Tank Universal review (PC)

Let’s get one thing straight from the very beginning. Tank Universal (TU) is probably the best value for money you will find on Steam, or indeed any other of the digital download networks. At $9.99 you will feel like a crook, a cad, and a downright dirty rotter for spending such a paltry amount on what will be the jewel in your bargain of the year crown.

At 473Mb it’s a game you could be playing mere minutes from the time of purchase if you have a fairly decent broadband connection and you will be back playing it again and again. That’s not to say that it’s a very long game. It certainly isn’t, but the battles are so much fun you just have to come back one more time.

So what is it all about?

Well, TU is an indie game developed by Dialogue Design, based in New Zealand, and is their first title. It begins with an older gentleman named George who has had some bad news from the doctor and is sent home with two bottles of pills and a Virtual Reality headset. (Obviously the doctors do it a little differently down there.)

If that isn’t odd enough for you, you soon find yourself controlling a character named Unit8 around what can only be described as the world created by someone with a fetish for the world of Tron. (For the young’uns out there, look it up. It was a visually stunning movie from the eighties about the world inside a computer. It was also cheesier than a fondue set from the same era.) You begin with no weapons and are told to explore the world in which you find yourself on foot. It’s all black and day glow neon lightscapes in what is a dreary, depressing world where all the populace are downtrodden by a power hungry, military dictatorship.

Tactics

Before long you are given a tank and let loose in what is supposedly a training exercise for joining the ranks of your betters. It is here that you are pulled in by the resistance fighters of this world and given basic training on how the battles work. This is where the game gets particularly interesting.

The battles are the main focus of the game and are relatively simple affairs in principle that work so well you will beam with pride when a foray further into the battlefield works perfectly and pushes the enemy back and on the flipside, curse vehemently as it doesn’t and the enemy push you back instead. If you get your tactics right early on in a battle you will find life so much easier but if you don’t you are in for an almost impossible battle, especially in the later levels.

Challenger

At the beginning of each battle you must collect an odd little floating object called a glyph and return it to your base, which then boots up and gives you reinforcements to surge into battle with. You need to touch any remaining glyphs in order to change them to your colour so that your harvesters can collect them and to give you resources in the coming battle.

As is the norm, the enemy starts every battle with better defences and resources, therefore you must use your technical knowhow to whittle away at their defences until you can get in and steal their glyph from the centre of their base before running back to yours to in order to wipe them from the area as you would do a virus. Of course they have the same goal in mind. Yes, it does seem a little like ‘Capture the Flag’ with tanks but the battles are much more strategic than you would expect, although not so much that a relative simpleton in the world of military tactics (such as myself) can’t give it a shot and win.

As you progress through the game you are given little run and gun challenges that break up the pace of the game and even some on foot missions that add a rather odd feel to the game and show you exactly what a completely alien world you are in.

Frantic

As you progress through the game you are given more tasks during a battle to stretch you to the limit. Little platforms must be driven on to take them over for your team and eventually hold a defensive tower. They have to be taken over in a certain order though, starting at your base and working outwards, following handy little arrows that point the way to the next platform. Unfortunately the enemy is doing the same and it’s a tit-for-tat game of cat and mouse that can take quite some time before one side gains the upper hand.

Then add to the mix gun emplacements, different types of tanks that fire shells, rockets or just explode in a devastating blast that kills instantly anything dumb enough to stay near when it starts to beep. Or giants capable of knocking down the walls of your base whilst standing up to any barrage you throw at them.

It can all get rather frenetic mid battle and that’s without using your power-ups like mines, smoke, sappers for breaking down walls, shield regeneration and speed boosts to name but a few. These are all powered by shards which are picked up from the wreckage of destroyed enemy tanks and believe me when I say that you will need every one you can get your hands on.

Tech

Graphically TU is a mixed-Darwinia like-bag, but that’s hardly surprising given that most of the game was designed and written by one man. It suffers from the dreaded invisible wall syndrome and the backgrounds are so similar in places that you can miss entrances or exits. Other levels are a joy to behold, with some stunning design choices making you feel so insignificant next to the colossal scale of your surroundings and so out of place next to the rare occasions you see any of the bizarre flora and fauna.

The sound is pretty much the standard affair with retro style beeps and shell sounds whizzing past you followed by meaty explosions. The music fits the style of play and location very well and does its best to get the heart pumping.

The game play is where it’s at with TU and while it can be slow paced when on foot, the battles are an absolute blast. There are some errors in game, like the tanks that spin in a dizzying circle for no reason, but it’s a little niggle in what is a great value for money package of retro fun.