At a recent Ubisoft event I had a chance to get my hands on Battle of Giants - Dragons, the sequel to Battle of Giants - Dinosarus. I never played the original, but heard mostly good things about Ubisoft's prehistoric fighter, and anticipated being able to jump into the arena with more draconic characters. Dinosaurs are good and all, but being able to battle gigantic dragons seems like it could offer much more in terms of customization and gameplay.

After messing around the game for a few minutes I was told that the target audience was "young boys." Well, if anyone needed further proof that I was, indeed, immature, look no further than my anticipation for Battle of Giants. Everything about the game gets me excited. The character customization, the combat, and the story all tap into the twelve year-old in my head. I'm under absolutely no disillusions that the game is going to be one of the best titles of the year, but it looks like it will be good fun regardless.

           

During the demo I didn't really have much time to mess around with anything besides the combat, which is a mixture of real-time combat and turn-based gameplay. When a battle begins, it has two dragons fighting in an arena of sorts, with each dragon standing on a platform. The ground is split up into several spots, each providing a different attack that the opponent can dodge by flicking the stylus at the correct time. Attacking from the front most spot launches a fireball (or whatever breath weapon the dragon happens to have prepared), and the sides offer wing and claw attacks. It was described, accurately so, to be a bit like fencing, with each combatant waiting for an opening to strike. Once hit, the attacker needs to trace a shape while the defender erases it, allowing for some of the damage to be prevented.

Local multiplayer will be offered, allowing for duels between players with just a single cart, and there's a full singleplayer campaign to enjoy. Nothing about the game seems all too deep, but it's really not about providing an immersive experience. It's a kids game, where children can color their dragons and make them fight each other. I happen to be a child, and many of you likely are, as well. Hopefully it ends up being just a bit more than that, but either way it'll likely be worth checking out when it releases later this year. I mean, it's a dragon fighting game, it can't really be bad.