[REVIEW] Bugs vs. Tanks!

Marcus Estrada 
(3DS [REVIEWED])

Like many, I fell asleep during a great many of my history classes in school. There was just something about the classroom, and my professor’s droning tone, that made young minds completely shut off. Despite gathering maybe only 10% of the material, there’s at least one thing I’m sure of: the Axis powers never fought against gigantic insects. If you can forgo this one niggling bit of historical inaccuracy then you may find yourself interested by the game Bugs vs. Tanks!

It’s a game that initially seems as simple as the title. You play as German soldiers who have found themselves suddenly shrunken down to miniature size. Instead of working on their plans to fight the Allies, they simply must survive the sudden insect menace. For a while, all they go against are various sized ants, but much more of the invertebrate world comes into play, such as snails and spiders. Of course, pests such as mosquitoes and bees also will do their best to get in the way.

Players are tasked with different goals depending on the mission, but everything always boils down to driving around in a tiny tank, while shooting at bugs. There isn’t necessarily a problem with a simple game, but Bugs vs. Tanks! doesn’t know how to sell itself. For the first ten or so stages, you’re likely to be bored to tears with doing what feels much like the same mission over and over again. Even when there’s variation, it seems very minimal and easy to complete by learning how to drive efficiently enough to avoid unnecessary encounters.

With forty missions in all, this initially lead me to dread booting the game up. However, something happened after the first boss encounter — the game started being fun. Was it that my mind had shut off into zombie-like gameplay mode, or was it actually getting better? As it turns out, after the initial same-y levels, things do begin to change. Later missions include saving other tanks, defending against or defeating increasingly powerful bugs, and simply trying to get your tank out of a situation in one piece.

Along the way, players also discover abandoned tanks, win new parts and paint, and that is where another strong aspect of the game comes into play. The tank you start with is incredibly weak – unless you get the golden tank by linking your game with Liberation Maiden. Discovering new tanks increases or decreases your speed and shield strength. Of course, adding on better cannons increases your firepower (and the tank’s weight). Finally, players can goof off with the increasingly unrealistic paint patterns to adorn tanks with.

Although Bugs vs. Tanks! saves itself from a monotonic stupor, it is not quite able to absolve itself from the label of “average.” Because, despite a wealth of tanks to choose from, it’s still a very dull game. There is certainly fun to be had when dodging behind webbed insects to avoid a gigantic spider, or saving your platoon from wave after wave of hornets, but these are the only exceptions to the norm. In order to get to the most interesting levels, you must survive multiple, far less interesting side missions.

This issue is compounded by the fact that, if you miss some of the better tanks, then you’ll be seriously out of luck later in the game. Over halfway through the game is the first stage that requires a tank that can tread through deep water. This would be no problem if all tanks had this ability. As it turns out, they don’t. This isn’t helped by the fact that the game isn’t really interested in telling you this feature exists, or which tanks in your possession might have the ability.

Really, what this showcases is a lack of polish. Bugs vs. Tanks! was meant to fulfill some ridiculous idea and it does. However, it does not do so perfectly. There are many unfair moments in the game, such as being rammed off a tiny twig of a tree branch due to the sudden appearance of a bee. Also, lacking all of the tanks leads you to have an even harder experience.

There are reasons to like the game, as well as reasons to dislike it. When it comes right down to it, it probably depends on how much of a tolerance you have for playing the same basic thing over and over again. You also have to enjoy retrying levels in order to find all unlockable content to facilitate progress in later stages. If that sounds like you, and you love shooting insects in the face, then Bugs vs. Tanks! should satisfy your portable gaming needs for a few days.