The setting for Giants is somewhat peculiar, but appropriately so, since the rest of the game is pretty odd as well. The story unfolds on a series of islands, with three different factions vying for power-the Meccaryns, spacemen who mean bloody business, the cruel-but-beautiful Sea Reapers, and the giant Kabuto, for whom the entire region is like a big lunch buffet. And stuck in the middle of the whole mess is the native population, the Smarties, who just try to do their best to stay alive. It’s a whimsical setting, but a great backdrop for humor and non-stop action, the two mainstays of the single-player game.

The gameplay is Giants is as equally diverse as the residents on the islands themselves. Each race has a very different style of play, and the single-player missions both take into account the different abilities of the races as well as their role in the saga itself. While all missions in the game are objective based, missions in Giants are a far cry from run-of-the-mill FedEx type missions that many other games have. Tasks can vary from search and destroy and rescue to the outlandish Reaperski races that are right out of the N64 classic ‘Waverace’. There is never a loss for something different to do when you’re playing Giants, as the game constantly is giving you something new and fresh to keep your interest.

One mission type is particular is so engaging, intense, and enjoyable that it deserves special mention, and that is the base building missions. In this mode, the game plays like a hybrid shooter/RTS, where your character actively builds a base, gathers workers, and collects resources. Like the recently released Sacrifice (ironically by Shiny, the former employer of most of the PlanetMoon staff), the RTS elements in the third person perspective are pulled off brilliantly, balancing the intensity of combat with the frenetic task of constructing a base during lulls in the action. It is a simply delightful blend of ideas, and seeing a fully operational, fully defended base mow down enemies, freeing you to hop on a vehicle and finish off the enemy’s base at will is a sight to behold.

Speaking of sights to behold, that’s exactly what Giant’s visuals are-absolutely incredible. The entire game takes place in huge outdoor levels that truly feel expansive and not artificial like in so many other games with ‘large outdoor levels’. The game is very vibrant and vivid-the boring browns, greys, and dark blues of the typical 3D PC game have been thrown out the window, replaced by oranges, light blues, organic greens, and purples. These two effects combine to form a extremely attractive and wholly fantastic world that is literally like no other I’ve ever seen in a PC game. Other gorgeous touches like over-the-top lens flaring and a very cool sunlight reflection off the ocean add to the environment as well, making sure that you’re always looking at some form of eye-dropping eye candy when you’re playing. However, these bells and whistles have come at the cost of the framerate. Even on a high-end PC, the game’s framerate can really fluctuate. People who require a perfect and consistent 60 FPS in their games will not be pleased with the kind of stuttering that goes on in Giants. Personally, I find it an acceptable tradeoff for the gorgeous graphics, but doubtless others will disagree.

Giants’ is no slouch when it comes to audio, either, and the game’s sound work is a capable equal to its graphical prowess. Voice acting in the game is absolutely terrific-the Meccaryns sound like British comedians, the Sea Reapers deliver their lines with a sultry Eastern European accent, and Kabuto, well when Kabuto eats or growls, it’s loud and definitely sounds like a giant monster would sound. The game’s music is perfect-nice, toned, ambient soundtrack that supports the visual presentation of the game while never distracting from the splendor of the game world. Sound effects are also varied and great-explosions give off a shaking bass, and environmental effects such as water splashes and the underground burrowing of Rippers homing in on your position is very convincing. The only letdown was the weapon sounds, which didn’t seem very inspired compared to the rest of the samples used. However, that’s more of a nit-pick, as you really won’t be noticing the sounds all that much when you’re ambushing a column of Reapermen.

Many, many, third-person action games have had troubles with their camera and controls, but Giants seems to have found a very good scheme for both. The camera is a perfect distance behind the character, so the problem of having to rotate around and around to see an opponent-and the inevitable overcompensation of movement that occurs-is practically non-existent in the game. The control scheme is remarkably similar to Tribes and MDK2-first person controls with enough extra buttons to handle all the different doodads that each race has to offer. While these factors won’t make you go ‘Oooh’ like the game’s graphics or gameplay will, the care PlanetMoon took in implementing these often troublesome parts of the game’s interface keeps you from pulling out your hair and yelling in frustration from a poor camera or control scheme (admit it, we’ve all been there at some point). Unlike many reviewers of the game, I did not experience the lockups and freezes while playing the game that many have reported. For those people having problems, there is a patch available that remedies a large number of potential crash bugs in the game’s retail release.

Giants’ multiplayer is very entertaining, but it has its fair share of issues-some design, and some purely circumstantial. The game is designed for uneven teams-five Meccs, three Reapers, and a Kabuto is the target player composition. However, finding a game with that kind of balance right of the Internet is extremely difficult, and games without that balance become quickly lopsided. Giants’ also requires you to use the Gamespy Arcade service to connect and join games, forcing you to install another burdensome piece of software-an in-game server browser would have been a nice option. If you can get over these obstacles, you’ll find a multiplayer experience quite unlike anything else you’ve ever played-think Tribes, Quake, and Heretic II thrown into a blender with PlanetMoon’s special ingredients, and you’re getting warm. The core multiplayer gameplay extends from the base building style missions-you have an objective and you need to gather resources to build a base to complete that objective-whether it is racking up frags or capturing the other team’s head Smartie. It’s fun, competitive, and very intense.

Giants is a solid, humorous, and extremely entertaining game that’s nice and lengthy-the single-player missions will take approximately 15-20 hours to run through, and there’s plenty of multiplayer goodness to be had as well. Giants is all about style, not a style forged solely from existing ideas, but from a strong sense of imagination and humor as well. And it is a style that is well executed and consistent from beginning to end, making for a fantastic game that’s worth every penny of your gaming dollar.