xbox live indie game reviews

Awesome Tank is a 2.5-ish-D tank maze/shooter that proclaims to have (straight from the game description),“endless replayability”. I present the following to the jury as evidence of the aforementioned claim: all levels are based on the square grids with the exact same dimensions; all levels have the same scattered powerups (speed, bullet speed, ammo capacity, random point-awarding green dots); all levels consist of your one (1) tank versus many (lots) of other tanks; all levels have the same victory requirements (kill all tanks or collect all green thingies). As you can see, there is plenty of variety that will keep you busy long after the end of the senten.... HEY! LOOK! MY FAUCET IS DRIPPING!

OK, maybe that was a bit melodramatic. But it still doesn't make that claim any less ridiculous.

As I was saying, Awesome Tank puts you in the shoes of a (rogue?) tank commander who's hellbent on destroying his enemies in the quest for survival. Honestly, it's not a bad game, per se, you can scoot around, destroy enemies and dodge around obstacles. It's just not anywhere near as exciting as its billing. When I hear the words 'awesome' and 'tank' combined, I expect to demolish cities and crush everything in my path, leaving a trail of terror and carnage in my wake. Instead, what I got was a game with a few nifty explosions that (apparently) did not realize that Bomberman was already released back in 1983.

Unlike Bomberman, the 'awesome tank' does not have the ability to ever stop moving. Back and forth, side to side I go. All I really want to do is hide behind this rock while I wait to shoot my enemy in the back... is that so hard to do? Is my tank really a perpetual motion machine? Similarly, the shooting lacks the strategy and timing of timed bomb placement- is it really challenging to fire off a shell and run away as it destroys its target? I finished 6 levels before the demo timer ran out, so clearly not. The greatest obstacle you must overcome is the mini-map, if you don't disable it in the Options menu. It's poorly-placed in HUD and isn't transparent, so enjoy the guessing game if enemies make it to the lower left corner.

I think Awesome Tank had some initial promise, but ultimately, it's really not a particularly exciting or challenging endeavor. The gameplay doesn't require much strategy since the A.I. isn't very clever, and the enemies and weapons have no variety, so the action becomes pretty methodical and uninspired in a hurry. If this game piqued your interest, put your 400 MS points toward an investment in Bomberman for the NES.