Growing up, every person surely had this experience: Either your relative, neighbour, friend or that kid you were forced to sit and play with at play time had this basic, run of the mill, army kit. The kit was flooded with green army men, all of which were holding various weaponry, along with one-coloured army vehicles, usually tanks. Right? We all knew or had that kit!

If you enjoyed them (or were forced to play with them) as a kid, then the team at Total Tank Simulator has done a stellar job at virtually recreating these moments with their brand-new game!

GAMEPLAY

Total Tank Simulator is a strategy simulation based during the World War 2 era. As stated in the intro, it’s not a detailed recreation of the troops and vehicles of that era, they are solid coloured pieces on an accurate map of various battle areas during the war.

Like most modern video games in today’s market, Total Tank Simulator provides you with a tutorial. I strongly urge you to play this mode, as Total Tank Simulator does take a little bit of time to get used to the controls and the overall playstyle. The tutorial does it’s best to teach you the main basic elements to the game; controls, and the overall battle commands, including troop placement.

Total Tank Simulator main variables are a tad limited here, as the game provides you with three game mode options: Campaign, Sandbox, and Shadow Mode. ‘Campaign’ is basically the story-esque mode of the game, dropping you into various recreations of actual real-life battles that took place during WW2.

Though accurate in their recreation, you are also given the option of applying different variants to completing your story-based missions. These variants include VIP Mode, which asks you to either guard or kill a specific VIP soldier and vehicle during a mission. Deathmatch, which is basically an excuse to kill all your enemies, and Wave Défense, whereby you must outlast various waves of approaching enemy offensive. By completing these variants, you are rewarded with various points which can be spent on upgrading your armies for the looming battles ahead.

Sandbox Mode is like most other Sandbox related modes, allowing you free reign and control to create your own battle missions and scenarios. However, the most interesting addition to the game is that of its ‘Shadow Mode’. Shadow Mode makes you fight against you, during battles that you have previously won, similar to that of racing against your ‘ghost’ in a racing game’s Time Trial mode.

CONTROLS

The controls for the game were pretty intuitive and what you would expect from a strategy game. If need be, you can utilise on-screen buttons on the left of your screen for the various choices as well. Perhaps expectedly, the game does not control as well while you are in direct control of a unit.

While, switching between weapons and utilising the guns worked fine for the most part, navigation became an issue, especially as random objects began to block your movement. However, this does not detract from the overall experience as I consider taking control of a unit to be more of an addition to the package.

GRAPHICS + SOUND

As stated earlier, the games graphics aren’t your run of the mill WW2 recreation. They’re basically colours and polygon shaped, assumingly done to recreate toy models, rather than historical recreations. The audio does its job, providing fantastic troop movements, gun shots, ammo firing all clean and high quality.

CONCLUSION

Overall, Total Tank Simulator is a nice nod to the army toys of yester-year. For new to strategy fans, you’ll find this easy to plug n play. For the avid strategy game fan, you may become bored with the game’s simplicity.

Written by: Brutaleo