Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, PC

Publisher

Unties

Developer

AREA 35

Genre

Simulation, Strategy/Tactics

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

434.77 MB

Release Date (NA)

Dec 21, 2017

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Steam

A 3D turn based strategy game, Tiny Metal takes cues from Advanced Wars and adds its own flair and style to the genre, playable wherever you go on the Nintendo Switch!

WAR HAS ARRIVED

The Artemesian Royal Jet has been shot down. The Zipang military force has taken down the aircraft and have invaded Artemesia. The Atremisian Lieutenant, Nathan Gries, has mobilized forces and engaged the Zipang army. This is where you, the player, step into Nathan’s shoes to control Artemesia’s army and conquer the Zipang forces to restore peace to Artemesia.

THE STORY IS THE BEGINNING

The story of Tiny Metal is told during simple 2D cutscenes that play between battles, and often overlay during gameplay. The dialog is spoken in Japanese with English subtitles. There is no option to change this, and there is no reason to. The voice acting sounds top notch, and the English translation is spot on with some witty humor thrown in the story as well. The storytelling can be lengthy at times, but thankfully, you’re given an option to fast forward through the dialog and get right back into battle.

CAPTURE ALL THAT YOU SEE

Tiny Metal follows in the footsteps of many other turn based strategy games. Capture cities to generate resources, strategize, move troops, attack the enemy, build units, rinse and repeat.  Units consists of over 15 different soldier and vehicle selections, the latter including air vehicles,  and all units can be generated from capturing factories. Each unit will require resources to construct, and those resources you earn from capturing empty cities. Each subsequent turn after capturing a building will give resources, so it is best to capture every building you come across.  

The visuals are clean and crisp, even on the screen of the Switch. The visuals are full of bright, colorful landscapes with missions containing a somewhat blocky, PlayStation era appearance.  The artwork during the cutscenes is fantastic with a great deal of attention paid to the character models, albeit minimal animation. An assortment of camera zoom levels in battle assists in reading some of the smaller font that is attached to units, but the lack of camera rotation in a 3D based game like this disappointing. However, the camera zoom levels make sure that no enemy is hiding behind a building waiting to dispose of your unit.

THE BATTLE BEGINS WITH ONE STEP

Missions are the usual genre fare of moving your units and attacking on a grid based map. Each tile is represented with a defense bonus value. For example, placing a unit on top of a hill will give that unit a 50% boost to its defense, but leaving it on an open road provides none. This makes every unit placement count since terrain can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Placing a unit next to an enemy will allow you to attack that enemy. Battles follow the general “Rock, Paper, Scissors” rule, where Riflemen will lose to Metals (tanks), but Metals will lose to Lancers (soldiers equipped with rocket launchers), and Lancers will lose to Riflemen. Area35 added a couple features outside the normal attack; the ability for units to ‘Lock On’ to the enemy, and to ‘Assault’ the enemy.

Lock On allows for multiple units to attack an enemy at once, dealing a huge amount of damage. Utilizing the Lock On attack is integral to advancing in some of the game’s later missions, as the damage one unit causes is not enough to keep progressing forward. Assaulting will push the enemy back one tile during the attack. Assaulting is very useful as it can prevent the enemy from capturing cities and gaining an edge economically.  

The confrontations themselves take place during short cutscenes showing each side attacking and defending, losing infantry as necessary. While these animations are not very time consuming, Tiny Metal gives you yet another option to shorten this sequence which was very appreciated while playing on the go.  

In addition to the soldiers and machinery that can be deployed, there is another unit to spotlight, the hero unit. Hero units have increased mobility and deal additional damage when compared to standard units, but they cannot be recruited in the same manner that the typical troops are. Hero troops are called down into battle, adding to the excitement!

VIVA LA ARTEMESIA!  

There are a variety of conditions that must be met to declare victory on the missions. These include beating all enemy units to capturing the enemy’s headquarters. Depending on the outcome and how you scored, you will be awarded a bronze, silver, or gold metal, adding to the replay value. The difficulty of the game starts off easy as it introduces the basics and the difficulty slowly ramps up as you progress through each mission. A newcomer to the genre might face some challenges, but a veteran will run into little or no problems throughout the campaign.

Additional game modes are included outside of the main campaign. The Skirmish mode includes over 60 missions independent of the story, each with its own map and difficulty. As of this writing, multiplayer is labeled as ‘Coming Soon’. Multiplayer functionality is promised in a future update, but for those who have mastered the campaign missions and skirmishes, a New Game + awaits.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The various maps during the campaign, the well written story, and the pace of gameplay (outside of story elements) makes Tiny Metal a great addition to the Switch library of games.  Tiny Metal gets a solid 3.5 out of 5.  The price point may be a little high at $24.99, especially without multiplayer available, but for fans of this genre, Tiny Metal makes for a wonderful experience.

A Nintendo Switch review code was provided by Scarlet Moon Productions for this review.