Battle City

"Tanchiki", as I called this game in my childhood, was released back in 1985, but it remains one of the most memorable games of my childhood. Simple in its design, but incredibly exciting, it combines strategy, dynamics and excitement at every level. The game is memorable due to the fascinating gameplay, diverse levels and the ability to play together.

The game has decent graphics. The landscapes, tanks, and surrounding objects are designed in a minimalistic but recognizable style. Every element - from brick walls to water barriers - is easily distinguishable, which makes the game intuitive and user-friendly. Despite its simplicity, these graphics have their own charm, which is especially catchy when a tank battle is in full swing.

"Battle City" offers players control of a tank in order to destroy enemies and protect the base in the form of an eagle. The game consists of many levels, each of which is unique in its architecture. One of the key differences of the game is the ability to destroy brick walls, which adds strategic depth. Fight your way through or strengthen the base's defenses? These solutions make every game special.

Game levels include various types of terrain: brick walls that can be destroyed; concrete blocks that can only be destroyed with improved weapons (the "Pistol" icon); rivers that cannot be passed through without taking a special "Ship" icon, but can be used as protection; forests hiding tanks; ice, making it difficult to control from- for sliding. This diversity forces you to adapt and come up with new tactics to successfully complete each level.

"Battle City" is easy to learn, but each new level is challenging. The player will not only have to destroy waves of opponents, but also monitor the security of the base. The two-player mode becomes especially exciting. Teamwork helps to cope with difficulties, but an accidental shot at your own base is one of the funniest and at the same time painful situations. Sometimes enemies surround and already break through the base's defenses, and in an attempt to destroy the enemy, you take an extra shot after destroying enemy equipment and destroying the Eagle. Oh, how many swearing caused such moments.

The gameplay is catchy with its dynamics. Each new level adds excitement and a desire to improve your skills. The ability to grab power-ups such as weapon upgrades, temporary immortality, or extra lives adds variety and adrenaline.

Armies of enemies are also interesting. There are several types of tanks that are controlled by a computer. There are strong and slow ones, and there are wildly fast ones rushing around the map. There are also regular ones that flicker periodically, and hitting them "knocks out" some kind of bonus that you can take and thereby "upgrade" your combat vehicle. I remember there was a version of the game where the opponents could take these upgrades. That's what was really dangerous, but interesting.

"Battle City" is one of those games that remain in the memory for many years. Simple, but incredibly exciting, it brings joy (but sometimes rage) to everyone who sits down to control the tank. Playing together adds new colors, turning each battle into a real hurricane of emotions, allowing you to replenish your vocabulary. It's a classic that you want to come back to over and over again.

10 out of 10.

Battle City is a deceitfully simple action tank game similar in look&feel and gameplay to Atari's Tank. So basically you fight opponents; which are other computer controlled tanks; in a series of maze like screens firing single straight big white pixelated ammo, while at the same time trying to defend your basecamp; represented by an eagle like effigy. The dungeons are usually made of what appears to be representative brickwalls; but sometimes are composed of metal, bushes, water, etc. Everything sounds pretty simple, until you start to stack variable combinations. Ie, the shots you fire are affected (or unaffected) by said environment; and so as your tank; even the enemy ones. Also, some of the enemy tanks have special abilities that start to sum up later in the game; as difficulty increases. And there's a lot of clever and useful powerups that enhance your chances of winning; "hidden" in a random enemy's flashing red tank. Also, defending your citadel adds a nice level of complexity to the game; without losing it's cute and peculiar simplicity and appeal. That way you have to develop an assertive "strategy"; since being too aggressive will most likely lead to it eventually being destroyed. So don't abandon it too often, and make sure you can get to it in time to protect it; if needs be. &BTW; if it gets destroyed you lose the game immediately. The other way to lose, is to lose all your lives, obv. There's an indication bar at the right with useful info, but it's not necessary to glance at it too often. Graphics are very bare, simple and with a few colors. Sound is virtually nonexistent; besides the silly sound FX, which could've been better. A warring soundtrack would've help a lot. Luckily a solid gameplay compensates for the lack of those attributes. Finally, it has that puzzle addictive quality that makes for a great game; something that you now would see in a (non official sequel) mobile dev app (to be improved upon) But unfortunately it's still missing that ne sais quoi; perhaps adding a (repair&upgrade) shop, or a live construction machine, or head-to-head two player mode. Because it only has cooperative; and it also comes with a nice level editor; that sadly I almost never use, since it's volatile. Ie, you can't save them (for later on) and hence can only use in game the current edit at the time. Nevertheless, it still is a good game overall; and definitely worth a try!