Tiny Troopers Review: Big Combat, Tiny Package

[Disclosure: This review based on a PlayStation Vita download code provided by the publisher.]

It seems like shooters are all about edgy realism these days. Not so, for Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops, a twin-stick shooter recently launched for the PlayStation Vita. Thanks to silly banter, fun explosions and characters that look like vinyl toys, we’re reminded that modern warfare doesn’t have to be all gravel voices, dramatic plot twists and end-of-world stakes.

If the name Tiny Troopers sounds familiar to you, you’re likely a seasoned mobile gamer. The series kicked off a while back on portable devices, followed by a sequel, Special Ops, that introduced some new mission types, specialists and even some zombie survival missions. Eventually, a PC/Mac release made the games playable on a bigger screen, too.

Now both of those games have been rolled into a single package called Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops for the PlayStation Vita. The good news is that the game makes the transition to Sony’s portable nicely and, other than a few small hiccups, manages to deliver a twin-stick shooting experience that should keep players busy for hours.

For starters, Joint Ops looks and sounds great on the Vita, with all of the nice little details coming in super sharp. While the settings and combat tend to fall in line with your typical modern shooter, everything else about the game is light-hearted and carries a sense of fun. Your commanding officer gives self-aware dramatic orders, a single grenade can cause a massive explosion and even deaths are somewhat adorable, with the characters’ squeaky voices and dramatic final breaths keeping tongue firmly in cheek, even in the midst of war.

To get the most out of Joint Ops, you’re going to have to be willing to sink a couple of hours into the game and start getting some much-needed upgrades. That the game is slow going at first is one of my few complaints. The opening missions are super short and super easy and, with only your beginning stats pushing you along, movement and combat can be pretty slow.

Thankfully, that means that there’s plenty of room for growth with your characters, which is further enhanced by systems that make it feel like you’re constantly making progress. Everything you do in the game earns you money, and subsequent kills create a multiplayer that gives you a reason to keep pushing forward as quickly as possible. You can also find a few collectibles on the map, like medals that allow you to unlock and revive special characters, and dog tags that give you a nice currency boost. You can also find intel to help uncover missing goodies, and explosive special weapons are occasionally on hand.

While missions start off at a snail’s pace, soon you’ll be hauling butt through the maps, mowing down enemies one after another while new challenges circle in from all sides. You’ll be picking up gear left and right, destroying tanks, taking out snipers, dropping air strikes on bunkers…The works.

Beating at the heart of this chaos is a nice little economy that gives you several interesting ways to spend that hard-earned cash. Before going into a mission, you can drop some funds into various stat upgrades, such as accuracy, rate of fire, armor and speed. Like I said, you’ll want to upgrade your speed a couple of times as early as possible, just so you can shake the sense that you’re plodding around the maps too slowly. You can also spend those funds on specialists; one-use soldiers that will give you an edge in battle. You can have up to four members on your team at once, and these specialists include juiced-up soldiers that will come with handy weapons in tow, or even heal your friendlies when they hit the dirt.

Funds can also be spent on the fly in the middle of battle, giving you a fresh stock of grenades or rockets when you need them most. Just order a supply drop, grab the goodies and then take out that meddlesome tank. Those medals I was talking about early serve a double purpose, too, as they can be utilized to revive fallen soldiers at the end of a mission. The price is hefty, but it might be worth it since characters that survive continue to level up their stats.

For those of you who worry about a touch-focused game being ported to a button-focused console, the team did a nice job of providing for all parties in Joint Ops. You can use touch commands like in the original mobile versions of the game, buttons, or a mixture of the two. Once you upgrade that accuracy and rate of fire, the targeting focuses in nicely, and the game’s mechanics really start to shine. Special weapons can only be used with the touchscreen though, meaning you need to touch a grenade icon, for instance, then drag it onto the battlefield where you want it to be chucked. It’s a pretty intuitive system, but it means you’ll likely be open to enemy fire while trying to call out the biggest guns. I wouldn’t have minded the game pausing while targeting was taking place but, as far as controls go, that’s one of my only real complaints. Soldiers also get stuck on a bit of geometry from time to time, which can be a bummer.

As stated earlier, both campaigns are available, totaling about 50 missions all told. That doesn’t include the zombie horde mode, which is where I suspect players will be spending the majority of their time. You’ll take on wave after wave of the undead as additional areas and helper soldiers unlock along the way. You’ll get the occasional supply drop but, for the most part, it’s just you versus zombie chickens, undead flamers and hulking brutes. This is also a great way to earn some cash quickly so, if you find you could use some extra funds in the campaign, try a couple rounds of the zombie missions and rake in the coinage.

Tiny Troopers, above all else, strives to be a fun game that rewards the player for the time they’re putting in. Your soldiers get better, the action gets better, and the missions become more complicated the deeper you dive. It’s not trying to be a dual-stick shooter version of Call of Duty or Battlefield. The settings are actually pretty similar, but everything else about the game is good old-fashioned arcade fun. And did I mention that the Vita version is cross-buy and cross-save compatible with the PS3 version, in case you want to take the battle to the big screen?

It’s a solid little shooter and its structure works perfectly on the PlayStation Vita. You can dive in for a mission while riding on the bus, or tuck in for a longer haul while sitting at home. I can see why it’s such a beloved series on mobile and, now that it’s available on a portable console, it’s made the transition admirably.

Players: 1

Platforms: PlayStation Vita, PS3

Developer: Wired Production

Publisher: SCEA

ESRB: Teen

Rating: