Review: Tiny Troops Joint Ops (Vita/PS4)

Big At Heart

Review code supplied by Wired Products

It has been a tough old year for the vita and some will say that there has been very little releases for it. This is both wrong and right. Yes there have not been too many big releases but there have been many indie games released. Tiny Troopers Joint Ops is an example of this.

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops is the two previous mobile titles mixed together to give a new experience for the Vita (and PS4). Are the results worth the asking price though? Honestly i think it falls a little (ehm) short.

Like many mobile games before it , tiny troopers suffers the same fate. You will have a good time with it for the first few levels but find yourself getting a little sick of repetitive the title is. Like other games i have played recently, this still feels like a mobile game that i would only pick up every now and again. This is not a bad thing as I am sure that is the goal for this game (and genre) but it is not what grabs my attention.

From the start you have the choice of one soldier from a list of four and then introduced to your mission. Here (depending on the mission) you build your troop. This troop is then what you use to achieve the mission target, whether is is getting to a goal, blowing up a target or rescuing hostages. The catch I find is that if a soldier dies, it is for good! Does not sound too bad but each soldier in play levels up which grants newer abilities. Now Imagine losing that soldier after gaining all that new experience and having to replace with a fresh recruit straight from the training ground! It can make you a little sour. Again, not a bad thing. I personally like the system as it forces you to pay more attention to what you are doing in the missions.

Ah, now onto the actual missions themselves. The backbone of the game. It is a real shame that a few fundamental elements are a little broken. The general idea is to guide your troop across a map through various obstacles. The only issue is that your troops are not the brightest and their path finding skills is terrible. There will be times when they get stuck in terrain or even think it is fun to take a stroll through a minefield! I have mentioned that once a solid dies that is it (unless you want to fork out a lot of medals to revive) so when they die like this it does make you slightly angry. Saying that though, all is not lost as the enemies are just as stupid as you. They are trained to keep firing at you without moving so they are easy targets.

The story telling however was carried are very well. I did enjoy how it was told with the cutscenes and for a mobile title a lot of thought went into this section. It does not use fancy high quality cutscenes but what it does is gets the point across.

Tiny Soldiers is a cross buy title with the PS4 but it was not an enjoyable experience. I know I complained before that it is a mobile game but when you transfer it to the big screen it does lose that mobile quality that it brought to the Vita. For example, Angry Birds is fun on the big screen but it does lose the charm that makes it what it is. The same goes for Tiny Troopers.

This is a good port of a mobile title to the Vita. The character models are charming, the cutscenes are creative and you can see where improvements have been but underneath this charm it is still a mobile game. A game which shines on the Vita and if enjoyable in shorts burst but not one which will keep bringing you back for more.

6/10

Who Should Play This

• Gamers who are looking for a rest from fuller games
• Mobile game fans
• Fans of micro management will have a lot of fun with this title

Who Should NOT Play This

• Gamers looking for more than a mobile game
• If you are looking for deep compelling gameplay then give this one a miss
• Hate AI making silly mistakes? You may spend a while shouting at your troops