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Playstation > Whats New > PlayStation Reviews > Staff Review | |
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the Scene: Tiny Tank: Up You Ass...er umm, I mean Arsenal takes place on a very different planet Earth. Different, but not implausible. You see, the government is now owned by big business, and big business being the way they are, has decided to use the government's military might to expand and propagate their corporations. After a while the people begin to get pissed off at all of the needless bloodshed and loss of human life as a result of these "expansions" and begin to get a bit edgy. Sensing this, the biggest conglomerate of them all, SenTrax, decides to design and build robots that will wage war without the need for human casualties. In steps Tiny...the brainchild of Goody Warsaw, President and CEO of a huge PR firm. Tiny is designed as this cute little prototype tank in the hopes that the general population will fall in love with him and gladly agree to this type of combat. Well, it works and before long the military is making all sorts of robot-controlled tanks, vehicles and sentries, with Tiny leading the way of course. Now as Murphy's Law would have it, one of the robots (MuTank) gets a superiority complex and decides to mobilize the robotic army against humankind. First off though, as an example of his might MuTank decides to eliminate Tiny and then carry out his master plan. Thinking Tiny destroyed, MuTank proceeds to put his plan into place... to rob the Earth of all it's rust producing oxygen and thus wipe the biological population off the planet for good. Unknown to Mu though, is the fact the Tiny was built a bit better than all the rest... being a prototype and all. You see, Tiny had an army of internal "fix-it crabs" that become activated when Tiny is in trouble and repair. After 100 years, Tiny is finally completely fixed and awakens to the sound of a distress call from a satellite orbiting the planet. The satellite droid informs Tiny of his predicament and notifies him that he is mankind's final hope. About the only thing nobody counted on was the fact that Tiny may still have a few screws lose here and there... Oh well, whatever it takes I guess! Genre: Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal is an action/combat shooting game with a fabulous dose of human thrown in for good measure. Sound and Vision: Tiny Tank features some very nice polygon character models. I was impressed with the overall detail and movement of the main character (Tiny) and the other robots throughout the game. Everything ran smooth as silk with slowdown occurring only during the most harrowing of instances.  The
backgrounds are nicely done but suffer from occasional polygon seaming
here and there when you are traveling close to a wall. Nothing here to
remove the overall enjoyment of the gaming experience, but these little
glitches are present non-the less. The special effects used for the weapons and subsequent explosions are top notch with ample particle effects, light sourcing and transparencies from beginning to end. This is what we should expect from a 4th gen title though and Tiny Tank certainly delivers. Even the CG FMV's that are displayed at the beginning and throughout the levels of the game are worth a look at least once. They are very well done and totally hilarious to boot.  You
would expect some decent sound effects from an action/combat style game
and luckily Tiny Tank doesn't disappoint. There are a lot of good sounds
going on here and also a good amount of diversity in the tones. Strong
bass is apparent in the explosions and in the gritty tread sounds made
by the tank. There is also some great sounds used for the pulse lasers
and other weapons of destruction. The music is the real surprise though. I have never heard a game that covered such of wide variety of musical influences before. From good old-fashioned Rock and Roll to Technocrap, from mellow pop to even Reggae, it's all in there and done very fine indeed. The developers should be commended on the fine job of getting all of these types of styles into the game and for also making them work in each of the given scenarios that they perform in. Playability: First of all I must say that this title is intended to portray an action/combat game while adding a good dose of humor and wackiness. Does it succeed? You bet you arsenal it does! From the FMV cut scenes and then throughout the game itself, Tiny is one of the funniest characters ever to grace a videogame. His actions and delivery of one-liners all reflect a psycho robot on the edge of sanity that is liable to crack at any moment.  Traversing
through the world of Tiny Tank is a very nice experience. I found the
analog controls to respond expertly to my every command and could find
little to complain about in the overall-handling department of the main
character. Aiming is done semi-automatically, meaning that once you get
a target roughly lined up, start blasting and you will hit it. The only
real flaws that I can come up with were times when Tiny would get a bit
twitchy in tight situations. Using the strafing buttons often resulted
in moving (or rolling) Tiny to a set spot each time the buttons were
used, instead of being able to easily step or slide him in smaller
increments. Small taps on the button would help, but often in the heat
of battle I found myself rolling much further to the left or right then
I had intended and thus being out of position to successfully return a
volley of death and destruction.  Level
designs were pretty decent in the game and certainly provided a good
deal of challenge and surprises along the way. You certainly won't get
bored with all of the variety and diversity offered here. There is a
nice little radar/map display present on the screen that helps you to
find your way around and Tiny even has a little antenna that beeps and
pulsates when you are near key objects or mission objectives. Combating and obliterating your opponents is not only fun but also necessary for vital components and skills that you pick up after you have destroyed them. There can be anything left over from weapons to health healing metal debris that you roll over to collect. Normally by the end of each level you are one fully armed fighting machine, with plasma blasters, flame throwers, mortar and an assortment of other "well-intended" articles of destruction. Unfortunately once the round is over you lose everything you collected and must start from scratch in the next level. In some cases you will also be awarded with the Positronic brains of your destroyed foes. These little goodies make Tiny smarter and allow him to boost his regenerative functions and more effectively control his offensive and defensive capabilities. Kicking the ass of the bosses leave Tiny with a little memento of his experience as well. Another offshoot and advantage of "picking up the pieces" is the wonderful Teeny Weeny tanks that Tiny can produce. These little guys can do anything from hunt down enemies to circle and protect Tiny from any and all dangers, depending on how smart Tiny is when he produces them. This particular part of the game adds a nice element of strategy because it's your call when you want to launch them.  There
is also a two-player Death Match mode thrown in for your enjoyment. Two
players get a chance to shoot it out in any of seven arenas and exchange
Tiny Tank quips and wise ass remarks. Littered throughout the arenas
players will find various weapons and power-ups to assist them in there
mayhem and destruction. Most of the arenas are very dark so using your radar is a plus. Advanced players can choose to leave their radar off for that additional challenge of the hunt. The screen can be split vertically or horizontally. I found the horizontal split to work best for me. Overall, this title has been in development for quite some time and I do believe that it was well worth the wait. I enjoyed the action/combat flair that the game possesses and especially liked the over the top humor! Who knows, maybe Tiny will become the next console mascot to grace our system. Game Options: This is a single disk game for 1 or 2 Players. It is compatable with the standard (digital) joypad and the dual shock (analog) joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1 block per save). |
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