Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops

War. War games rarely change. For the better, at least.

Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops is a top-down action game with some RPG and roguelike elements.

The game is split into two campaign modes - Soldier and Spec Ops. The latter tends to prove more fun from the outset, with on-rails vehicle missions and a more varied mission structure overall.

The average mission will drop one to three of your crew into a war zone, where they'll need to eliminate the enemy presence, with some missions requiring you to destroy vehicles and buildings, and perhaps even rescue or protect hostages.

The better you perform in each mission - whether from the difficulty you've chosen, the speediness of your approach, or the combos you build up by chaining together enemy kills - the more credits you'll earn to spend on upgrades.

Upgrading your weapon stats, armour, and picking new uniforms is key to making your way across the battlefield without being obliterated on your first shot. Plus, the more experience each troops has, the more HP they'll build up.

Medic!

In Tiny Troopers your teammates can die permanently on the battlefield. While revival is an option at the end of each stage, it is incredibly costly to do so with any kind of regularity.

This means you need to be much more cautious in your playstyle, which isn’t necessarily for the better.

The greatest downfall of Tiny Troopers is the occasionally atrocious AI your teammates have. If you decide to take a shortcut through a crevice, your squad may go off to find another way around.

Not a problem. Until they walk straight into a field of visible mines and you are helpless to stop them. It's is particularly aggravating to build up a strong team and see them killed off when it's no fault of your own.

The NPC AI isn't much better. Villagers and captives will walk into your firing range nonchalantly as you try to down their oppressors, while most enemy troops will stay put until you unload your guns into them rather than flanking or running away.

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The prevalence of loading screens is the other oversight, with loadouts and end of mission screens often taking an age to work through. Not a plus if you're trying to grind for money and experience.

The zombie mode is Tiny Troopers' most welcome distraction, but the rewards are too meagre compared to what the average field misson doles out.

There's a fair amount of content to work through in Tiny Troopers, but each wrong step the game takes may discourage you from wanting to experience it in its entirety.

Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops

Slowdown, loading screens, and AI woes plague Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops all too often, leaving it a disjointed game at best
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Danny Russell
Danny Russell
After spending years in Japan collecting game developers' business cards, Danny has returned to the UK to breed Pokemon. He spends his time championing elusive region-exclusive games while shaking his fist at the whole region-locking thing.