Tank Troopers

If there's one thing Nintendo has always done well, it's accessible, fun-to-play games. While some players will be turned off by the total lack of online multiplayer, the game's 30 carefully designed and fine-tuned missions are akin to games like the old Pilotwings series: titles specifically sculpted around a core mechanic or series of strategies and nothing else. The game's campaign can be completed in nearly five hours. While that might imply there isn't much here, that isn't quite accurate. There's a pure and real joy that comes from the game's cute graphics and overall strangely happy approach to warfare aesthetics (such as the catchphrases each pilot says when you tap them into play), each given more depth thanks to the game's other focus in its limited runtime: variety. Although there's no story to speak of here, it's doubtful one could be coherent that weaves races, score challenges, shooting balls through obstacle courses to score goals, and nudging a giant spiked ball through posts.

Although 30 missions does sound like a lot, the first half of the game is a relative breeze, which is a mixed blessing. There's a great emphasis on getting you competent in mastering each character's special skills and moving the tank around, both of which you'll need for the latter half, which is much more challenging. That's also when the limits become annoying, though those are there to prevent you from camping out and sniping and hiding. (On the later levels especially, expect the time limit to be just as likely to do in you as to do in the enemies.) Tank Troopers doesn't set out to do anything new, but it does set out to tweak and finesse a familiar formula with accessible fun.