Game:

GIGANTIC ARMY (2010)

Duration: 7:12

232 views

5

Oh look out! It's another indie game made with retro style graphics. Surely it's all style with little substance eh? Well.....actually no. This game is the real deal. Heck it doesn't even run in HD! That's right! This game runs in no higher than 480p, so you better pull out your CRT monitor because you're gonna be seeing some scan lines for sure. It's not only 480p, but it's 640X480 which is 4:3 ratio. Yeah, it's hardcore. Checkpoints? Won't find those here. You die, you go back to the beginning of the stage with your weapons dialed back to wimpy. 3 continues.....that's it. Use them all and it's a real "game over". However the developers seem to have mastered the art of making a game challenging, but amazingly fun. Even if you use all your continues and have to start over, you will have fun getting back to the place where you died. This game has more style than most throwbacks and also has killer game play than most throwbacks lack.

I omitted the story at the beginning and in between levels because they're a pretty long read and there is no music to enjoy while reading. I won't lie, I made it about half way through the reading and just started skipping it because it really breaks the flow of the game. The story reading is WAY too long and boring along with having a TON of spelling and grammar errors. It really looks like the story was just thrown in at the last minute. Here is the actual story: You're a mech, and you shoot everything that moves! Gigantic Army is often compared to Cybernator or Metal Warriors on the SNES, but Gigantic Army is much faster pace. So much so that you have a time limit, which you must boost by picking up the time extenders. This was jarring at first as the first few times I played this game I died because I ran out of time. This is not a game where you want to hang around and shoot everything or backtrack like you do in Cybernator. You need to keep moving or you will not have enough time to fight bosses. Honestly once you learn to pick up the pace you won't even notice the time limit, and the fast pace keeps you on your toes. Other than that the game is very satisfying with it's excellent sound design, music, and glorious explosions. The game is very short, but you do unlock more difficulties when you beat the game which does put up a much better challenge than the first time around. This game is not very deep so leave your brain at the door and shoot things.

I love the graphics in this game because they didn't go for the ultra smooth and cartoony look that modern raster graphics provide. Instead they chose the grit that you can only get from 16 bit color pallets and sprites. The game is not overly colorful or elaborate. Much like Shovel Knight, the developers seemed to have gone for a more authentic look from a time where there were actually hardware limitations. Though this game is nothing even close to the production values and excellence of Shovel Knight, it is still good cheap fun. The game normally sells for 6 bucks and goes on sale on every Steam sale for 3 bucks. No matter what price you pay you won't be disappointed.