Recent reviews by DangerLVLWalnut

scary, fun, and furry made. whats not to love?

Do you want to loose the next 300 hours of your life to compulsive automation and optimization? Because this game will do that to you, in the best way possible. mods add to the complexity by a factor of 100. This game is not for those who struggle with addiction, you have been warned.

I like the Tank Universal franchise; This game is a fine successor to first game.

PROS:

• Better graphics than TU1
  
• The core game modes are better balanced than TU1
  
• Choice of tank type*

CONS:

• Story feels repetitive; and cobbled together at the end
  
• Defense Mini-bosses Feel unbalanced
  
• Many new mechanics aren't explained well
  
• Upgrade point leeching from pointless portal sabotage

Recommended barely 5/10 as the tank battles are quite unique and fun

Points Explained:
Better graphics, the look of the game is much better than the previous installment. The larger battle arenas with a few distinct biomes give a nice feel to the game play without being overly detailed and cluttered. However having to load into the main menu as a simulation happens in the background is annoying. Please put the main menu UI over that particular loading screen.

Core game play, The 3 modes, Fort (attack/defense), Skirmish (attack/defense attrition) and Hub battle (control point, dual fort battle), feel more alive with the new (and refurbished) mechanics. although the node beam towers being able to destroy other towers and fort walls is over powered.

The ability to control (and have specific upgrades for) other tank types is a nice feature even though they each have only one specific upgrade and have lower versatility (and skill ceiling) than the default tank. however your choice of tank isn't carried over to the next level (notable story exceptions excluded) this is also a problem for the turret upgrade. This upgrade is also lost when building a beam tower as they seem to count as tanks in that respect.

Upgrade wise the points and costs are well balanced; EXCEPT for the Macguffin device that is the gorgon construction project sabotage. this plot device seems to exist purely to leech upgrade points and ensure you do not become too overpowered too fast. additionally the bonus of a allied beam tank should either be controllable, or award upgrade points for its kills. I made the mistake of taking that choice from the secrets and basically got no upgrade points the next battle as it had a nasty habit of kill stealing the power pylons and turrets.

Now for the story, if you're looking for a linear narrative, I recommend the 1st game, this version seems to gloss over story telling in lieu of gratuitous tank battles. each section of story has 3-4 core game modes then 1 story driven section. whereas the 1st Tank Universal had the opposite 3-4 story driven experience with 1 major battle in-between. I especially liked the village chapter of TU1. the story itself had a lot of strange and sudden plot points. Especially the ending, it felt truly rushed and unpolished. the exposition dump that the player character suddenly remembered as you drive to meet the final boss was something that truly astounded me, in a bad way. when the character first started talking I figured the portrait and name were bugged and someone else was talking. I expected much more following the smooth linear experience that was TU1. I hope that if the dev makes a third installment they focus more on the narrative. a weak story makes even great games like this feel hollow.

Back to game play the new mechanics like system damage, and repairs are great and gently explained by tooltips and loading screens. but the ability to repair your own fort came as a surprise to me, even as integral as it became to win fort defenses. Speaking of fort battles, the bosses that you have to encounter are mortal even without hitting their weak spots. even if this seems counter intuitive, it is important to keep shooting them, or they will defeat you. I was un-aware of this until I accidentally blew ones entire weak point off after it kept teleporting away, and keeping the weakest point facing away from me. there was also a gorgon style doom ball that straight up jumped my walls and destroyed my base before I could even get there, boosting.

The online is the only thing "updating" anymore; just to encourage you to buy more in game currency. plus cheaters run rampant and can get your account banned by dumping large amouts of in game currency on you.
This game isn't worth the 70 gigs of space it takes up on my hard drive.

Played this game for the free week, I'm on day 2 and I see why it has been given an entire free week (instead of the usual weekend deals) and all dlc 75% off. As a way to say "people will buy ANYTHING that is seemingly on sale"

♥♥♥♥ You OVERKILL I am not falling for your scam. Uninstalling the game and never looking back.

Honestly, I made this "review" for a steam achivement.

I think after nearly 2000 hours in the game, I should do it justice.
Let me get this out of the way, I LOVE THIS GAME.

I picked up this game, and steam for that matter a few years ago because a mildly famous animator was playing the game, I found out both were free and figured, "what could possibly go wrong?" Picking up the game was easy and there was tons to learn and improve on. The community will make or break this game for you. there will always be trolls and tryhards, but also there will be frendlies and allies who will pocket medic you when you need it. Sure the recent updates have been less than stellar, but thats not why I come back to this game time and time again.

The people make this game great. You just have to stick around long enough to see it.