TINY METAL

I want this game to succeed.
I want it to be a new advance wars.

Right now it is too alpha.

Pros:
+Single player Campaign with voice acting
+Clean/pretty graphics, aesthetics are nice.
+Unit ability to team up for attacks "lock on" followed by "focus fire"
+Unit ability to "Assault" attack after defender, but also push defender back.
+Good unit experience system
+Sniper unit and Spec Ops unit, that are interesting, The spec ops unit is OP, it should have about 60% as much health.
+Map design allows for maps that are not square, looks good. (but not important)

Cons:
-Childish AI, extremely low quality. (this makes the single player not worth playing).
(for example the AI does not prioritize capturing factories, buildings, or producing units, it only prioritizes attacking weak units).
-No multiplayer. (Supposedly they are working on this, I will change my review if they do).
-No naval units.
-No supplies ammo/fuel. (this makes it very easy to block ground troops with fighter jets, makes artillary OP)
-No transport units. (not a big deal to me)
-No commander choices or powers.
-Artillary and Anti-air are the same units, makes artillary Op.
-In game bugs, sometimes the map wont end after you've killed everyone and captured every building.
-No layers, Tiny Metal should take a lesson from "Field Commander" on the PSP.
Layers allow an air unit over a ground or boat unit, and a submarine can be below a boat unit.
-Due to bugs the AI can sometimes see and attack units they should not have been able to see.
-Needs more units, lvl 3 tank, stealth fighter, bomber instead of the "fortress", support units. add more interesting units.

As is Tiny Metal is not worth playing as there is no challenge at all.
I've talked with the developer, he said he is certain they will release multiplayer, but it probably won't be ranked.
I don't expect or want this to be an advance wars clone. But I do expect it to learn from games like Advance Wars (SP, DS), Field Commander (PSP), and Metal Knights (Windows).
It does not need to have all of the same features, but it should attempt to be an equal in quality.
I will change my review to positive if the game becomes something worth playing.

I chose to reccomend this game, but if there were magnitudes of reccomendation on steam, I'd probably be closer to neutral.

Is it a good game? Yes.
Is it the PC version of Advance Wars some people were hoping for? Not really.


I'll update this review if I notice any changes later on.
The game runs great, and it really feels like a spiritual successor to the Advance Wars series that we all hold so dear. But spiritual successors tend to change up the formula, and maybe Tiny Metal went a bit too far.

It is still fun though, and the price seems pretty fair all things considered.

Texture work is good for the most part, but some of the combat animations leave some things to be desired. Attacks don't actually hit the enemy, the enemy unit just kinda dies/explodes.
Not that big of a deal, really, but it would be nice to see rockets collide with tanks or bullets bounce off armor. Minor.

Unlike AW, I feel that the rocket units (Strikers in this game) are far too weak. Aiming at a regular tank (a Metal) deals a measly 30% damage, where an rpg troop (Lancer) can do up to 60%. It just feels weird to me. But that's a personal opinion.

As far as I can tell, you can't join units together to heal them like in AW, but that's excusable. Would be nice to have though.

Voice acting is excellent, but some of the subtitles are misspelled. Very minor.

A few semi-major gripes I have/bugs I've found:

1. When using a controller it's hard to tell what you're highlighting for selection because the color of the highlight is so dark.

2. If you use a mouse and keyboard on the mission selection screen the mouse cursor disappears. It's easy enough to navigate without it though. (bug?)

3. There are no transport units. No transport copters, no APCs, nothing. That's kind of a big deal to me, but they said they would continue updating it so perhaps they will add those later.

4. If you fast forward a battle sequence (A button on an XBone Controller) shooting animations become glitched. Rockets no longer leave the barrel of the Lancer's guns, cannons recoil but no explosion to launch the projectile is there, etc. (bug) Although it is worth noting that this issue seems to resolve itself after a few engagements.

5. Fast forwarding a battle sequence also seems to force future dialogue sequences to be force fast forwarded as well, as though it defaults to the "Fast Forward" option rather than the "Next" option. (bug)

6. Game is really, really easy. I breezed through a good chunk of the campaign in about 2 hours without really ever running into a situation where I felt like I was in trouble if I didn't play flawlessly. It's really easy to run Shock & Awe strategies because the AI really doesn't do much aside from capturing buildings and sending their units to certain doom (riflemen against a tank, yeah, that'll work for the fifth time this turn). This allows you to build up a massive army and overrun them very quickly. The tactical layer leaves a lot to be desired.

However,

So far, I'm really enjoying it, but I do feel a slight twinge of buyer's remorse.

If you liked Advance Wars or enjoy turn based strategy in any way, I would reccommend this game to you maybe on sale, just don't expect too much of a challenge.


6.5/10

Tiny Metal: A Review

*As an avid fan of the Fire Emblem and Advance war series', i feel as though i have some merit when writing a review for this game. That being said, i will try my best not to compare it directly, as that would not be a fair and objective review.

Tiny metal is a top down turn based RPG where you take the role of Nathan Gries; commander of the Artemisian army.
You are currently at war with the Zipanese forces after the assassination of your king and it is your duty as the player to effectively command the Artemisians to victory through a series of missions, that will test your strategy skills and put you through a number of battle scenarios.

Having only currently played under 2 hours (At the time of writing this review), one might think that the game could not be properly fleshed out whilst it boasts a whopping 20 hours of campaign.
However with the limited amount of units, characters and gameplay elements to be introduced it is easy to get a proper grips and feel in a short time.

I really want to like this game, i really really do...
But in its current state it leaves something to be desired

Pros:

- Visually appealing artwork and cartoony animation
- Excellent gameplay mechanics
- Well balanced map design and units
- Fully voiced characters and units
- Multiple Languages supported
- Controller Support
- Well optimized for low end PC's
- Arcade style Gaming

Cons:

- Unstable UI elements
- Small roster of units
- Poor voice acting
- Poorly optimized for mouse and keyboard
- Strange and unorthodox menu systems (Fast forwarding text rather than skipping entirely, Limited settings)
- Lacklustre battle scenes
- Forced Tutorials
- Visual clarification issues (same coloured units, visually similar units and buildings)
- No multiplayer *It is worth noting however that multiplayer is supposedly being implemented later on
- No difficulty settings
- No custom playability (apart from skirmish)
- Mediocre storyline

Tiny Metal has hit the nail on the head in a lot of areas and for some this game is thoroughly enjoyable with only minor surface issues. The inclusion of Lock on targetting allowing multiple units to attack without consequence is a great feature and adds a new layer of strategy. Flanking is also another thing that when put into practice makes perfect sense and i would consider an excellent addition as well.

But here is the part of the review that some people came here for.

How it stacks up VS Advance Wars

I am going to grade this part on a Better/On Par/Worse basis, similar to that of my Pros and Cons.

Better

- Tag team assaults
- Varied unit effectiveness
- Directional combat system
- Tiered infantry units

On Par

- Character Design
- Fog of war
- Unit strengths/weaknesses
- Defensive tiles
- Mobility
- Map Design

Worse

- Small roster (No naval units)
- No Custom maps
- No unlockables
- Less replayability
- No Difficulty Settings
- Less unit co-operation

TL;DR

Tiny Metal is not a spiritual successor to the advance wars series. It takes great inspiration from it and it has the looks and feels of an advance wars game, but it doesn't quite make it all the way.
The game in itself, is entirely playable and enjoyable with a lot of minor flaws and a small amount of major flaws that have been overlooked.
I was very eager to buy this game upon release as i felt it would fill that advance wars shaped hole in me, but it didn't quite fit.
I will continue playing and enjoying this game as much as a i possibly can and i can safely say without a doubt that my money was not wasted, as i have high hopes for the future of this game.
That being said however, i do not recommend that people purchase this game in its current state, as much as it pains me to say. Wait a while and give this game time to properly bloom and i am certain that it will meet all my expectations if not more.
There is still hope for you yet Tiny Metal.