Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to stay home, parents everywhere are constantly looking for ways to keep their kids entertained, which is considerably harder when their children are younger in age. Thankfully, Gigantosaurus The Game is here to help parents everywhere with its easy-to-pick-up puzzles and gameplay, delightful characters, and enjoyable story, which any young gamer will enjoy.
Gigantosaurus The Game is based on the Disney Junior’s television series of the same name. While developer Wild Sphere may not necessarily be a household name, from my own experience with watching the show, the studio seems to have done a great job translating the television series into a video game. Additionally, publisher Outright Games certainly knows a thing or two about putting out games targeted towards a younger demographic, given its catalog of published games, which include Paw Patrol: On A Roll, Uglydolls, Ben 10, and - of course - Race With Ryan.
Gigantosaurus The Game tells the story of the show’s main characters - Rocky, Tiny, Mazu, Bill, and other familiar faces from the show - who are tasked with solving puzzles and helping Giganto with the meteor that has blocked up his volcano.
Perfect Platforming For Younger Players
The overall game is linear in that players need to complete certain objectives in order to move the story along. This includes tasks such as finding lost eggs and returning them to their nests, which viewers of the show will recognize from one of its episodes. This is achieved by wandering around the surprisingly large open-world levels that are full of sights to see and fun things to do.
Besides collecting eggs, players can search high and low for seeds, which are the dino-equivalent version of coins and gems that are found in other platformers. And when I say, “search high,” I mean it. The open-world levels span the rivers and valleys of the prehistoric land, as well as the mountainous cliff sides that jettison towards the sky. It’s in these elevated sections of the level where the platforming mechanics of Gigantosaurus The Game really shine. Sure, the ground floor areas have platforming mechanics such as jumping from log to log to cross a river (that you can still fall into without penalty), but the cliff sides are where platforming actions are most fun, such as jumping, bouncing on springs, and riding moving platforms.
The best part? Once at the top of the mountain, players can float down using umbrella-like fauna, or - the preferred method - riding down the slide that twists and turns like a roller coaster to the ground floor.
Race Ya!
Another highlight in Gigantosaurus The Game is the way in which players move between the different levels. Players hop in rally kart-style vehicles and race each other as they make their way to each new area. The racing is both enjoyable and easy enough for younger players to pick up quickly. Whizzing past the scenery while avoiding obstacles - with Giganto and other characters from the show running around nearby - is visually pleasing, and the length of each race is surprisingly long. Once each race is played in the regular story mode, a race mode opens up allowing players to race against each other or the CPU.
Finally, probably the biggest selling point of Gigantosaurus The Game is that up to four players can play at once in local couch co-op. Single player is fun enough thanks to the ability to switch between characters, but the real fun is to be had while playing with other people. In this regard, Gigantosaurus The Game can definitely appeal to families with more than one kid - though, for your sake, hopefully your children will have different favorite Gigantosaurus characters so as to avoid any bickering or tantrum-throwing.
A Roarin' Good Time
Gigantosaurus The Game doesn’t bring anything new to the table in terms of its overall gameplay, but it doesn’t need to. With its open-world levels, easy platforming mechanics, and fun kart racing mode, Gigantosaurus The Game successfully adapts the world of Disney Junior’s Gigantosaurus into video game form with plenty of content and fun to be had by younger players, as well as their parents.
A Switch copy of Gigantosaurus The Game was provided to TheGamer for this review. Gigantosaurus The Game is available now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Gigantosaurus The Game