Battle Tanks

PS3 review by Terence Gage, published on Thursday 24th September 2009

This generation has seen the revolutionary rise of downloadable games, through innovative titles like Braid and Flower, stellar action games such as Shadow Complex and Bionic Commando Rearmed or infinitely compulsive shooters that are Super Stardust HD and Geometry Wars. Against such strong competition Battle Tanks is an adequate if unimpressive diversion, albeit with a fairly hefty £8 price tag.

The basic premise is controlling a tank in a screen-sized arena to shoot all the other tanks/gun emplacements under a variety of conditions, such as navigating through immobilising mud or timing passage through crushing walls. Things are made more interesting with the inclusion of power-ups such as increased speed or an all-powerful flamethrower, and various parts of the environment can be destroyed either to clear a path or just for the bonus points.

When playing the campaign, there’s not a great deal to Battle Tanks. It’s simply a collection of arenas against increasing numbers of enemies with increasingly difficult conditions to make victory even more tricky. However, these being tanks, movement feels rather clunky and shooting is infrequent. It feels nowhere near as slick or pleasing as something like SSHD or even Heavy Weapon, to compare another tank-based shooter.

Take things online and it becomes a lot more interesting and exciting, although there’s no escaping uninteresting and restrictive level design and twitchy controls. Game modes comprise of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and capture the flag. Had there been some effort to spice up the multiplayer, with more varied game modes or unique power-ups, then it might have been more of a stand-out selling point with more of an individual feel.

Nonetheless, the presentation is fairly decent and the online modes are smooth and responsive. Visuals are adequate although lack detail; in part due to the zoomed-out camera to give an overview of the level. The levels are bordered by amusing details, such as farm buildings which house missile launchers and the like; presumably mocking Cold War-era paranoia. Menus are clear and easy to navigate and the controls are passable, if slightly imprecise, feeling a little lagging and inaccurate.

It’s hard to get enthusiastic about a shooter as basic and unremarkable as Battle Tanks, and it doesn’t do a great deal to differentiate itself from the multitude of increasingly innovative and capable downloadable shooting games. Attempts at more interesting level design or inventive gameplay twists would have helped its appeal immensely, but what we are left with is a flimsy, shallow and rather undercooked arena-based shooter.