server browser, players connect through online services MPlayer or GameSpy Arcade for the Windows version, and GameRanger for the Mac OS X version. Besides the standard "destroy all enemy bases and units" missions, the multiplayer mode includes deathmatches and "Capture the Smartie (flag)"-type games. Players have the option to start everyone off with a full base or to build one from scratch.