Daily Staff Writer

“Tiny Tank”

Sony Playstation

At first glance, given its cover and title, “Tiny Tank” has the appearance of another “ages 8 and under” flop.

How could a tank named “Tiny,” which employs “Teeny Weeny Tanks” to fight enemies named “Bob,” ever appeal to anyone over 3?

Simple.

Incorporate Tiny’s massive arsenal with the occasionally complex situations, and you have something a little more appealing.

The gameplay in “Tiny Tank” is mostly adult-oriented as a result of its complex problem-solving situations and the little comments the tank constantly mutters.

In most video games, comments from the main character are nothing short of annoying. “Tiny Tank” steers away from this trend, as Tiny makes frequent comments that most kids wouldn’t understand.

The story behind “Tiny Tank” lies somewhere between the plot to “The Matrix” and “Terminator 2.” The game takes place in the future, where a company named SenTrax creates a cutesy, self-automated killing machine called “Tiny Tank.”

However, when the tank is demonstrated publicly, along with a host of other automated killing machines, one of Tiny’s targets becomes aware.

MuTank is born and immediately takes on the task of building an army of machines to wipe the world clean of its human inhabitants.

With Tiny badly damaged during the demonstration, the remaining humans have nowhere to turn and end up living in underground asteroid shelters for 100 years. During this time, Tiny is slowly repairing himself and finally appears to rid the world of MuTank.

Tiny is equipped with four turrets in addition to his 80 mm cannon/nose. Weapons are normally acquired by driving through the wreckage of destroyed enemies and are automatically attached to the nearest free turret.

Tiny also can repair himself using the very rare and precious Nanometal.

Using the stored nanometal acquired from killing enemies, Tiny is capable of repairing his own damaged armor. This feature proves to be invaluable and necessary when fighting the game’s larger enemies.

Another high point of the game is the Teeny Weeny Tanks. These tanks can either be used as kamakazee weapons against enemies or protectors of Tiny himself.

The game allows Tiny to have great control over all of his weapons as well as the TWTs via synthetic brains acquired from slain enemies.

These brains can be collected and allocated to different weapons according to what weapon the gamer wishes to be the strongest. The brains improve aim of the weapons, as well as keep that weapon from being replaced by other, less effective weapons.

Tiny is surprisingly easy to control, offering quick response and great lateral movement. Tiny goes from a stand-still to top speed quickly and also contains rocket boosters that give the tank great flexibility in the air.

Although Tiny can only hover for a few seconds, the rockets allow for quick turning at high speeds as well as avoidance of ground obstacles.

“Tiny Tank” is an enjoyable game in just about every respect. Its humorous dialogues and cinemas prove the game is not just created for kids.

Although the game is your typical “shoot the bad guy,” “Tiny Tank’s” adult humor and easy game control make it a winner.

HHHH

— Sam Johnson