One mans not so favorable Review of ThinkTanks

#1 I guess i will agree with some items...:
-the controls can be tough to get used to. i agree there. Most folks overcompensate (aiming mostly) for awhile before getting used to it, and it can get frustrating.
-single player sucks. yep.
-graphics can be cartoonish. sure (but he points out that that is a matter of taste...)
-online community is sparse (weeelll, i guess that depends on when you jump on, but yes, i would agree...) although HIGHLY devoted...
-looks like he spent MOST his time in battlemode, the more 'dull' of the options (crap, I'
ll take heat for that one...)
as far as i'm concerned, TT is a work in progress. Also, the dude gave it a 7 out of 10. That's not bad.



wal

#2 The music is good quality, but out of place if you leave it on during game play. I did find the voice that announces your power-ups to be particularly obnoxious: "BOUNCE-BACK POWERUP!!!"...i agree with this.

#3 He's good... very objective... I agreed with some of his oppinion and disagreed with others...

#4 He said he used the arrow keys?!?!? C'mon, even a smart person could figger out that you can use the wsad keys - which I think boosts the control a little!
Nathan first introduced 360 degrees turret turning, and flat out, it sucked. You can't see behind you, so you were wasting your bullets firing at the spot on your radar, hoping that it would hit, which was at least a 1/30 chance that you could.
Solo... I agree that people without DSL should definetly not buy this game, because modems can't support this game. (*cough*56k Lag Man*cough*)
Anyways, 7 is good, so enough of my complainin'!

#5 -I never really found the controls to be all that difficult. Main thing was to tweak the mouse sensitivity to taste. Sure it's hard to aim when you're bouncing around sometimes, but you learn to work with it in time. You also work that into strategy because you know others will have difficulty hitting you if you stick to uneven terrain as opposed to flats. Of course I spend almost all my time playing scrum where I feel most of his criticism doesn't apply.
-Sure the graphics are cartoonish & sound/visual effects aren't spectacular, but it's never diminished the enjoyment of game play for me.
-Servers can be sparsely populated by humans at times, & other times I'm wearing out the F5 button trying to get on a server that's full. I'm seeing more new faces all the time though & there's usually a good game going on.
-Single player's all right for practice, but I'm more into multiplayer gaming myself
-I don't totally agree that all the maps look and play the same. That can be said of maps within each level to a certain extent, but there is quite a difference between frantic vs. lush & spooky. Requires a different driving style altogether.
-It does sound like this guy spent most of his time in BM, which I never play. If he had gotten into scrum he probably never would have finished his review...

Quote:There also appears to be a child-safe filter although I never played around with that since I can't image a child being able to play the game.

Really? Obviously hasn't played dar.

MP

#6 IMO that guy seemed like a cynic...

He's right about single player, right about the graphics ( but the game is billed as having cartoon graphics, so...), and pretty much not willing enough to give anything else a try.

#7 Kids now will be better then us all in 2 year oh but not better then me i hope.....

#8 "He's just a freak"

lol I'm sort of biased, since after all I do love this game. I find the "simplicity" of the playing styles and "cartoonish" landscapes to really just be a veneer. The game can be very complicated, with many tactics and techniques. He didn't even mention scrum, and obviously didn't play it at all. Also, I am glad that the landscapes are "cartoonish" because especially realistic ones would simply distract the eye. Even with battlemode, there are many tactics that just take time to get used to. Being a good player (or even mediocre like me) takes lots of time. I've had this game since June, I mean, c'mon! That guy must have only played it for a couple weeks. As for the view and turret complaints, I could not be more opposed. You have to be able to see where you're going, in scrum and in battlemode. This game may be half shooting, but it is also half driving. The 360 degree turret would be impossible to use without the view changing too, as all who played with Nathan's 360 turret would know (I'll get it for that too =) ). And if the view changed with the turret, you would get migrains like hell. Can you imagine if the whole screen swung back and forth as fast as the turrent? You'd get dizzy! Admittedly it takes time to get used to the controls and shooting while driving, but hell, if I did it anyone can. He just didn't spend enough time with the game, or maybe he's spoiled by playing too many 85$ games that naturally have 100% specialized controls or joysticks, instead of just awsd. I myself enjoy the music, sound effects, graphics, and explosions. I think the terrain and tanks are plenty varied. If you want something else, there are plenty of mods around for the picking. You want to be able to get used to the terrain, instead of having crazy landscapes that are so varied that they don't make any sense.

This guy just barely scratched the surface of thinktanks. For one, he saw an ice cube in the ocean and took it for the ThinkTanks community, forgetting about the 150,000 ton iceberg beneath the water. You just have to look at the forums here to know that TT has quite a respectable online community. This guy obviously made little attempt to get to know anyone, and probably lives in Antarctica and plays when everyone else's clocks say 3 am.

Sigh, I don't feel like writing about every single way he's wrong.

All I will say is that the absolutely ONLY thing that I agree with him about is that the solo sucks. So I don't play it. The online is more than enough.

* the disgruntled

P.S. I can sure imagine me playing this game. Not that I'd refer to myself as a child, but I am twelve, and presumably that's what he meant. I've never used the filter anyway.

#9 Spunky

#10 I think that if the view moved with the turret it would be a lot better. I don't know if it would have to have more than 180 degrees of travel but it would be better none the less.

#11 Game would then have to be first person shooter, instead of the third person it is now.

#12 I think in general, he kind of misses th epoint of TT. He starts off with what i saw as a criticism that it has no "depth". Well, DUH! It's not a FPS type game where you solve puzzles, fight against engaging enemies and such. It's just NOT that kind of game, but it's OK. Not every game has to have "depth". In fact, I sort of love the simplicity of the game. You don't get bogged down with a myriad of controls and more weapons than in the US Armies arsenal. 3 Power-ups, 3 tanks, a small variety of levels, and.. HOURS of gameplay fun if you ask me!

I WILL agree with one point. I also feel that th single play mode is incredibly lame! No way to save, endless repetition of the same enemies over and over and over... totally pointless really, unless you count getting an

#13 I would like a "LOCK ON" feature...

#14 All reviewers are entitled to their opinion. I am disappointed that the reviewer did not get what we were trying to achieve in his search for something new and different in a game that was intended to be pure and simple.

To each their own. ThinkTanks is not for everyone.

It would help us if you could add a little note at the bottom of that review to help convince anyone reading to try out ThinkTanks and make their own decision.

#15 Don't worry Dev Joe =), several people have already taken care of that. Don't worry, you can rest with the knowledge that his review is the absolute first that I've read that rates it below an 8. I myself would give it a 9.5. If you spiffed up solo a little, or even just took it out, then 10. It's a 9.5 because it includes solo and solo is a little lacking. Even if you just never had had the option it would have been ten.

hehe yeah dar too. I haven't seen anyone who plays with the child filter on.. half the fun of the entire ThinkTanks thing is the community, and if you're allowed to have ingame chat your parents are definitely not going for the forums. Besides, I'd say I've only added to my curse word vocabulary once or twice thru the TT community, most of it has already been supplied by ever obliging 7th grade pals.

*
[I don't have a graphic signature because geocities is CRAP]

#16 My child filter doesn't work. I've tried it, just for kicks and giggles, but I got some error message. I don't remember exactly

#17 Like Joe Says, we all make games and can't xpect everyone to love it. I played it the other day whilst considering making a vehicle combat game myself. And here are my main critisisms. perhaps being pretty hardcore gamer I found that the controls were simple the presentation good but I did feel that the physics are a bit slow and the vehicles too. Since I haven't bought the game I don't know if things speed up later on though.

Small niggles coming from a fellow artist was the lack of particle systems. there is a dirty black oily smoke cloud, but no dust thrown up by the tank tracks, if you have ever been near a tank they churn up a lot of crap :)

More spectacular FX when your bullets hit the scenery, not much just pufs of dirt would help a lot. And lastly the targeting reticle cuts through the ground sometimes, perhaps it's sort order should be changed so that it displays in fromt of everything else. Otherwise its a pretty nice simple game.

Overall I'd say that the reviewer was probably in his opinion being fair. I just hope he scores Aerial Antics more favourably as were going to be up there soon :)

#18 I think the main thing that the reviewer missed out on is the simplicity of the game. Sure TT could have less cartoonish graphics, more realistic tank control, 360 degree turrets, laser-guided targeting systems, riddles-puzzles-insane-obstacles-to-gameplay (what I refer to as "stupid human tricks"), and such. But what makes TT unique is the simplicity coupled with the fun factor. At the same time, while TT takes 5 minutes to learn, targeting, scrum skillz, and strategic team play take much, much longer to master (that's what keeps me playing!).

TT is an "online only" type of game. If you're not connected, then you might as well mod a level or get out and get some sunshine.

I can't think of any better computer music to accompany the game. Not that I like the music... TT is best played when you turn the game's music down and pump in Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Whitney Houston, or whatever. Or, keep it silent and listen for the powerups to appear.

The controls are a little loose in the light, sluggish in the heavy... but considering that they're rusty tanks, it's appropriate.

His "circle of death" comment reveals that he only played for a couple of hours, or against demos. While I'm pretty good in a "circle of death" confrontation, there are many other more fruitful ways to duel a single player.

Seems like he didn't play scrum or CTF much. Both games add different, complimentary, dimensions to the game. There's more "simplistic complexity" for ya. While I tend to prefer BM, the margin is slight.

The only thing I'd like to add to the game is more strategic gameplay, although I'll always enjoy jumping into the "shoot-em-up" games. -Z-'s CTF mods add a level of strategic sophisitcation missing in the other games. Modding the team battlemode maps in the right way would also take out some of the randomness of the games, encoraging more strategic cooperation between team players.

LC50

#19 Yeah, Ram, now that I think of it, I remember a "Kyle" online a few weeks ago (reviewer's name: Kyle Nau) . I might have been too hard on him in battlemode, altough I'm not taking all the blame for his spacebar wear.

If only the new players could wear "Trainee" or "Hello! My name is..." badges, maybe the pros could go a little easier on them.

Maybe not.

LC50

#20 Or Kyle (reviewer).

The thing that makes Think Tanks fun is simply that it is entirely different from every other tank game out there I've ever seen or played. I think that reviewer tested the game expecting your standard third person shoot em up tank game. This is quite a bit different in my opinion. And loads more fun.