Giants: Citizen Kabuto Preview

Last week GameSpot was given the opportunity to take a look at Interplay's Giants: Citizen Kabuto at the developer's unassuming design studio in Sausalito, California. Giants, a third-person action game, has been in development for well over two years and has made numerous appearances at E3s past. After falling behind schedule a couple of times, the game now seems nearly feature complete and looks like it'll finally make the Q3 2000 release Interplay has imposed on the developer, Planet Moon Studios. Planet Moon was founded by six ex-Shiny designers who had previously worked on the wacky action game MDK. The team, now nine strong, is borrowing a lot of design influence from MDK, such as the original game's unique sense of humor and stylized artwork, and is implementing them into Giants.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto takes place on a fertile island, cleverly called "Island," that's hurtling through space. From a distance, Island shines like a blue-green gem, reflecting its fertile soil and deep oceans. Living in this lush ecosystem is a solitary giant, Kabuto, who's been wandering Island as far back as he can remember. Although Kabuto desperately has been searching for both companionship and clues of his origin, he now trusts no one and mindlessly attacks anything that crosses his path. The only hint of his past is a mysterious marking on his belly that reads "001."

In the outlying oceans of Island reside the Sea Reapers, a group of female warriors who were forced to flee their homes after constant attacks by Kabuto ravaged half their population. Kabuto, however, isn't aware that the Reapers created the giant to protect their populace. At first, Kabuto obeyed and carried out the wishes of the Sea Reapers. However, time gave the giant a conscience, and as Kabuto became aware of his own pain and loneliness, he lashed out at his creators, forcing them to flee into the oceans of Island.

Meanwhile, a group of humanoids called the Meccaryns (Meccs for short) are approaching Island in their crippled space ship. These five Meccs - Baz, Tel, Reg, Gordon, and Bennett - were originally heading to a popular vacation spot at Planet Majorca when their spacecraft was eaten by a giant gibbon fish while en route. After spending two months in the beast's digestive tract, the Mecc ship was "discharged" in an unfamiliar region of space. The Meccs were able to make out a nearby planet that was clearly capable of supporting life - Island. The five pilots quickly plotted a course and headed off.