Review for "BattleTanx: Global Assualt"

Anayo

New Member
BattleTanx: Global Assualt is a game for the Nintendo 64 made by 3DO that revolves around tanks blowing each other up.

There are several different tanks with varying advantages, ranging from the tiny “mototank” that is suseptable to getting blown to smithereens in a single shot yet is insanely fast, to the massive “Goliath” tank that does massive damage, takes forever to destroy, but is incredibly slow and has trouble fitting through tight spaces. There is a nice variety of weapons, such as normal tank shells, machine guns, guided missiles that you can control, flamethrowers, lasers, a cloaking device that makes you invisible, mines that can be set up for your enemies to run into, etc.

There are primarily two modes of play: story mode, and several different multiplayer modes. As far as gameplay goes, the story mode is decent to play alone, giving you objectives such as “kill all enemy tanks” or “rescue the prisoners” (which happen to look like flat faces floating in the air). Once beaten, I doubt you'll want to play story mode over again. It's much more fun to play a multiplayer campaign with a friend (or three), as teamwork and cooperation can be implemented, making the whole thing much more enjoyable.

The post-apocalyptic plot that the story mode revolves around is cheesy and uninspired, and you'll probably just skip through the in-between level text that explains the story. The premise is something about a post apocalyptic world where all the world's women were nearly killed in some sort of plague, the world superpowers nuke each other, society falls apart, and everyone fights each other with tanks. As was previously emphasized, the plot really isn't this game's strong point.

Likewise, the music is pretty lame and uninspired. It's just a bunch of fake sounding pseudo-electric guitar pieces with some accompanying drums. I doubt you'll even notice the music in the heat of battle. This is really a shame, because the all-out destruction and mayhem style gameplay would go really good with some genuine heavy metal.

The multiplayer mode is a blast. There are several different types of multiplayer, ranging from a one-on-one match, to capture the flag, to “Tank Wars” mode (an all out battle between thirty computer-controlled tanks arranged into two armies, with up to four human players on either side). This is where the variety of tanks and weapons comes in handy for implementing strategy. For example, in capture the flag, you can deploy mines all around you base to prevent enemies from getting in. Or you can use the speedy mototank to get the enemy flag and get the heck out without getting caught. In one-on-one, you can hide in a corner and kill your opponent with guided missiles while he wanders around trying to figure out where you are. In Tank Wars, you can get a cloaking device and mines and go around placing mines in your enemies' territory without being seen. You can fire a primary weapon and a secondary weapon simultaneously, unleashing twice the destruction that you ordinarily could. I don't know if 3DO intended for all this strategy to be possible, but it's a heck of a lot of fun.

The one near fatal setback that the multiplayer suffers from is the lack of options. You can't adjust the time limit for a match. You can't customize the tanks and weapons for your team. I don't even think the winner in tank wars is determined by who gets the most points; it seems more like “reach a certain score to win”, and you can't even adjust how big or small this score is.

In summary, BattleTanx: Global Assualt is a cool game with some underdone parts that keep it from being all that it could be (such as the lame music and lack of options). It is worth playing, however, and I would recommend you get a copy if you ever see it for $10 or less for some good fun on your N64.

Final score: 3.5 out of 5
 
Thats nice you've made a N64 review, but isnt kinda old now? PS2, X-Box and GC are the top consoles these days.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]and I would recommend you get a copy if you ever see it for $10 or less for some good fun on your N64.

I should warn you, some stores rip off the old games, $45 for Super Smash Bros on N64!?
mad.gif


Btw, I own BattleTanx: Global Assault on my N64, it is enjoyable, but its very lacking when it keeps telling you theirs a secret mission after you finish the game twice, when I've beaten it 6 times!
 
Back
Top