You know, I love a good shooter. Whether that`s the Call of Duty series, to the Battlefield series, to Tom Clancy, to something more futuristic like Mass Effect, I will play any shooter. So, when Tiny Troopers Joint Ops was announced for the Xbox One by their developers, Epiphany games, I was very excited to try something that looked and sounded different. So many games have tried to go down the shooter route, and quite a few games that I have played have really made me judge the shooter genre. Does Tiny Troopers Joint Ops do it proud? Yes, it certainly does.
Tiny Troopers Joint Ops is a arcadic-style ID game, where you are tasked of taking the responsibility and role for your tiny troopers, as you battle the opposition all around the world, all of whom are plagued with evil and hell bent on domination and destruction. Using your troopers and recruiting different specialised troopers such as Medics and Snipers, you must stop them to ensure victory and restore pride to your team. Throughout each mission, you`ll be tasked with racking up points from killing and passing missions, all of which can lead to being able to upgrade your weapons, buy more character classes, and to buy weapons that`ll benefit you during the dogfight such as grenades, rockets and medic kits.
Firstly, this game is packed with content. It is split across 3 modes, Soldier, Spec Ops and Zombies, with over 60 missions/maps to choose and unlock from. What`s nice, is that you are given exclusive content for the Xbox One version, which missions and Zombies missions, which are part of what makes a very unique and fully filled to the brim contented game. A majority of your time will be spent in the single and spec op mission modes, where you`ll be tasked with earning a variety of stars in them (you can select what stars to go for, think of this as a difficulty level setting) and then working through each mission, taking out the bad guys, collecting the Intel, medals and Dog tag, and saving the day (a stereotypical convention to every shooter game that has been made). Offering a unique, birds-eye point of view throughout the game, and using very little in terms of controlling methods, you will find yourself getting wrapped and engaged in battle with the enemy, and collecting as many stars as you can, starting off on an easy basis, and then working your way up to a 4-star level known as the Ultra Hard level (which is the hardest difficulty, but even then some may not find that challenging) to collect every star. Of course, the higher difficulty you have it set to, the more and more points you will earn. You`ll take control of not one trooper, but whoever else you may have in your team on that mission. Some missions you will come across where you dare not go alone, so you will be teamed up with other troopers, and this is where you can decide whether you want to buy any medic, sniper, assault classes etc. Every move you make as the main trooper; your partner/s will follow. You control everything. Want to take a quiet, flanking the sides route? They`ll move and follow the same way. Want to assault head on, shooting and firing ablaze to take them out? They`ll do the same. You have complete control, and they`re at your hands. Or your peril.
I also love the way the game looks. It looks very neat on the consoles, and it tells the story brilliantly. Environmentally and through cut-scenes, you are told through a comic story-board way, and this adds something unique and different to the shooter genre. Rarely, you don’t associate shooters in this type of way, but Epiphany do something different with their game, and I love the approach.
For me, one of the best features for me is the Zombies mode. You have a range of maps to choose from, where you must survive wave after wave of Zombies and Zombie Chickens (yes, I know, completely random and different) in order to gain points. Zombies also uses a leader-board system so you are able to play against your friends and compare scores and see who the best Zombie slayer is.
The one thing you will find with this game is that I mentioned about it being filled to the brim with content. That`s good, you`re certainly getting your money’s worth in this. But, be prepared, you will find you and your troopers doing an awful lot of running around. And that`s because the maps, are massive. Over time, I found myself wanting to improve the movement speed of my troopers, as it feels a little bit dragged out after you`ve spent a few missions running around from point A to B. Maps don’t need to be massive for a game of this scale, and sometimes, for me felt slightly tedious.
That`s my only criticism of the game though. Tiny Troopers Joint Ops is a fantastically fun game to play, and one that will keep you engaged and indulged for hours, shooting and fighting until the end.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a Review Copy.
