Back in December, I wrote a preview of an excellent new game being developed by Vulcan called Tiny Troops. The game looked like being a fun new twist to the traditional, 'let's play at re-enacting the Tet Offensive' genre, known as war games.
The storyline was stupid but fun: After 450 years of continuous fighting, two races of space aliens arrive at two simple but problematic conclusions. The first is that after all this time fighting they find they rather enjoy wanton destruction. The second is that if they continue to bombard their planet with heavy ordinance they'll bugger it up beyond repair.
The plan they eventually come up with is to jaunt off to Earth, and continue the fighting. Fortunately for the human race, these fierce galactic warriors are only knee high to a grass hopper.
It's your job to direct these pint sized platoons around kitchen work surfaces, window boxes and whatever else will double as a battlefield. Your first decision is to decide whether you'll control the bunny rabbit like Klutes or the Marvin the Martian
Once you've done this it's time to decide which tactics need to be employed to bring victory. How many troops will you utilise? There are a total of 12 troops to command but a smaller groups of perhaps 5 will be easier to handle and easier to manoeuvre. The full 12, however, will have buckets more firepower.
Will you split your force into two or three groups and surround them use one group to attack, and the other to defend your teleport base or just go for the ever useful kamikaze death charge using every killer critter at your disposal?
Although I'm no Tecumseh Sherman, this task is a little more difficult than you mgith expect going by the cute cartoon feel of the game. The task of defeating the enemy will take a fair amount of brain power and more than a little luck.
Tiny Troops is like a mental amalgam of The Smurfs, Micro Machines, Chorlton and the Wheelies and Platoon. As combinations go, it's a bit of a weird one, but it's a cocktail that makes for a strangely addictive and very enjoyable little game.
Tiny Troops is a fun and invoking take on a traditionally dull genre and I'd recommend it to anybody.