Review: Death Tank and Age of Booty

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 22 February 2009 12:53

Entertainment

Death Tank has just hit XBLA, and it invokes memories of the Worms series, and going back further to the days of Artillery.

In the original Artillery two howitzers faced each other over a hill with variable wind.  The idea for each player was to input an angle and shot force in order to land a shell on the opposition. 

Worms expanded on this world, the 2D landscape became destructible, the teams expanded and a multitude of weapons became the norm.  In essence however, Worms remained true to the turn based roots of Artillery.

Death Tank amps up the visuals, providing mountainous terrain in rocky, lakeside, alien, snow covered and desert environments that are easy on the eye.  Players are dropped into the fixed screen terrain at random, and from then it is on.  No turn based, or even timed moves here, no time to think, this is real time baby.

Players control mobile tanks in fights of up to eight players.  Each game is over 20 rounds with the winner being the tank on top of the table after round twenty.

At its most basic, Death Tank is a simple game.  As it was with Artillery, select the angle and strength of you volley and hope your judgement sees the shell land on an enemy tank – more shame to you when it lands on your own tank <*slap*>.

Once only one tank is left standing, or in funnier situations where the last two tanks destroy each other, the scores are tallied and players can spend earned money on upgrades.

Upgrades consist of everything from increased firepower (Nukes, Deaths Hand shot) to alternate weapons such as the bouncing bomb or guided missile as well as Tank modifications from increased speed, jump jets, repulse shield and so on. 

In multiplayer the most popular upgrade is the targeting computer, giving the player (and the target for that matter) a visual clue as to where a shot shell will land.  With eight players, all utilising targeting computers coupled with the odd explosion, the screen can become awfully busy and confusing.  Still if you come out of all the chaos still intact, it is time to pump the air in celebration.

There are a small amount of added twists such as dropped in money, extra weapons such as lasers or plasma streams and themed levels at random which restrict tank abilities.

Each round is relatively short – especially if the aerial bombardment hits.  But a full game takes some commitment as twenty rounds and in-round shopping can take some time.

At 1200 Microsoft points, Death Tank is one of the more expensive titles on XBLA, but it packs some visual and audio punch, provides a new twist on the ancient Artillery game-play that as a package is addictive whilst being only slightly too serious.