OVERALL IMPRESSION (Reviewed on iOS):
Flying Tank is a sleek sci-fi side scrolling shoot’em up that brings a refreshing and modern take to the genre. There are a variety of vehicles, weapons and support accessories that allow you to experiment and create builds that match your playstyle. It’s a fun, challenging and overall well executed journey through this post-apocalyptic dystopia overrun with alien invaders.
ART DESIGN & STORY:
The standout feature of this title is the stunning art design. This is a world I would love to see more of and expanded upon. There’s a good mix of technologically advanced military weaponry and organic biological predators. The designs and animations all work towards presenting a world entrenched in warfare and adversity. UI design is very clean and matches a sci-fi setting. When things get chaotic as you reign down destruction on your foes, the explosions of color and radiance bring the game to life. This is a vibrant and interesting world to battle in. There’s also a story to be told here. It’s nothing too surprising, but you can tell that it was important to the developers to provide context and connect the design, gameplay and narrative elements into something cohesive.
GAMEPLAY:
This game is all about annihilating your foes. As you destroy enemies you gain currency, which in turn allows you to purchase upgrades for your tanks. It’s a simple and basic gameplay loop, but a challenging and rewarding one. You have access to a range of primary and secondary weapons, bombs and special abilities. Each weapon type offers different attack patterns, damage and reload times. The base weapons are very standard and what you would expect in these type of games, but as you move beyond the default weapon sets you get to see this game really come to life. There are some interesting weapon and support choices here. For example, a drone that can heal you if you are able to remain still. It’s a super helpful ability that balances out the danger of staying stationary vs. needing to repair. You will notice significant differences in battle due to your weapon selection and upgrades. I love when games allow the player to customize their playstyle and there’s a good mix of tools to experiment with.
Enemies are also challenging. Combat appears quite simple at first, but as you progress there are a good variety of enemy types, attack abilities and obstacles (like mines) throughout the environment. This title shines the most when things start to get chaotic. This allows you to make the most of your weaponry by stringing together the use of all of your weapons and abilities. The game presents a fair challenge especially if you are playing on the default setting that takes your tank out of action while it undergoes repairs making you utilize another vehicle while you wait. Also, losing a tank in battle can also mean losing an upgrade. All of this, makes each encounter more tense as you focus on making it out alive.
CHALLENGES:
On iOS it does take some time to get use to the controls. In particular, it takes practice to get comfortable with manoeuvrability in order to accurately dodge attacks. Moreover, for certain weapons it takes some experience to get use to the timing of attacks so you can hit enemies with certain weapons reliably. This is due to the different firing rates, speed, size and reload times of various guns. Once you do gain the ability to precisely move your tank and land attacks, you’re ready to pick apart your enemies.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
This is a fun sci-fi shoot ’em up with exceptional art design. It can take some time getting use to the controls and weapons, but once you do you can embrace the chaos and enjoy obliterating some alien invaders. For those that enjoy classic shoot ’em ups with a modern design in a sci-fi atmosphere this is title that you’ll want to check out.
GAME DETAILS
PLATFORMS: PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
RELEASE: 2024
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Hexage
GENRE/TAGS: Side Scroller, Sci-Fi, Shoot ‘Em up, Action
TARGET AUDIENCE: Those that enjoy a modern side scrolling shoot ’em up
THANKS:
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