So, yeah, for the
final game for this licensed game month, you might be wondering what kind of
licensed game is this? I mean, there is no license property called Seek and
Destroy. Well, technically, that is correct. However, if you check out the
game’s Japanese title, it actually makes more sense why I chose this little PS2
gem. Maybe you all have heard of a Japanese toy producer called Takara. What’s
that? You haven’t? Well, maybe you will know them as the creators of the
Transformers franchise. Yeah, originally they made two robot toy lines that
weren’t connect with each other until much later, but that is what is what
Takara is known for. I am now going to move on to Takara’s other toy franchise,
Choro Q. There have been a lot of games based on the Choro Q brand of toys
which reminds me of Micro Machines. A couple of the games have been released
here, but under different names so no one of course would know that those games
would have been based off of the toy brand. This is one of the many titles
based off the brand and will be the book end of this month’s special.
The gist of the
story is that an evil empire is taking over the world in the fictional land of Quewar.
You play as a new recruit in the Proton Kingdom, aka the good guys, who must
take down the evil empire. The weirdest part of this game’s story is that
everyone is a tank. It is kind of like how in Cars, every single person in that
film’s universe is a vehicle of some sorts. Anyway, the gameplay and mission
variety is more of the focus here, but I have to admit, it’s kind of cute
playing a tank in a world of tanks. Kind of reminds me when I would take my
miniature vehicles and play around with them. An example of a game using this
kind of idea is Toy Commander on the Dreamcast. Let’s move on.
The gameplay
reminds me of Rogue Squadron, where you select a vehicle and travel across a
huge land, tackling different missions from main missions to side missions with
your little tank of destruction. However, you can visit different towns to
purchase new tanks or sub weapons to upgrades your tank with. The tanks
actually do feel different from one another and you do get a huge variety of
tanks to choose from. The sub weapons are actually useful and add a layer of
strategy to your tank, like do you want a missile launcher to take care of
enemies from afar? Do you want a sonar jamming system? Or do you want to lay
down bombs so that enemies can run over them? You also have to fight some giant
bosses, which is always fun. Aside from the single player campaign, you can
tackle mini-challenges to win money or take on other tanks in one-on-one
challenges or in multiplayer. For a game that is pretty much a budget title,
there is a lot to do here, battling your friends as tiny little tanks. Sometimes
I don’t want to play a story-driven game and just want to blow up stuff like in
Tank Tank Tank.
The graphics are a
mixed bag. It’s an early PS2 game so don’t get your hopes up too high, because they
can be both solid and um, bad. The tanks and environments look good, but the
little overworld you travel on is muddy and ugly-looking. The music is fine.
It’s just there to give atmosphere and not as much to be memorable or grand in
scope. Overall, in my opinion, there really isn’t much to say about the game’s
presentation. It’s a fun budget title look that does what it sets out to do.
So, what do I have
wrong with this game? Well, not a whole lot. The controls, while being very
tank-like and fitting the theme and all, they can be very squirrelly and can
need some getting used to. This really isn’t a huge issue until you realize
that the camera is too close at times. The challenges can be a bit tricky due
to the controls, but they aren’t as clunky as, say, the first Resident Evil on
the PS1 or Gun Valkyrie on the Xbox. Like I said, the camera is too close, and
I felt like it could have been pulled back due to not being able to see enemies
from behind you attacking. Overall, I
just have some minor complaints that do build up over time and well, the
controls, camera, and challenges are the only thing I have to complain about.
All and all, there
isn’t really much that can be said about this fun little budget title from a
toy franchise in Japan. It’s fun to customize your little tanks and destroy
other little tanks. Besides the complaints mentioned above, there isn’t much
wrong with this game. I would highly recommend you find this game if you can
spot it for 3-5 dollars, which is what I bought it for at a Half Price Books in
my town. What else can I say than if you like games like Tank Tank Tank, get
this game for your PS2. Thank you all for reading through and enjoying License
Game Month. Why not do another 4 week special? How about we cover the original
Xbox next? Stay tune through February for Xbox Love Month!
This
game gets a 7 out of 10.
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