Tank Racer

You can almost imagine the planning meeting for this one, can’t you…

Developer 1: Racing games are good fun.

Developer 2: No way, blowing up things in tanks is better.

Publisher: Hang on guys, what about if we had a game where you were racing and blowing stuff up?

Developers together: Cooool!

Reader: Enough of this cack, is the game any good?

Games reviewer: Err, sorry, well the thing is that against the odds, the answer is yes. From the moment you pick your first

The essence is more on the racing than blasting to be honest, as although you are racing in tanks, the only obvious ‘tankish’ benefit is that you can fire weapons at opponents. Otherwise the tanks stop ridiculously easily, especially when confronted with anything remotely solid - surely a Sherman should be able to drive through walls not be stopped by shrubbery!

Also, despite some elaborate names (you can chose from a range of tanks including Bumbleboy, Thor and Power Punch) the actual appearance of the tracks seems remarkably similar.

These grumbles aside, Tank Racers is actually rather good fun, with a simple control system (forward to accelerate, left and right to rotate and ‘5’ to fire) and a well-pitched difficulty curve. Opponents are fallible and happy to battle amongst themselves with the assorted missiles, mines and shells on offer and you rarely feel completely out of a race with most going to carnage in the final few bends. There is even an element of strategy on offer as the weight and power stats of the vehicles do have some influence on performance, and some of the more freeform courses offer sneaky shortcuts. Factor in a range of tracks and championships to boost long-term appeal and all in all this should be a welcome addition to your gaming library.