Review

If you’re after an enjoyable easygoing twin stick shooter then look no further than Tiny Troopers Joint Ops.

Tiny Troopers first released on mobile and tablet, offering a great way to while away the hours without fussy controls. While the playability has translated perfectly to consoles, the simplicity could have done with being notched up slightly.

Twin stick shooters have been the bane of my thumbs, causing numerous blisters, Tiny Troopers takes a more relaxed look at the genre offering a gentle stroll through the numerous jungles and urban environments of the comic strip led war on terrorism – my thumbs salute you.

By guiding a small team of troopers through each mission area, you can call in extra supplies, bolster the team with a onetime use specialist and level up the squad by purchasing upgrades – to do all this you need cash. This is gained by completing missions, killing bad guys and collecting missing dog tags – do all this at speed and a handy multiplier makes cash all the more plentiful.

Unfortunately for your troopers, death is permanent and can only be avoided if you have enough medals to nurse your fallen troopers back to health – these are found hidden throughout the campaign. There’s no hill to commemorate their loss like Cannon Fodder – yes I’ve waited this long to mention it – because you will certainly have thoughts of that game when playing Tiny Troopers. It’s like the modern-day version… except that it isn’t.

Each mission varies in size from twisting mazes laden with ambushes to maps where a short run to the chopper will finish the mission. Some missions should have been reworked to offer more of a challenge for console gamers and I highly recommend you go for the Xbox exclusive Ultra Hard Mode otherwise you will breeze through the game, barely breaking a sweat.

When you’re done saving the world there are several zombie modes to tackle including four exclusive Xbox versions. Killing zombies may be fun but I didn’t find much longevity in these modes after I had hunted down the achievements and made a dent on the global leaderboards. Each mode starts off slowly before ramping the difficulty up to an uncontrollable horde – it really needs to be coop enabled – that would have offered some crazy fun!

Tiny Troopers is a great little game that at times can get quite intense, particularly on Ultra Hard difficulty. It’s a chilled twin sticker romp through Cannon Fodder’s territory that unfortunately can get a little repetitive but after a hard day’s work, it’s a welcome reprise to kick back and relax to, and one that won’t cause any thumb blisters!

Thanks to Xbox and Premier Comms for supporting TiX