Death Tank XBLA Review
Fun Game Or Does It Tank?
by Lame360Gamer
© 2009 Warren Marshall
Here is another game that I have added to the ever growing pile of mediocre Xbox Live Arcade games that I seem to be accumulating at a rapid pace.
While I haven’t had the opportunity to download everything that Live Arcade offers, I believe games such as Castle Crashers and Street Fighter II have raised the bar for all other challengers to compete.
Not an easy task, but one that could have been achievable if the buyer was getting value for money.
• Death tank HD video. Amazing detail for XBLA game
It is difficult not to compare this remake of a classic to another game of a similar nature: Worms. For those who have played Worms you are in familiar territory and can skip ahead, for those who haven’t however, Death Tank sees you playing the role of a small tank sitting out in a random landscape with three other tanks (single player).
The challenge comes down to measuring the perfect height, distance and speed when you fire your shells at your opponent, allowing for the various hills and terrain. Unlike Worms, this game is played in real-time so you have to keep your eye on where the opponents are moving their tanks at the same time.
You are rewarded for how well you perform in each round (all twenty of them) and between each you can spend how you see fit these reward points on various new ammunition and upgrades to take into battle for the next challenge.
The concept is simple and the game plays that way. Not that there is anything wrong with this approach, but when you look at how much more depth and strategy Worms offered all this game could provide was a yearning to play Worms again.
Rounds in Death Tank last only a few mere minutes or so and if you are successful in nailing the right distance and power the rounds can be over even quicker!
The graphics are very slick , with some excellent effects that do the game justice, but how difficult could this be to achieve for such a basic concept? After all we are dealing with static landscapes with micro tanks shooting even smaller artillery at one another.
I struggle to see how this game has managed to come with a 1200 point price tag.
If this game had been bundled with another arcade title as a double pack or perhaps like its original been hidden in other games I could see it getting a small fan base and being a quick fun multiplayer game. However they are asking for far too much here with this title.
It managed to hold my attention for the fifteen minutes or so it took to complete a 20 round game but nothing about this game is drawing me back in to want to play it again. The simplicity mixed with the hefty price tag would put even a devoted fan of the originals off the purchase of this game.
“5/10
© 2009 Warren Marshall
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