PAXPC

PAX 2014: 5v5 Gigantic Adds New Complexity to MOBAs

This year Motiga was proud to showcase their new game Gigantic at PAX Prime. Gigantic is a 5v5 third-person MOBA-style game that feels a lot more like traditional MMO-style PVP than the MOBAs we’ve come to know. What stood out to me most about Gigantic, aside from the different play style, was the art. Instead of going for more high detail and realism, Motiga chose to go with a cell-shaded cartoony look that is incredibly pleasing to look at. Motiga specifically chose to go with cell-shaded art to make the game more accessible to everyone they could. The environments are rich because of the art choice, not in spite of it, and the lag seemed minimal.

There is a large selection of characters to choose from depending on your play-style, and each one is just as exciting as the last. I played HK-206, an adorable robot that has the ability to plant himself in one spot and rain down bullets on his enemy, but the most visually appealing character for me was probably Uncle Sven. Uncle Sven is a support character that uses various potions and alchemy to help his fellow champions, and he just looks so jolly and crazy that it’s obvious the team had a blast designing all their characters. They have everything from silly to gorgeous, so it won’t be hard to find a character that resonates with you.

UncleSven_HeroShot
So goofy! So colorful! Yet, also an amazing badass!

The gameplay was not so much what you’d expect from an MOBA: it reminded me more of the ‘good ol’ days’ of PVPing in WoW. There were resources to capture that will give you buffs and bonuses, and most the game play focused on collecting them to power up your Titan – a god like creature that will aid you in combat. There are different phases of combat as well, so the game switches up on you halfway through combat. The first phase is all about killing the other team’s creatures and stealing nodes to power up your Titan, but the second phase is where it gets intense. Eventually the Titans take enough damage that they decide not to just sit in one place, but move to face each other head-on. The fun part about this is not only the close combat, but as the Titans move through the map they destroy pieces of the environment and open up areas that would have been closed off before. Pillars may form ramps that allow for better vantage points for sniper characters, and the tactics change drastically from the first phase. No matter which phase you’re in, combat is bound to keep you on your toes.

Combat is exciting and utilizes air strikes as well as head on.
Combat is exciting and utilizes air strikes as well as head on.

Right now, Gigantic is only in alpha and not open for testing yet; however, they are taking applicants for their alpha. If you’re interested in checking it out head on over to Gigantic’s website and sign up! It was certainly popular at PAX in the PC play area: I never saw the line empty. Motiga is certainly a studio to watch for 2015!

Gwynn Hamilton

Gwynn lives in Beaverton, Oregon under the keen scrutiny of 3 cats with no hope of escape. Her mother handed her a controller before she could read and she never once looked back.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button