Since we are back to gaming, tonight I picked something random from the Steam 'to play' list. Something that looked cheap and terrible. A game I thought would be as terrible and unfinished as others I've picked up from this same group of games.

All Reviews: Mostly Positive.

Huh... Yeah, this one is actually rather fun.

Plot? Just shoot the bad things and move on to the next level. This is just arcade action. The game's blurb nods towards the NES like a fool instead of team Sega, but this would feel at home on the consoles of the 80s and early 90s.

Your tank moves with quite a bit of agility. The turning controls making it feel like it sits on a grid, though you can sit it anywhere in the map. This makes it useful that everything is basically aligned on a grid and you can sit in hidey spaces and 4-way dpad yourself through the levels.

There's an example of this in the first few screens, as you take out a heavy tank you are forced to act quick or retreat back south, slotting into a gap with ease.

And I want to point this out as you don't need precision. No perfect alignment is required. If you are close to this, the game is forgiving (or smart (or stupid)) enough to let you do what you are intending to do. Something that many other games need to take note of.

As this game progresses you'll eventually come across a few puzzle elements. Slot youself into a control node and you'll take over a spider drone. Crawl under lasers and find things to blow up. Like enemy tanks, or the laser control station.

I enjoyed these parts. It's a slower break from an action scene you've just played and there's a low challenge to them. But they're fun. crawl crawl crawl BANG!

You've two main weapons. A shell cannon, and machine gun. Rather than the secondary action being a gun, it warps your weapon to the other option.

This caught me out at first, as I was expecting to shell and shoot at the same time, or at least have it change automatically. It didn't take long to adjust and does have some gameplay elements.

Basically, don't waste the shells.

If there's any criticism for this title, it is the limited ammo. Sure, you can pick more up as you play from ammo crates, but it always feels like you are running low. You will make it pass the boss without too much issue, unless you decide to shell everything.

Instead? Do one of two things. Swap over to the gun and shoot the small things. Shoot them a lot as the gun does low damage and there's nothing squishy to mow down. Alternatively? Ignore it. Scoot around corners and hidey spaces, avoiding the weapons and letting heat seekers smash into walls. The only aim is the boss and getting to it with as much health and ammo as you can.

The Boss Battles themselves become a little bit of an avoidance game. While it's not Bullet Hell, the amount of stuff you'll have to avoid does certainly increase. I died only because someone wanted to talk to me about something inane and I had to keep pausing. If you can keep your concentration, you'll be fine.

Bosses also have decent variety. From a wall!, to super heavy tanks, and a skeleton snake monster in the first few levels. They all have different weak spots, mostly obvious ones, to seek out and find the best way to shoot at and not be killed yourself.

While the music has a rocking tune, after closing down the game I have to say I can't remember any of it. I had to open the game to remind me as I'm typing this. So consider it inoffensive and harmless. It's punchy enough as you play though it, but not annoying enough to want to mute it.

Graphically it is quite cartoony and vibrant. Even in the dingy underground areas. Everything is quite clear on if it is a friend of threat. SFX beeps and alerts respond when things pop up and warns you if you are about to do something stupid.

Prior to playing it I thought the appearance made it look a little cheap. It's much better in motion. I guess this is a situation of judging a book game by it's cover screenshots.

And there is a lot of variety here. While I have only played the first few levels, they change up enough as you progress. Tile assets may be reused, and that's totally acceptable, but environs are different throughout.

This is a fun little tank arcade shooter game. Nothing magical. Nothing Special. And if it was actually released on a console when I was a kid, I'd probably end up playing it a lot.

It's $4 on Steam right now, give it a go if you like this genre.

Game Acquisition: Bundle Stars (Impact 1)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 - 24 September 2018
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009 MK2

OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista
Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz
Memory: 1024 MB RAM
Graphics: 512 MB or higher
DirectX: Version 9.0
Storage: 400 MB available space