Tanktics (1999)

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title = Tanktics
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developer = DMA Design
publisher = Interplay Entertainment
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released = 1999
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platforms = PlayStation, PC
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Tanktics was a game developed by DMA Design in 1999 for the PC and the Playstation. It was published by Interplay.

The objective of the game is to progress through four time periods, building and controlling tanks from that period to fight the "evil black tanks" from a more advanced period. Notably, tanks are constructed by hand out of parts, which are randomly constructed by a factory (the "Part-o-Matic") in the player's base when it is provided with resources. Different parts may offer the ability to cross different terrain, offensive capabilities more suitable to current tactics, and so forth. The player's primary control is "the crane", a flying magnet (held by, for example, a pterodactyl in the first, ancient time period) which can pick up and drop single parts. A suitable pile of parts becomes a tank, which can be selected and ordered to move by the magnet.

The game also has a strong puzzle bias. The magnet can also pick up boulders (e.g. for blocking off enemy routes) and sheep (which can be used to increase the factory's production rate, amongst other things), and there are various terrain types with lasting effects. For example, driving a tank through mud will make it dirty. Dirty tanks will move more slowly until you wash them by driving them through sheep dip, or dangling a freshly-dipped, dripping sheep over them. Some maps have buttons on them which can only be activated by tanks with sufficient combat experience, and it can take considerable foresight to ensure that a tank will be able to survive to that level and be able to reach the button—dissassembling a tank to change its propulsion will make it lose all experience.

The game is very micro-management heavy, requiring the player to spread one's attention thinly over maintaining the continually tiring sheep at the factory, tank battles, negotiation of terrain hazards such as quicksand, and tank construction. The metaphor of the 'cursor' being a flying magnet with a physical presence in the world can make moving the viewpoint between all these tasks troublesome.

External links

* [http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/tanktics/review.html?sid=2533353 Gamespot review of Tanktics (PC)]