Gigantic: Rampage Edition Review – “Gameplay As Varied As Its Cast’s Designs”

Summary

• Gigantic: Rampage Edition offers a unique multiplayer experience that’s rich with diverse characters and customization options.
• Unlockables are earned through gameplay, with easy access to skins, new characters, and cosmetic upgrades without the need for grinding or microtransactions.
• The game features Rush and Clash game modes with deep gameplay and distinct characters, although the lack of story mode hinders the fleshing out of the diverse character roster.

A 2017 MOBA game has been revived with Gigantic: Rampage Edition, making some excellent changes, though not enough to make it feel like a revolutionary experience. Free-to-play games filled with microtransactions flooded the market over the last few years, which are thankfully nowhere to be found in Abstraction Games’ third-person hero shooter. Instead, players receive a multiplayer experience with an impressive roster of quirky and unique characters for the same price other games may charge for a single character skin.

Gigantic deserved a second chance because it was up against some steep competition in the F2P multiplayer arena when it first launched. While it successfully built a community of hardcore fans with its unique gameplay, it was shut down nearly a year after its launch. Now, with the help of publisher Gearbox and developer Abstraction Games, it’s back with new characters, maps, and an upgrade system that rewards players for playing the game instead of how much money they spend on microtransactions.

Mighty Game Modes, But Not A Gigantic Number Of Them

Rush Joins The Original Game’s Clash Mode

For the $19.99 price of admission for Gigantic: Rampage Edition, players will gain access to a game that avoids season passes and additional requests for more money to unlock everything it offers. While the game lacks a variety of game modes, Gigantic has a unique set of rules and challenges that require more than typical team death matches one would expect from a multiplayer-focused shooter. The 5v5 MOBA tasks teams to work together in order to take down the other teams’ massive and intimidating Guardian, as well as protect their own.

In each match in Gigantic, players must defeat enemy players and collect orbs from waypoints that charge up overtime before the other team can do the same. A well-coordinated team with effective healing and distribution of buffs and debuffs will be vital to succeed, especially once enough points are gathered, causing a team’s Guardian to traverse the map and pin the other, opening up an essential and limited opportunity to damage the Guardian. The first Guardian to lose all of its health sees its team lose the match.

Players will be forced to play the new Rush game type until they reach level 10, and then Gigantic‘s original Clash game mode will become available. However, Rush streamlines many of the game’s processes with quicker matches, smaller versions of its well-designed stages, and immediately provides all the playable cast’s abilities. It’s an effective method of allowing new players to play with Gigantic‘s cast of characters with more personalities and abilities than inexperienced players will likely know what to do with. Thankfully, newly added tutorials and guides help players get more comfortable with Gigantic‘s unique content.

Unlockables Are Earned and Plentiful

All Content Can Be Earned By Playing The Game

One of the most welcome adjustments to Gigantic: Rampage Edition is the removal of microtransactions. Experience points and coins are earned by playing matches and completing Fortunes, which are challenges that can be for a specific hero or tasks such as “Playing 5 Rush Matches” or “Heal This Amount In A Match.” Coins unlock vibrant skins for characters and their weapons. Thankfully, the game rewards coins consistently, which means even the most expensive unlockables can be earned without too much grinding. It is an easy task to accomplish when sampling the game’s 25 playable heroes.

While the removal of microtransactions is a glimmer of hope that not all multiplayer games out there need to be predatory, money-hungry experiences, it’s Gigantic‘s cast of characters that continues to be its shiniest highlight. Around half of the 25 playable characters are immediately ready to choose from and require easy-to-earn hero vouchers to unlock the rest. Still, within 10 hours of playtime, enough vouchers were earned to unlock every character, giving new players time to try out different heroes, each with unique abilities and play styles.

Characters With Gameplay As Varied As Their Designs

No Two Characters Play The Same

Like other well-designed team-based multiplayer games, Gigantic has three main classes, and its characters fit into Damage, Frontline, and Support heroes. However, the game heavily favors Damage heroes, since around two-thirds of the cast fit into that archetype. Still, characters can be effective in many categories with the game’s surprisingly deep customization options relating to their abilities and cosmetics. While playing Clash mode, characters can be leveled up, unlocking new skills and buffs that can sorted into specific loadouts, helping fan-favorite characters to become more unique and match any players preferred playstyle.

The playable characters each have specific movement speeds, incredible animations, and weapons that help set them apart visually and in how they feel to play. Experimenting with each can be frustrating against other opponents online, especially since many of the game’s original players are much more experienced than anyone trying Gigantic for the first time. Thankfully, Custom mode allows players to easily invite friends or play against bots to get more familiar with the game’s mechanics and find the character or build that works best for them.

New Rush Mode Streamlines Gigantic’s Original Flavor, But At A Cost

Clash Matches Take Longer But Have More In Them

Clash mode takes much more time to complete than Rush because Guardians have three health bars compared to one. The mode also doesn’t allow players to switch characters mid-game, something the new Rush mode does. Still, Clash features the full extent of the game’s maps, which impressively sees parts altered and even destroyed as the matches progress.

Clash is a more demanding game mode that takes advantage of more mechanics, such as pets that can be spawned at waypoints. The pets each have their own powers that can heal teammates, create blockades, or hinder enemies. If a team is doing exceptionally well, the pets can also evolve into bigger and better versions that can prove to be valuable tools to earn a win.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

3.5 / 5

With all of the unique mechanics and a large variety of cast members, Gigantic: Rampage Edition proves it was worth bringing back. However, the cast and their incredible designs beg to be more fleshed out with a story mode that could have also introduced players to its characters and mechanics in a more interesting way than the highly recommended tutorials provide. Clash and Rush’s modes indeed offer a unique MOBA experience, but more game modes and story would help Gigantic: Rampage Edition stand taller in a multiplayer market currently devoid of compelling characters with captivating storylines attached to them.

Screen Rant
was provided with a PC (Steam) download code for
Gigantic: Rampage Edition
for the purpose of this review.