Pocket Tanks

The Good
The choices of weapons to fire at the other tank is pretty creative. The main fun is watching what the different weapons do.

The Bad
The two (fill in the blank) "shooting at each other from opposite sides of a mountain" theme has been used since before the CP/M days.

The Bottom Line
If you remember the old Q-BASIC game "Gorilla", just change the graphics to tanks. Calculate wind effects, trajectory height, throwing power, choose a bomb to send over, and watch what happens.

The Good
Sure, Pocket Tanks is yet another incarnation of a game that has been around almost since electronic gaming meant spelling funny words on your calculator by reading the numbers upside-down. However, this game is a very good implementation of the concept, in the same sense that Starfleet I: The War Begins! was a great implementation of the classic Star Trek "Search And Destroy" game.

The best thing about Pocket Tanks is the weapons. There are a host of original weapons, each with its own unique effects (both visual and gameplay-oriented). Like the classic "Rock/Paper/Scissors" game, pretty much every attack can be countered or nullified. Some weapons, if used incorrectly, may backfire, doing more damage to the user than to the target, or unintentionally shielding the target from future attacks.

The graphics are simple, yet functional and some of the weapons effects are truly amusing. The sounds are likewise serviceable, though not dazzling.

A single round of Pocket Tanks takes about 5 minutes to play - perfect when you want a quickie gaming fix and don't have the time to spend on more involved fare.

The game has been designed to be expandable. It ships with 30 weapons, but extra weapons packs are available, some for free! Developer BlitWise Productions shows a refreshing appreciation for its customers by throwing out the occasional freebie. The expansion packs help to prolong the life of the game.

The Bad
The only criticism that I have for Pocket Tanks is all of the things that are missing. As good as it is, this game could be so much better.

Each time I start the game, I have to re-enter my name. Why can't it remember who I am?

Also, there is no high score table. Why not keep track of high scores?

And how come a round is limited to a two-tank one-on-one match-up? Why can't there be 3 or 4 or more tanks?

Two-player "hot-seat" play is supported, but why not modem/network/internet play?

Finally, the A.I. for computer-controlled tanks has two irritating flaws: The first is that A.I.-controlled tanks never move. Sometimes, a tank will get into a position from which it's impossible to hit the opponent (for example, when its opponent drops a wall two pixels in front of its turret). When this happens, it's often possible to move the tank to a new location from which a hit is possible (i.e. back away from the wall a bit). This is such a strategic gameplay element that each player only has a limited number of moves, yet the computer A.I. never uses any of its moves! If it can't make the shot, it simply wastes it. I've even seen it fire a projectile straight up into the air, only to have it come straight back down and land on itself! A.I. doesn't get much dumber than that.

Secondly, the computer A.I. is obviously programmed to try for a direct hit on its opponent, regardless of what weapon it's using. However, some weapons do more collateral damage by landing near the target than they do with a direct hit, but the A.I. never accounts for this.

Also, the A.I. fires every weapon like it was a projectile weapon, prone to the effects of gravity. However, some weapons are beam or point-to-point weapons and are best aimed directly at the target. Some are even designed to be fired through obstacles such as mountains. The A.I. never uses such weapons correctly and invariably wastes them.

The Bottom Line
Reading through my laundry list of complaints, you'd almost think I hate this game. I don't. I actually quite like it. But it could have been so much more! Are you listening, BlitWise?

Note: This review was on the 1.0 version.