Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops Review
Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops is a concoction of content taken from the first two Tiny Troopers games, which both debuted on iOS. Tiny Troopers and its sequel are now both free on that platform, while the original game is free on Android. Both games are passably entertaining on a phone, for around five minutes each, one time only. Charging £5 for them via the PSN Store is a very cheeky move, and highlights (once again) that Sony really need to start segregating their downloadable offerings before the service starts looking like a pitiful and haphazard flea market.
The PS4 version of Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops is supremely buggy, and seems as if it hasn't been playtested… at all. Objective markers appear offscreen completely at random, in inaccessible areas of each map. Accidentally wandering out to the sidelines of an environment can lead to you getting your feet permanently stuck in it. Your AI squad mates can sometimes wander off and get themselves killed; which can be very costly to you. They also sometimes refuse to shoot at enemies that are standing right in front of them. This is just a bad port.
The main issue though is that this is a touchscreen game through and through, and playing it with two thumbsticks makes for an embarrassingly simple affair. Even on Hard mode, you simply wander around boring environments in a little group, picking up collectibles and shooting folk, occasionally stopping to destroy a building. The animation and sound design have presumably been crafted solely to provoke memories of old Worms games, but nothing here is that charming, thoughtful or polished. It's a mediocre iOS game made worse for the benefit of that supreme £300 beast under your TV. The console has never been pushed less.
Most ho-hum PSN releases always seem like a shoo-in to re-emerge via the PS Plus service in the near future, but hopefully that isn't the case here. This is a game made with no care or love, and no thought for the ways in which it might work differently on a home console. The horde-style Zombie missions are passably entertaining for a few minutes, but as far as compliments go, that's about it. PS Plus subscribers - and PS4 owners in general - deserve so much better than this. It's cross-compatible with the Vita which is something, but it's still not recommended. It's just too dull.
3/10
Review By Chet Roivas
