I might look like a manly man, as I’ve said before, but I’m really a big softy pretending to be a manly man. My favourite games? Children’s games! No, I’m not joking. I honestly love brightly coloured, simple games with simple objectives and loveable characters. What that says about me, I’ll let you decide.
It was a no-brainer, then, when the opportunity to go hands-on with Gigantosaurus: The Game came along that I would take the preview duties. I’m a big kid, after all, and I’ve also got some experience with the source material. If you’re not familiar with Gigantosaurus, it’s on the Disney channel and you can watch it whenever the hell you like. Me? I prefer to watch it after dark with a whiskey, phone off the hook (or airplane mode) with the blinds drawn. Again, what that says about me, I’ll let you decide.
I’m one of the few people who genuinely adored the first Yooka-Laylee on PS4. The big open play areas with a few enemies scattered around and a whole lot of crap to collect just spoke to me. Gigantosaurus: The Game is in a similar vein, though the target audience isn’t men in their 30s craving a game experience from their youth, but instead little tykes who’ve become obsessed with the antics of the cartoon dinosaurs on the Disney channel. And me. And to that end, it’s perfectly suited to the smaller players among us. The controls are simple, the characters move around nicely, and even the enemies that can hurt you are no more than colourful distractions to break up the running around.
The playable build I was presented with gave me access to one level and a race. Gigantosaurus is a mix of open-world exploration and Mario Kart races, though it doesn’t live up to the standards set by the latter, it’s still really good, clean, simple fun that kids won’t have any problem with.
Exploring the play area I was given was really nice and chilled out. The game holds your hand, as you would expect, and guides you to your goals. My first task was to retrieve an egg that some naughty raptors were trying to steal. I had to run around and jump my way to the top of a mountain, solving some very, very basic puzzles along the way, such as knocking over a log with the correct character to cross a gap or activating a lift using the correct character. The narrator with his rhyming narration was spot-on, too. It’s all family-friendly and I can definitely see myself sitting around with the boy to collect as collectables as possible and to see where the story goes. What? I like Gigantosaurus, and I’m not ashamed to say it. You’re the one who isn’t cool, my dude.
The playable build I’ve had this week has sold me on the game. If the rest of the game is more of the same, I’ll be a happy chappy, and parents looking to keep their kids busy with a game they can play together will likely find themselves enjoying it more than they should. No shame in that, parents. It’s when you’re sat up at three in the morning hunting down collectables that you have a real problem.
Gigantosaurus: The Game will release worldwide on March 27th for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
This preview was carried out on PC using a build provided by the publisher. Should we review the full game, it will be using the PS4 version of the game.
