Standard Edition
Standard- PlayStation 2 game disc and case
PS2
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter with real-time strategy elements. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios, made up of former Shiny Entertainment staff who had worked on MDK in 1997.
Third-person shooterReal-time strategy
- Time to beat
- about 10.5 hours
- Plays offline
- Yes
Overview
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter with real-time strategy elements. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios, made up of former Shiny Entertainment staff who had worked on MDK in 1997. After four years of development Interplay Entertainment published it for Windows on December 7, 2000. A Mac OS X port followed in 2001, and the game was ported to the PlayStation 2 later that year.
The player controls a single character from one of three races: the heavily armed, jet-pack wearing Meccaryns, the amphibious spell-casting Sea Reapers, or Kabuto, a huge monster who uses wrestling-style attacks. In the single-player mode the story runs through all three in turn, with missions that mix shooting, protecting units and a little base building. The strategy side is light: resources are small humanoids called Smarties, and bases are limited.
The PlayStation 2 version came out on December 21, 2001 in North America and March 15, 2002 in Europe. Interplay's Digital Mayhem division handled the port. It added a save feature, adjusted the controls and aim assist for the controller, and streamlined the interfaces, but dropped the multiplayer mode and lowered the image resolution.
Critics praised the humour and the blend of genres, and the PlayStation 2 version for finally including a save feature. They criticised the unchanged AI and level design, the plainer look compared with the computer versions, and the lack of replay value. The game sold poorly at first, with about 11,000 copies in the US in the six months after the PlayStation 2 launch, but it has since built a cult following.
Screenshots
Game details
- Genres
- Third-person shooter, Real-time strategy
- Developer
- Planet Moon Studios
- Publisher
- Interplay Entertainment
- Composers
- Jeremy Soule, Julian Soule, Mark Morgan
- Designers
- Nick Bruty, Bob Stevenson, Tim Williams
- Writers
- Tim Williams
- Producers
- Jim Molitor, Shawn Jacoby
- Directors
- Tim Williams
- Modes
- Single player
- Yes
- Local multiplayer
- No
- Online multiplayer
- No
Release dates
| Platform | Region | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 2 | North America | 2001-12-21 |
| PlayStation 2 | Europe | 2002-03-15 |
Editions
Playable today
Playable offline todayYes
Single-player only, with no online features.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Playable offline today: campaign | Yes |
| Playable offline today: local multiplayer | Does not exist |
Online
Plays offlineYes
Reception
- Aggregates
Outlet Platform Score Scale Reviews Metacritic PlayStation 2 79 100 15 - Critics
Outlet Score Scale IGN 8 10 GameSpot 8.3 10 Next Generation 4 5
Staff and cast
- Staff
Role Name Director Tim Williams Writer Tim Williams Designer Nick Bruty Designer Bob Stevenson Producer Jim Molitor Producer Shawn Jacoby Composer Jeremy Soule Composer Mark Morgan
Notes for collectors
- The PlayStation 2 version has no multiplayer. The Windows and Mac versions let up to five Meccaryns, three Sea Reapers and one Kabuto play together.
- This version added an in-game save, which the computer versions lacked.
- On Windows, the developer changed red blood to green and covered a topless character to try for a Teen rating, and was still rated Mature. A later patch reversed the blood colour.
- An Xbox port was announced but never released.
Credits
- Publisher
- Interplay Entertainment
- Developer
- Planet Moon Studios
- Director
- Tim Williams
- Released
- 2001-12-21
- Region
- US
- Time to beat
- about 10.5 hours
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