(Mini) Game Review: Gigapocalypse

Take the arcade classics Rampage and Cabal, throw in some kaiju and you’d have a game that plays a lot like developer Goody Gameworks and publisher Headup Games Gigapocalypse. A scrolling shooter where you direct a giant monster and destroy cities and all while killing plenty of people along the way.

“Gigapocalypse, a 2D pixel art destruction game, inspired by classical Kaijū movies such as “Godzilla” and “King Kong” and the game classic “Rampage”.

Gigapocalypse features a selection of different “Gigas” from the Prehistoric era, the uncharted outer space and the forgotten history. Each with unique skills, mutations and manifold skins that can be unlocked with level ups.”

With Gigapocalypse, you don’t directly control your chosen kaiju. Well, you kind of do and you kind of don’t. The monster auto-walks from left to right and doesn’t stop unless there’s a big building in the way. You can destroy those buildings by tapping the short-range/melee attack or shoot it with your monster’s long-range attack, which you aim via a cursor on the screen. Each attack uses up your rage meter and once it is empty, you can’t attack. destroying buildings or killing people tops up that rage meter though. It also auto-fills up every few seconds. Though just waiting for it to auto-fill up is a surefire way to take some serious damage from the many attacking enemies.

Each of the kaiju (and there is a decent selection to pick from) have their own strengths and weaknesses, their own unique weapons and attacks. Though they all pretty much play the same anyway. Destroy a city, take on the boss and move on to the next city. The gameplay here is simple and basic, you just have to destroy the various cities. Each of the locations takes place in a different timezone too. You’ll go from a modern setting, to the Wild West, to a Medieval one and more. In between razing a city to the ground, you can pet, feed and clean up the poo of your kaiju. Yup, it’s a kind of mini-Tamagotchi thing going on too. Taking care of your pet earns you mutation points, which can be used to buy various upgrades. You also earn mutation points for destroying buildings and killing little peeps.

There’s a multitude of things the unlock, skills, upgrades, skins, perks and even decorations for your kaiju’s home. You can even unlock and equip pets that offer various offensive and defensive bonuses. There is a Rogue-like quality to Gigapocalypse as in, you’re not going to be flying through the levels and will fail, earn mutation points and upgrade, try again, rinse and repeat. Each of the bosses throws a unique challenge and it’s not just about dealing as much damage as you can. For instance, the first boss you will face, in the midst of a fight, will give you some maths problems to solve. Nothing too taxing and he will (as an example) give you a ?+?=17 to answer and you just have to put the numbers in to make up the sum. Each of the bosses had its own thing that will break up the battle.

£8 is what Gigapocalypse will damage your pocket for. It can get a bit repetitive, it can feel rather redundant and the gameplay is hardly deep or complex… but it kind of works. You’ve got your destroying cities, just like in Rampage. The moving of a cursor around the screen and shooting little people is just like playing Cabal. A pretty decent upgrade and skill system. Multiple different kaiju to play as, some unique boss fights and poo cleaning. All for £8. I think it’s worth a purchase.