Shoulders of Giants Review
There are some things you grow out of when you get older, but thinking that massive robots are cool isn’t one of them. Whether you like Gundam, Titanfall, or Pacific Rim, we can all agree that a big ole mech suit is pretty much as cool as it gets. There just aren’t enough stompy clompy robots in games, so anytime something new comes along with a big mechanical monster I can control you can guarantee I want to give it a try. Shoulders of Giants goes one better than that, allowing you to control a robot and the frog riding on top it.
The world of Shoulders of Giants is in danger as the alien threat continues to take over the planets. Fortunately, there is a group of animal heroes who want to reclaim the universe from this purple menace, including our frog protagonist and his robot buddy. To get to the planets needed to stop this invasion once and for all, you will need to generate HEAT by reclaiming the closer planets one at a time. This resource is generated every time you free the world, but is lost if you fail, so don’t expect it to be easy to save the day.
Destroying aliens is not an easy task, and it will require all the efforts of both amphibians and mechs. The robot handles all melee combat using a range of melee weapons that you can shred and destroy. Holding down the aiming button switches you to the frog and allows you to do damage with a weapon. Switching between them is the only way to destroy the more powerful enemies in the game, especially considering your special abilities.
Our two heroes have three slots for abilities that can be used on different cooldowns. There is a huge variety in these skills, which drop out quite regularly when you destroy your enemies. The robot can equip all kinds of stunning abilities, temporary shields and shock waves, and the frog can drop healing turrets, shoot powerful lasers and deflect bullets and much more. Each ability you find serves its purpose and is incredibly useful in the right circumstances, but they’re even better when they work together. Combining techniques such as spray, which makes enemies weak to melee damage, with stunning techniques and sword combinations is so satisfying and incredibly effective.
You will also be able to experiment with all kinds of skills, because between each expedition to another planet you will lose your abilities and start from scratch. Each of these alien explosive adventures is a kind of Roguelike mini—race with random enemies, equipment, and environments to explore and work your way through.
When you arrive on the planet, you will be given the goal to destroy all the towers in the current area, which in turn unlocks the obelisk, which, when approaching, generates enemies or even a boss that needs to be dealt with. Complete this cycle enough times and you will win back the world you are on from the aliens and get the HEAT you need along with several rewards.
And, my God, these awards are worth grabbing. The most important thing is the new weapons you get for a dynamic duo. They completely change the game, with a selection of swords, hammers, grenade launchers and disc cannons that are just waiting to be found as a random drop or reward. I didn’t expect the weapon to feel so different, but the melee weapon is especially impressive with its completely different combos, jerks and aerial maneuvers.
Along with weapons, you will also receive new machine cores that will provide you with new starting abilities at the beginning of the race and some passive buffs. While you’re in the hub zone, you can also buy new skins, recycle things you don’t want to craft into gear, and most importantly, pump all that hard-earned experience into a huge skill tree.
The skill tree should help everyone who was almost scared by the word Roguelike, because pumping on other planets always makes you stronger. There are basic stats upgrades that boost things like your maximum health and damage, ways to restore extra health, and even brand new offensive techniques that can be unlocked to make it easier for you to save the galaxy. With each successful run, you will feel real progress, and before you realize it, you will feel like a completely different frog and bot than you were at the beginning of the game
There is much more depth in Shoulders of Giants than I have considered in this review. There are side quests that reward you with bonus experience and emotions for things like jumping enough times or dealing damage to stunned enemies, arenas and trials on enemy planets that give additional rewards, and even a four-player online cooperative. I played several game sessions with random characters during my time in the game, and everything worked well each time.
There’s a lot to like about Shoulders of Giants, but it wasn’t without its problems. The biggest one is the lack of a map. Some of the environments you get into are quite large, and finding all the towers can seem a bit overwhelming. Especially when the map has a lot of verticals, it can take a long time to explore it thoroughly, and I just don’t think it’s a necessary or fun part of the game. The cards are also repeated quite regularly, which means that the bad ones are too common.
Shoulders of Giants is an action—packed game with lots of clues to progress and variety that will keep you coming back again and again. The range of weapons and abilities on offer is really impressive, and the improvements you unlock always seem so tangible and useful. Sometimes exploring large areas can be a bit tedious, but that’s a small price to pay for this fun pastime.
