Tank Beat (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.7 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Kevin VanOrd
• Reviewed on: 06/04/2007
• Released on: 06/01/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Tank Beat (DS) Review

Tank Beat isn't much fun. There's very little to it, and what is there is bland, and simplistic. If there's one feat developer MileStone managed to pull off, it's how dull it managed to make the act of blowing up tanks. That might be a fascinating accomplishment, but it makes for an utter bore of a game.

The main mode in Tank Beat is the story mode. Each battle is preceded by an introductory sequence featuring plain anime character drawings engaging in barely cohesive dialogue. The story is a mix of soap opera melodrama and freedom fighter hoo-ha, but it's all just an excuse to stick you in a tank and make you blow stuff to smithereens. To do that, you maneuver your blue dot around on the touch screen by drawing a line from the dot to a destination. You can sweep your viewing/firing arc around your dot by dragging the stylus around in a circle. When you see a red dot, you hold the L button and touch it. If you are a good shot, the red dot blows up. Most of the time, a friendly yellow dot or even a green dot will join you. You can set the companion dot to follow you, guard, seek and destroy, or move along a certain path. Usually you'll just have it follow you around, since micromanaging buddy dots is tedious and unnecessary.

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