Cute, addictive and relatively challenging on the higher difficulties before you buy any upgrades, Tiny Troopers took a little getting used to for me but after investing an hour into it or so, I found playing it to be a pretty rewarding experience and well worth my time. It is obvious the game was originally made for the android market, but it works quite well as a simple arcade game played just to kill some spare time.

Loading the game up for the first time, my initial impression was that it was going to be quite low budget and simple ( not necessarily in a bad way ) with pretty basic controls. The controls, I found out, were simple enough – but were something I did not expect in the fact that the game uses the analogue sticks for basic firing, rather than the trigger buttons. After failing the tutorial first time round like an absolute noob ( I have had very little experience with games like this! ), I finally got the hang of the controls and dived into the Soldier campaign.

There are two campaigns, Soldier and Spec Ops and each level has 5 difficulty settings. I spent most of my time flying through each level on the third difficulty level and this seemed challenging and engaging enough for me – however once you upgrade your armour and basic troop level I’d recommend cranking up the difficulty to keep it engaging, as you soon become invincible otherwise. Each level has a different objective which ranges from destroying enemy buildings, saving civilians by eliminating all enemy troopers ( friendly fire to be avoided ) or securing locations. The interesting thing I found about the game was that you can control more than one character at once ( depending on the level ) – again this took some getting used to, and I couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty when I lost any of them. You do have the option to spend medals to revive fallen troops at the end of the level if you do lose any that are a decent rank allowing you to use them in the next level. Defeating enemies ( and getting a high combo ) as well as finding collectibles gives you in game currency called Command Points which you can then use to upgrade your weapons, armour and basic troop load outs, as well as purchase special characters with bonus special weapons. During a level you are also able to use your hard earned Command Points to buy special weapons ( such as grenades ) and health packs which are then air dropped to you instantly ( I couldn’t help but think of Worms at this point )

As well as the two main campaigns, there is also a zombie survival mode very reminiscent of the original Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty World at War. I found this to be the best part of the entire game, as the first zombie level I tried was so similar to Der Riese from World at War I couldn’t help but feel this must have been intentional. As you progress through the waves of zombies, you get extra weapons and unlock new areas which eventually allow you to assemble a full team of four troopers. Addictive and fun, the zombie mode is great.

All in all, I’d definitely recommend giving the game a go if you’re up for something simple and fun, but I feel it’s best to be enjoyed in small bursts so as to keep it from getting boring and repetitive. For its £7.99 price tag, you can’t really complain and it’s an easy 1000G for those of you who are achievement hunters too.

Good clean fun, but not ground breaking!
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