Tuesday 15 Sep 2009

Ever since the dawn of time men (and women) of all ages have enjoyed blowing things up, add tanks to the mix and the excitement factor immediately skyrockets. And so the name Battle Tanks is guaranteed to immediately catch the eye of a vast majority of gamers out there, because, let’s face it, what could possibly be more fun than blowing stuff up in a tank!

This infatuation starts at an early age with little green army men invading every nook and cranny of a young child’s room, and eventually creeps into adulthood, resulting in a model Gears of War tank perching on my bookshelf and my mom eyeing it suspiciously, no doubt thinking to herself ‘when will she grow up.’

Right from the start Battle Tanks aims to please (please excuse the pun) with its army-like selection of music, menus and gameplay successfully carrying the theme of well, Battle Tanks right through to every aspect of the game. The tanks are well-crafted, with each tank being a different colour and players getting the choice to customize them as the game progresses. And given the choice to customize your red tank in say woodland or funky camo, why wouldn’t you do so, because again it just adds to the coolness factor of your tank.

If you are too cool to want to customize your tank in camo, then perhaps Battle Tanks is not the right game for you in the first place and you should move on, because maybe you have finally moved into the big scary grown up world where paying your bills and filing a tax return is more important than say saving the world from an invasion of aliens or stepping behind the wheel of a tank for an hour or two.

I remember many hours spent playing the tanks mini-game in Wii Play with my friends, most until the wee hours of the morning trying to beat just one more level. The day that we first progressed far enough to discover the invisible tanks was a great one, as was the hour when we eventually managed to beat the game with two players (and a collective sigh escaped the lips of the respective girlfriends and wives who had been endearing the game from the sidelines for many months) and the single player campaign continues to challenge us to this very day.

Although the control system of Battle Tanks is pretty simple, it will take a little while to perfect your aiming and become a talented tank commander. With that being said, I didn’t mind taking the time to hone my skills, even if it meant repeating levels because as I mentioned earlier playing tanks is fun! You use the left analogue stick to control the direction of your tank and the right analogue stick to control the direction of your fire. You can either press X to fire or simply hold the right analogue stick for a fraction longer and it will fire in whatever direction the tank’s turret is currently pointing. Pressing circle will deposit a mine, but be careful not to back into one at a later stage which will result in an untimely death.

However, all is not lost should you die while playing a two player (or even a four) player game. If one player dies they become a turret and so can still assist their partner in taking out the various tanks and turrets that stand in their way of victory. Although you are pretty much a sitting duck while you are a turret, for instance an enemy tank with a flamethrower can come right up to you and burn you to a crisp, your ability to guide each rocket that is fired becomes pretty lethal. Once you have polished your rocket guidance skills that is, because it can be quite tricky to steer the rocket around walls and sometimes you may happen to blow up your partner’s tank, purely by accident of course.

Although the turret only fires at timed intervals and mastering its abilities will take you a little while, this gameplay mechanism ensures that you will never be bored sitting on the sidelines watching your partner enjoy all the action. This means that if one player is not as skilled as the other, both players can still enjoy the game, even if the one’s tank has already perished in the battle.

As you progress in the game and move on to new levels, you will face new obstacles and be introduced to new power-ups. This also means that the gameplay and levels never become boring because you are always facing new challenges. While the beginning levels may be straight forward, before long you will be navigating through pistons, sliding doors and even conveyor belts. You will also have to plot a course through mud that will slow you down, ice that may cause you to slide and have less maneuverability, rows of mines and let’s not forget the destructible walls and moats!

To help you in your quest, you will be able to collect various power-ups along the way. At first you might pick up the speed up item that allows you to zoot across the level faster for a fixed period of time or add a bit of fire power with the rocket launcher. But, before long, you will be on the lookout for the flamethrower power-up or the handy one that increases your rate of fire. The homing item is also very helpful when you are bunkered in while a number of enemy tanks are taking pot shots at you. And then comes the pièce de résistance, the invisibility cloak. Of course when you finally get the ability to become invisible, your enemies have that ability too, except theirs is permanent while yours is for a set period of time.

However, there are limitations to your enemy’s invisibility - you can spot an invisible tank because it’s kind of greyed out and it still leaves the telltale tank tracks so you can pinpoint its location. You will still no doubt find it rewarding to sneak up on an enemy tank and unleash your fire without him knowing you are there, but watch out for the turrets because your invisibility doesn’t seem to confuse them.

Each power-up has a different colour and you will soon learn what each colour represents. It’s also easy to spot what power-up you, your partner or your enemies are using, because each power-up affects the tank uniquely. For example, the speed up power-up causes speed flames to pour out of the rear end of the tank, while the homing power-up is signaled by a small homing sign on top of the tank.

Each map is laid out differently and presents different obstacles, so you will have to adjust your style of play to conquer each level within the time limit set. Sometimes going in guns blazing will work a charm, other times you will have to adopt a more strategic approach of ricocheting bullets off walls to target your enemies. And then just when you think you know it all, you are presented with something new…portals! It’s here that I really have to take my hat off to Gameloft for innovative gameplay that really works and adds a little something special to set Battle Tanks apart from other tank games that have come before it. You can drive your tank into a blue portal and emerge on the other side of the map from a second blue portal – handy for sneaking up on enemy tanks, but watch your back because they can obviously do the same to you! You can also shoot bullets or rockets through the portals in the same manner, an impressive trick that leaves you feeling like a clever strategist at the end of the level.

Battle Tanks offers a well conceived and implemented playing field to pit your skills against insurmountable odds in the single or co-op play. It goes beyond the call of duty to deliver an engaging four player battle experience in local or online mode. It has tanks. I rest my case. It is available on the PlayStation Network for $9.99.

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Contributor:	Lisa

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