Time to shoot things.

Platforms: Wii U, Arcade

Rating: E10+

Introduction

Tank! Tank! Tank! is a game for the Wii U that recently had a big price drop. I enjoy this game, but I never thought that it was worth the full price that I payed. Luckily, GameStop has dropped it and I think that it is time people picked this bad boy up. This game was brought to us by Namco and it is basically a port from Japanese arcades. Tank! Tank! Tank! has been around for a while and people have really enjoyed it overseas. Obviously, this is an arcade game that kind of lacks a story, so I won’t need to get into too much detail regarding what is going on. Giant monsters are attacking and you have to stop them with the powers of tanks. Grab your friends because this game will support up to four people and this isn’t the kind of game that has a lot of single player value.

Time for mindless violence.

Gameplay

Tank! Tank! Tank! is a third-person shooter that is very gamer friendly. Te guns have auto aim, so pointing in the general area of your target is good enough to get off a hit. The various game modes have you either attacking each other in a death match scenario or fighting hordes of monsters that finish off with a boss. I will get into more detail regarding the various game modes, but here is what they all have in common. The goal of each game is to defeat your enemies by shooting them. When enemies die and/or structures get destroyed, they will drop weapons that you can pick up by driving over them. You will automatically switch to the new gun and use them until their ammunition runs out. Things such as machine guns, rockets, and lasers all have their strengths and weaknesses. The controls themselves are very simple. You move forward and backward in the direction that you aim and shooting only requires the use of one button. Picking up weapons gives you a bit of health recovery which is good for dueling. Overall, the game mechanics are very simple. Time to get to the various game modes. I am not going to give the specific names of the game modes, but you will understand what I mean if you play the games.

– Team and Free for All Battles

Pretty standard stuff here. You can fight each other in a death match style. If you do not have four players, then CPU’s can be added to fill out the teams. This is pretty fun and I often play this with my friends.

– Monster Battles

You can also team up to fight against monsters. When you do this, your team will fight off a horde of creatures. Once you are done, you will have to fight a boss for that area which can take a bit. Different guns will spawn around the enemy and you have to defeat them quickly. Even though it rarely happens, you can run out of time in this game mode. Dying doesn’t really matter, but it can slow you down. This is fun if you don’t feel competitive.

– Giant Ape Fight

This mode is pretty interesting. The person with the Wii U gamepad plays as a giant ape robots with various abilities and the three other players must fight in order to stop them. Although this can be fun, I do think that it is not always kind to the players that are fighting the ape. Either my friends and I suck, or it is pretty tough to take down the ape.

– Single Player

Even though this is an arcade game and the draw comes from the multiplayer, there is a campaign for a single player experience. When you go through this, you can unlock new tanks and maps for the various game modes. I do suggest that you play this because the starting options for multiplayer are kind of limited.

This is an arcade game.

Graphics and Sounds

Honestly, this game is nothing to write home about in this department. It looks and sounds like an arcade game. Standard explosions and whatnot make up the sounds. There is a lack of good music, but the narrator has an interesting voice. The fun graphics don’t suck, but it in no way shows off the HD capabilities of the system. This is a game that is known for its gameplay and that is pretty much it.

Well, I do feel like I am playing an arcade game.

Impression

I enjoy this game. Tank! Tank! Tank! is a fun experience that belongs on the Wii U. The simplicity of the game makes it very accessible to your friends and relatives if you feel like pulling it out during parties. It has auto aim for crying out loud. I bought this game when I got a Wii U back in April and I was only really disappointed by the price. Luckily, you can pick it up at GameStop for $19.99 right now and I definitely think that it is worth that much. I guess that I should close on the pros and cons regarding the game. The gameplay is fun and a lot of people can enjoy the game. If you don’t have four people, then CPU’s can fill in some of the roles. Probably one of the best things about this game is the fact that before you play, people pick icons to go over their tanks or to be on the face of the giant ape. You probably saw some icons in the pictures that I included in the article. They do this thing where you pass around the gamepad so that people can take pictures of themselves with fun frames like pirate hats and frogs. It is a fun little thing that has a lot of value in it. I have way too many pictures stored in my game. Unfortunately, you do have to play the single player to unlock a good portion of the maps. I only say unfortunately because I put a great deal of value into the multiplayer experience. The game is fun, but I like playing more intense shooters in a single player mode. Also, the game doesn’t really utilize the features that the Wii U boasts. The graphics aren’t great and the only value to the gamepad is getting a personal screen to play on. Overall, this is a fun game to play with friends, but I didn’t think that it was worth your money until now.

I need to unlock the rest of the maps on my system.