GIGANTIC ARMY

GIGANTIC ARMY is a side-scrolling mech action game developed by ASTRO PORT, a small Japanese studio with a deep catalog of retro-inspired shooters that rarely get the attention they deserve. The premise is stripped bare by design: it is the 21st century, Earth is at war with an alien race called the Ramulons, and you pilot a GMR-34 Saladin combat mech through six stages of relentless mechanical carnage. That's essentially the whole story, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. If you came for branching lore and cutscenes, you are in the wrong hangar. What ASTRO PORT clearly cared about is the feel of the mech itself. The Saladin moves with satisfying weight, and the loadout system gives you genuine decisions to make before each mission. You pick two shoulder weapons from a short but varied menu, including homing missiles, spread bombs, a napalm launcher, and a laser, then pair them with a close-range melee option for when enemies close the gap. None of the weapons feel like filler. Each stage subtly rewards different configurations, and figuring that out through replays is where most of the replayability lives. There is also a boost mechanic that doubles as a dash and a coolant system, meaning you can't just spam your specials without managing heat. It's a small layer of resource management that adds texture without slowing the pace. The difficulty is old-school honest. On default settings, GIGANTIC ARMY will punish sloppy play, and the boss encounters demand pattern reading rather than button mashing. There are multiple difficulty levels, which is appreciated, but even on easier settings the game has teeth. The six-stage runtime is short by modern standards, and a skilled player can clear it in under two hours. I'd argue that's appropriate rather than a flaw. ASTRO PORT understood the assignment: make something tight, make it replayable, and don't pad it. The pixel art is clean and detailed, with chunky sprite work that genuinely evokes late Super Famicom-era aesthetics without feeling like a cheap imitation. The soundtrack leans into urgent, percussive synth compositions that keep the adrenaline up without becoming background noise. Where GIGANTIC ARMY shows its age and budget is in its lack of variety between stages. The environmental backdrops shift, but the core loop doesn't evolve much across the six levels. There are no surprises in the structure, no mid-stage twist, no secondary objective. For some, that purity is exactly the appeal. For others, it will read as flatness. The Steam review spread, sitting at a modest 75 percent positive, reflects this split honestly. People who wanted a deeper or longer game found it thin. People who wanted a quarter-munching arcade throwback found it satisfying. As someone who genuinely roots for small studios making genre-specific passion projects, I find GIGANTIC ARMY hard not to respect. It is not a game trying to be everything. It is a game trying to be one specific thing extremely well, and it largely succeeds. If you grew up with Cybernator, Metal Warriors, or Front Mission: Gun Hazard, there is real craft here worth experiencing. Just go in knowing the credits will roll before dinner gets cold.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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