Gigantic Army

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Ghegs
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Ghegs »

I just bought it to see if it could rekindle the love I had for the game back then.

It's a fairly good port overall, everything seems to be in place down to individual power-up placements. The only thing really different with it are the changes to the graphics and UI. After I did a run in the Switch version, I went and watched through the ~8 year old footage of my Insane difficulty run to compare. I didn't even realize before that the action is slightly more zoomed in on the Switch version. I do think I prefer the more "bleak" graphics of the original, though. They fit the tone of the game better. Also, new UI looks dull in my opinion, and I don't like how you can't accurately see your HP/shield/vernier's maximum level. But I understand they wanted to have the game be fullscreen and not have the bottom 15% of screen real estate be covered by the gauges.

There seemed to be some very minor oddness to the controls that I'm unable to elaborate on, and it's well possible it's the same in the PC version. It has been quite a few years, after all.

One real issue I did find is the audio. When you're fighting against many enemies, or a single larger one, the audio starts to break when there's many bullets and lasers and missiles shot all at once. Hopefully that can be patched out as it's pretty horrible, especially on the final boss. And add to options the possibility to change button configuration while at it, that's currently missing as well.

Overall, a good port to get if you can't get the PC version, but the original is still slightly better in my opinion.
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kitten
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by kitten »

oh, wow, i've wanted to play this for a couple of years at this point and have desperately wanted it to get a console part. fingers crossed it'll get a limited physical release. i hate buying digitally, but if there's no news for months i might grab this, anyway. or, heck, might get it digital sometime soon just to throw in some extra support.

lost my damn psp 2,000 and haven't been able to try the version of gunhound ex i want to scratch the itch of a new-to-me game in this genre, too. had such a rip-roaringly good time with the leynos remake and have the best runs of the game on youtube, really want to play some more stuff like it.
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it290
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by it290 »

BrianC wrote:Switch version is out. Any impressions?
I've been playing the Switch version (was unfamiliar with the game before). It's a lot of fun, and definitely controls better than Leynos on the PS4. The attacks, explosions etc. are all more visceral and feel more fun to execute, but as a game I think it's let down a little bit by the lessened variety in the missions and quite a bit by the inability to extend or modify your loadout after each mission (I haven't played through the whole thing, so maybe this happens latter, but it seems like an obvious miss). Overall probably the best execution of the formula outside of Valken for me though. Good bosses too.
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Ghegs
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Ghegs »

it290 wrote:the inability to extend or modify your loadout after each mission (I haven't played through the whole thing, so maybe this happens latter, but it seems like an obvious miss).
It doesn't. The loadout you start the game with will stick with you all the way through. Not entirely unprecedented, Wolf Fang works the same way, doesn't it?

Still no audio patch :(
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Shine_me_up
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Shine_me_up »

If you could upload a link that's working, it would be great
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Sumez
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Sumez »

Finally got my Switch copy from PlayAsia after an order had been held back for months due to the delay of the Zero/ZX Legacy Collection.
At first the game felt awkward as mech shooters tend to do to me, but it didn't take long for it to click well enough to feel more like straight up Contra with a hover ability for improved dodging maneuvers.

I still don't really understand the controls though, someone help me. This is probably an anomaly of the Switch version, but I'm sure there's an idea behind it. You can control the aim separately with the right stick, but I'm not sure it's really necessary. It seems that it's still strictly 8-way, so there's no reason for analog control. Aiming in one direction while moving in another would be very useful, but I can't see any situation where awkwardly forgoing the ability to use any face buttons makes it worth it. As it is, your aim direction seems to lock in place when you press and hold the shot button, which is probably good enough for most purposes?
How does the PC version work in this regard? Does it have any way to control the aim independently of your movement, and if so is it really useful?

The second issue is the shield, awkwardly placed on the rightmost face button (A). This means it's entirely at odds with jumping and/or shooting, and though it seems like it would be useful in a pinch, I'm not really able to employ it outside of strategically planned situations, which isn't really ideal. If the game had some way to remap the controls, I would love to have it on a shoulder button, and the same for shooting, honestly. I'm not really sure what kind of controller grip the game expects me to use here. Any ideas?
So far I've just been dodging shots, and avoided using the shield entirely.

(EDIT: maybe I'll try hooking up an arcade stick to see how that works. Did anyone play the game using one?)
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TransatlanticFoe
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by TransatlanticFoe »

The shield has a health meter and needs to be aimed too, so it can't be used as liberally as Valken - can only assume that's why it's so awkwardly placed on the A button, because as you say I've only used at planned moments.

I do wonder why they didn't just use the same button layout as Valken, I found the "hold to lock shooting angle" to be awkward.
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Ghegs
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Ghegs »

Sumez wrote:How does the PC version work in this regard? Does it have any way to control the aim independently of your movement, and if so is it really useful?
The PC version works the exact same way as far as controls and aiming are concerned. It works well enough, I've 1CCed the Switch version on Hard and made it to the last boss on Insane. The PC version I've 1CCed on Insane, but that's also because I played the original JPN release where the Beam Cannon was heavily overpowered, it was toned down for the western release.
The second issue is the shield, awkwardly placed on the rightmost face button (A)...Any ideas?
Dodging shots like you've been doing is a viable option. The PC version has button remapping, I don't know why that wasn't bought over to the Switch port. The only way I know to get around it is to use 8Bit Do's SN30 Pro+ controller, it comes with software that allows button remapping and creating (limited) macros. So it's very easy to switch A over to an unused shoulder button for Gigantic Army sessions. It's a good controller otherwise as well, very comfortable and suited for 2D games.
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Sumez
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Sumez »

I do have an 8bitdo controller, the one that look kind of like a SNES one. Does remapping work for that one? I've yet to even nake it work on my Switch yet, it's really confusing.

How do you manage the controls on Switch? Do you use the right stick at all? It's absurdly cramped.
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Ghegs
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Re: Gigantic Army

Post by Ghegs »

The controller software only works with this model, I think.

I don't use the right stick at all.
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