Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank

"Nukes + Missles + Enemies = Whee!"

Heavy Weapon is one of the best arcade games out for the Xbox 360. It's a classic 2D shooter, and truly brings out the "heavy weapon" in the title "Heavy Weapon". Aside from the gameplay and controls however, the audio and graphics are a bit lacking, but when it comes down to it, they aren't the most important part of a game.

The gameplay in this game is simple: You control a tank at the bottom of the screen, planes fly overhead (and later on tanks will come on the ground), and you destroy them. At the end of each level you face a boss, defeat him, and you go to the next level. In between levels, you get power points, which allow you to upgrade your tank with such things as a laser, homing missiles, a flak cannon, and a whole lot more.

In addition, a helicopter flies over several times during the level and drops more basic upgrades, which include a damage upgrade for your main gun, a speed upgrade for your tank, a spread-shot upgrade for your main gun, and a speed upgrade for your main gun. There are a total of 19 levels, though levels 10-18 are the same as the original 9, only harder. During the game, components for the "Mega Laser" fall from certain enemy planes. Collect four of them without dying, and unleash the beast. It has the power to obliterate anyone or anything in your path. Also, you can collect nukes and detonate them, destroying all on-screen enemies.

The graphics in this game are poor. It's obvious the makers didn't concentrate too much on the graphics, as the landscape and enemies aren't detailed in any way at all. In the later levels, there will be literally hundreds of missiles flying all over the place, meaning you can easily lose site of which missiles are yours, and which missiles are trying to kill you. This is especially true when playing in online co-op mode, as you'll also sometimes lose site of your tank. However, if you have a sharp eye, you can keep these moments to a minimum.

The audio in this game is also lacking. The same music plays throughout the levels, and it was repetitive after the first few minutes, let alone 2 hours! In addition, the sound of missiles firing from planes and from your tank, the sound of planes being destroyed, and the sound of a nuke going off can be extremely annoying. Obviously, all this can be solved by turning the music and sound off. Do what I do, turn on your MP3 player while playing.

The controls in this game are unbelievably simple. Use the left thumbstick to control your tank by moving left and right, and use the right thumbstick to let your tank fire your assorted weapons. When you collect the mega laser components, your bullets and missiles automatically switch to laser until it runs out, where it turns back to your weapon(s). Use either the right or left triggers to detonate a nuke.

This game has quite a bit of replayibility. Online co-op in survival mode allows you to play with friends, though no online co-op for the campaign is a major disappointment. However, you can still play co-op with up to 3 friends right next to you for campaign, which makes for a really fun time. The Boss Blitz mode which is unlocked after beating the entire game mode is a major challenge, and a really fun one at that. The overall difficulty of the game means you'll need a lot of time to get all the achievements, and I for one couldn't be happier about that.

Overall this is a great game, let down by poor graphics and sound. As was mentioned before however, these are not the most important features, and the gameplay and controls deliver. I highly recommend this game to anybody, in fact, I already have! Pick it up for five or so hours of destructive fun.

Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 2/10
Audio - 2/10
Controls - 9/10
Replayibility - 7/10
Overall - 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank (US, 01/17/07)