Giants is the story of three protagonists who for various reasons seek to defeat the evil empire of the Sea Reapers and protect the meek and peace-loving Smarties. The three protagonists are, in order of appearance, the Meccs, the Sea Reapers (Princess Delphi) and the monster Kabuto. The Meccs, apparently citizens of the United Kingdom, are on their way to the planet Majorca for some much needed relaxation when they crash on the Smarties’ island. Through a few misadventures, the Meccs take on the job of liberating the Smarties as their quest. Delphi, the rebellious Sea Reapers princess, wants to free the island of her mother's tyranny. Kabuto, a creation of the Sea Reaper scientists, just wants to destroy.

With these beginnings, Giants could have been a relatively tame story. Instead, the writers injected a strong dose of adult humor and situations that humanize the characters and keep the story moving briskly. The non-player characters alone have more depth and personality that the casts of most role-playing games.

Giants looks fabulous. The missions take place on huge islands beautifully rendered and teeming with enemies and wildlife. The models and textures for the three main characters are very detailed. An examination of the PC version’s screenshots shows a slight loss of graphic quality, but that's to be expected when comparing a $300 console to a $2,000 computer.

The sound effects were wonderful and appropriate for the characters and their equipment. The music was also appropriate to the island theme, but even on its highest setting was a little too quiet for my liking. The voice acting is the standout in this game. Being so used to the normal tepid performance of most video game voice talent, I was pleasantly surprised to find witty and interesting characters. The excellent writing helps the actors' performances, but unlike many games, the characters use inflection to express emotions like anger, fear, and revulsion. Well, all the characters except Kabuto, who sounds like a big monster. (Hey, she can't talk!)

As for the gameplay, Giants is really like three games that take place in the same general setting.

Each of the three main characters has a series of missions that comprise their portion of the story arc. With one exception (the final boss) the Meccs, Delphi and Kabuto complete their missions separately.

The Meccs begin the game and their levels are pure third-person shooters. Baz (Basil), the Meccs’ leader, obtains a selection of weapons and equipment with which to fight the Reapers.

Like many great games, the difficulty slowly ramps up and the missions build on each other. For example, one of the first and most important pieces of equipment that Baz obtains is his jetpack, which allows him to fly for a short period of time. The very next mission after receiving this jetpack teaches the player how to use the jetpack effectively. This makes later levels much more approachable.

While most of Baz's levels are strictly shooters, one level has Baz and the Meccs creating and defending a base from a Sea Reaper onslaught. These levels are incredibly frantic and require you to command the other Meccs on your squad to protect the base while you gather material and food. The Meccs levels are some of the best in the game. The comedy level is extremely high and the gameplay is fun and challenging.

Delphi's levels are much different, but no less fun. Delphi, unlike the Meccs, uses swords and sorcery in her civil war against her mother and her people. Delphi's weapons and spells are well thought out, balanced and fun. Delphi even has a version of the Meccs jetpack. In Delphi's case it is called Turbo and is an ability that allows Delphi to jump long distances is a short span of time. Delphi, like the Meccs also has levels where she must build and defends a base.

In a major departure from the other playable characters, water does not harm Delphi and instead heals her of damage. This requires a shift in thinking for the player as the strategies needed to survive can be much different for Delphi than for the Meccs.

Just when you think Delphi's levels are nothing more than a swords and sorcery rehash of the Meccs levels, the game throws you into a "mini-game" where Delphi enters the Sea Reapers Jet Ski circuit. The "mini-game" consists of four progressively harder races across the waters of the Sea Reapers kingdom. These are remarkable impressive levels and this "mini-game" could stand on it own with the addition of a few additional courses.

Delphi's levels are a joy, especially the Jet Ski levels, and the dramatic penultimate boss fight occurs here. Delphi's levels are the best of Giants.

Finally, Kabuto's levels satisfy our urge for wanton violence. Kabuto is 10 times larger than the Sea Reapers and can destroy buildings in a few hits. Additionally, Kabuto has an adrenaline meter that takes the place of Baz's jetpack meter and Delphi's mana meter. With the use of adrenaline energy, Kabuto can unleash wrestling style super moves that can destroy huge buildings in one hit and cause earthquakes to the surrounding area. Kabuto even has weapons, sort of. Kabuto can hurl volcanic rocks at buildings to destroy them quickly, use a piece of crystal to incinerate enemies like a magnifying glass, or even throw enemies at each other.

Like Baz, deep water is deadly to Kabuto, but little else is. Kabuto can take an enormous amount of damage and can heal immediately by eating enemies instead of killing them another way. Also like Baz, Kabuto has troops to aid her. Kabuto's troops are baby Kabuto created when Kabuto eats Smarties turned to evil by the Sea Reapers. The baby Kabuto get stronger by eating enemies, and offers a little help to mama. While Kabuto's levels are fun, they are not up to the same standard as Baz's and Delphi's. Luckily that owes more to the high production values of Baz' and Delphi's levels, than to any failing of the Kabuto levels.

On its default difficulty setting, Giants is extremely challenging and more difficult levels may require multiple attempts. Thankfully, the game retains the PC version's ability to save anywhere, even in the middle of a boss fight. This means those who follow the adage of save early and often will not find the game too frustrating. Even if you don't save often, Giants is frustrating only because the player always knows that everything the games asks of you is possible. Some games have cheap deaths, but not Giants. The game may take skill, but it is eminently fair.

Giants has a ton of replay value. With quite a few missions it takes a while to finish the first time through. After you have beaten the game you can play any mission you have completed, and that coupled with the ability to save anywhere means that the player can replay only the levels that most appeal to you. Additionally, the game retains the PC version's cheat codes that allow various cheats such as invincibility and infinite jet-pack energy. While I can't recommend using the codes the first time around, their addition makes a return trip to the Smarties' islands enjoyable and more likely for the average player.

Giants is a fantastic game, a port of a PC game that really seems to have found its place on the PS2. Don't miss this gem.