Attack of the Toy Tanks is a single-screen battle game on PS4 and PS Vita from Ratalaika Games. Learn more in our Attack of the Toy Tanks review!
War is coming whether you’re ready for it or not soldier! In Attack of the Toy Tanks, across the game’s 60 levels in the main campaign, players must take control of the provided vehicle of war and battle it out across different arenas and be the last tank standing.
Just in case the AI controlled threat doesn’t offer up enough of a challenge, you can always check out the multiplayer mode and go head to head against a friend.
Must warn you though, it’s not just the heavy artillery you will need to avoid as there is also a range of devastating obstacles that can KO’ you upon impact.
Features:
* 60 levels with increasing difficulty* Arena based gameplay
* 2 Player Battle Mode
This is a double review for Attack of the Toy Tanks. Ceidz and EdEN played the game, and this review presents what they both had to say.
In Attack of the Toy Tanks, you do exactly what the name of the game suggests, as you will command a tank from a top-down perspective that can fire powerful rounds that can destroy enemies upon impact. The bad news is that your tank can also be destroyed by a single hit, and this can be bad since sometimes there are levels in which you’ll be surrounded by enemy tanks that will not hesitate in blowing you up! Luckily levels are all presented as single-screen stages, so you can immediately see what you’re up against while the game countdown is going on.
The game’s default control scheme is definitely weird since you’d need to use the left analog stick to rotate the direction of the tank, while aiming with the right analog stick, advancing forward with the L1 button, or advancing backwards with the Circle or the L2 button. Then, you’d shoot with the X or the R1 button. I couldn’t make this one feel right when I was playing as it was overall too slow to allow me to shoot at enemy tanks before they could shoot me, so I went into the options menu to change it to the A option so that the left analog stick moves the tank everywhere, the right one aims, and the X or R1 buttons shoot. This is way easier!
Some of the stages will be presented with the lights on, which makes it easier to see where every enemy is and where you can take cover before unleashing your powerful rounds on them. For other stages it might be completely dark, so you’ll need to use the light that your tank has to see where you’re going as not to make the mistake of running into the enemy line of attack, or even worse, into a hazard. Remember, one hit is all it takes to destroy your tank, so if you don’t pay attention and go straight into a set of spikes, you’re done!
I had fun playing the game in single-player, as I got to learn more about how to make the most of how my tank controlled and how fast my shots were. I realized that for most of the game it would be best if I fired a bit ahead of where the enemy tanks were, basically aiming to where they would be located by the time my shot reached them. This way I could get a chance to hit them before they could get a chance to see me, take aim, and fire, which is something that you can also apply when you play the game.
Right from the start, I have to agree with Ceidz in that the default control setup for Attack of the Toy Tanks is too complicated for what is essentially an arcade-style homage to old-school classic Combat from way back in the Atari 2600 days. I also ended up changing the controls to the A scheme which reminded me of playing the Resident Evil games when they released on the original PlayStation since, well, you move the tank forward by pressing up, rotate your tank by moving the analog stick left or right, and go backwards by pressing down – you know, the tank controls from the Resident Evil series!
While the first handful of stages will allow you to get the hang of things, including having a tutorial right on the first stage, as you progress in the game, you will start to run into more dangerous opponents and stages. Some of the tanks will fire some very fast rounds at you, while others have this sort of semi-homing round that will curve around obstacles and circle around you as it tries to hit you if you’re not careful. You will also run into stages that have lots of landmines, others that have big spikes that can crush you if you get too close, and even lasers that will make your tank go boom if you touch them.
The game has sixty stages in total to offer, which means that if you want to 100% the game, you’re going to have to not only complete all 60 stages but also get gold medals on every single one of them! You can go into the game statistics option from the game’s main menu to see how many levels you’ve completed, how many gold and silver medals you’ve earned, how many enemies you’ve destroyed, as well as your overall game completion percentage. There is also a local multiplayer mode for two players that features eight arenas in which to battle as you collect the power-up boxes that fall from the sky, trying to win by destroying your opponent more times than it destroys you – or that you end up destroying yourself by stepping over a hazard. As a heads-up, the multiplayer mode is only available on the PS4 version of the game.
And now, it’s time to talk about my favorite part: trophies! Attack of the Toy Tanks is from Ratalaika Games which, as you have now come to expect, means this one has a full trophy list! It’s a bit more straightforward than the trophy lists for other games from this publisher since all you need to do to get the Platinum trophy is to complete 30 levels, destroy 70 tanks, die once, get a silver rating in one stage, and get a gold rating in another stage (as the trophies for the silver and gold ratings are not unlocked at once if you get a gold rating). Doing this will reward you with eleven Gold trophies and one Silver trophy before you hear the “ping” when the Platinum trophy unlocks in around 30-45 minutes or so depending on your skills.
Final Thoughts
Attack of the Toy Tanks is a simple arcade-style game that is cross-buy on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, offering plenty of levels to play for its budget price, not to mention two Platinum trophies to unlock since each version has a separate trophy list. It might feel a bit repetitive to some of you, so your mileage with the game may vary, but it’s certainly fun enough to play at home or on the go!
Disclaimer
This Attack of the Toy Tanks review is based on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita copies provided by Ratalaika Games.
