Review: Gigantosaurus: The Game – PS4

I was practically gushing in my preview for Gigantosaurus: The Game earlier this year. I’d spent a lot of time watching the TV show (not by choice, mostly…) and the game looked like the perfect lazy Sunday endeavour for me and little Charlie.

We’ve since played the full release on PS4, and we’ve both got things to say about Gigantosaurus: The Game. In this review, you’ll only read my words, but in the video review up above, you’ll hear what an actual child has to say about the game. Charlie was three-years-old when he first played the game around a week ago, and he has since turned four. With new age comes new responsibility, and it’s time the little brat started chipping in around here. Rent isn’t free, after all.

If you’ve read any of my past reviews for family-friendly games, you’ll know damn well that I’m a sucker for primary colours and simple collectathons. Gigantosaurus: The Game fits in perfectly, then, and I couldn’t be happier to be the one taking on review duties.
Gigantosaurus: The Game is based on the TV series of the same name, minus the suffix. You play as the four dino friends, Tiny, Rocky, Mazu, and Bill, as they go on an adventure to save the dinosaur eggs. It’s very simple stuff and you must remember that this is a game aimed at kids. Young ones. The kind who still have problems when it comes to the bathroom area of the house. So bear in mind, things are kept simple for their benefit.
That said, I appreciated the simplicity. The game’s story is told via cutscenes with rhyming narration – something both Charlie and myself enjoyed – and the gameplay is easy enough that a toddler can master it, kind of. Not really. Perhaps when he’s five…

The game is broken up into several large areas and using the four dinosaurs, you’ll explore to collect eggs, as well as some side-stuff, which is basically more collecting and taking things to certain places. Easy peasy, not a problem.
The game’s controls are nice and simple. You move with the stick, you jump with the cross button, and you attack the few nasty enemies that there are with the square button. Combat isn’t really a thing, and it’s more to break up the flow when you’re running from one side of the map to the other. Charlie always got a kick out of it, though, so job done, I suppose.
Gigantosaurus: The Game has multiplayer for up to four players. Me and Charlie played as a twosome, and even though he’s still learning his way around a controller, he was a decent partner. He enjoyed just having a big digital playground to run around in, while I wanted to maintain focus and get the job done. Needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time playing Gigantosaurus: The Game by myself in the wee hours of the night as Charlie dreams about Thomas the Tank Engine and Blippi. I’m not ashamed to say it, either. I thoroughly enjoyed Gigantosaurus: The Game, and I’ll carry on playing it until I’ve finished the bloody thing.

While Charlie and I couldn’t always agree on what we should have been doing, and he wasn’t always able to understand that you need to switch to certain characters for certain tasks, one thing we did agree on is that I’m a rubbish racer. See, Gigantosaurus: The Game is part platformer, part racer. Well, 95% platformer, 5% racer. To get to the new areas, you need to race. There are no consequences for not winning, but it’s a nice way to break the game apart, and as the game’s developer, Outright Games, has prior history with racing games, it makes sense the studio would want to play to its strengths.
The racing isn’t particularly deep, nor is it very challenging, but it’s enjoyable all the same, and if the kid likes it, the developers have earned their bread. And that goes for the game as a whole, really. It’s not made for adults, it’s made for kids. Thankfully, it’s good enough that parents probably won’t mind sitting in front of the telly for an hour or two to play it with their kids, and that’s the bonus here.
I asked Charlie what number score he would give the game. He stuck up all of his fingers. So from an official member of the toddler community, Gigantosaurus: The Game gets a solid 10.

Gigantosaurus: The Game PS4 Review

• 8/10
  Overall - Fantastic - 8/10

8/10

Summary

Gigantosaurus: The Games is surprisingly good, considering it’s a licensed game made for kids. I’ve more than enjoyed playing it, and my boy has adored it too. It’s not reaching for the stars and it’s not trying to take on the heavyweights, but it’s a good start and I highly recommend it if you’ve got younger kids that want to play games with Mum and Dad on the telly. It’s simple, clean, honest fun, and there’s not much more you could want in a game for youngsters.