Set in a future where WW2 never ended or some such, Gratuitous Tank Battles expands on the standard tower defense formula. Walkers, tanks, and infantry assail your fortifications and trenches! But can you hold them off?
Gratuitous Tank Battles lets players play both sides of the Tower Defense genre, and each level allows players to defend or attack, using units the player has designed as well as the pre-generated units. While this effectively doubles the number of levels to play, there are unfortunately only ### of them. [talk about multi?] Multiplayer is also available for each of the game’s levels, as well as multiple difficulty levels, which generally revolve around the computer opponent’s available unit selection. Damage in Gratuitous Tank Battles works on a rock-paper-scissors system, and increased options gives the AI more ways to try to thwart the player’s actions. Higher difficulty levels allow the AI to use the plalyer’s designed units and turrets, which can be distressing when the computer rolls out the gigantic turret you carefully crafted for maximum annihilation.
Designing units was my favourite part of the game, there’s a broad selection of module options. Numerous variations on each part are provided, typically with a cost tradeoff for effectiveness. I found that there generally wasn’t much reason to select anything but the best module available, and that there were several which did not seem overly useful at all. (For instance, the flamethrower has an extremely short range. Its greatest value is taking out infantry, but the machine gun has better range and rate of fire.) Still, it’s nice to have options. Interestingly, playing through levels does unlock new modules and chassis for the player to use in design, which can change gameplay a great deal.
Unfortunately, I found that the attacker in most levels is at a severe disadvantage. Units very rarely are able to deal enough damage to the defending turrets and soldiers, which makes putting weaponry on the designed units seem pointless.
